For a lot of people, work is just something that they have to do in order to pay the bills and to feel like a contributing member of society.
But there are some jobs out there that are genuinely enjoyable and pay well, and surprisingly, some of them pay well starting at the entry-level.
Curious, Redditor Blinky_ asked:
"What job pays surprisingly well for the time and effort?"
Security Guard
"I made $26.75 an hour with full benefits and being in a union as a traditional security guard at a large factory."
"The job mostly consisted of sitting in an air-conditioned shack with my own bathroom and a small kitchen at the main entrance, watching CCTV screens, and checking people in."
"The hardest part about the job was escorting out fired employees to their vehicles. Other than that, I spent most of my time reading books and learning the best ways to make my own coffee."
- DarkFallenGoddess
Hospitality Check-In
"When I was in college, I worked at the front desk at a decent Hotel. It's a pretty well-known hotel chain altogether."
"I did an honest 45 minutes worth of work in an eight-hour shift, and that left me alllll the time I needed to complete homework and general responsibilities."
"I got a HUGE perk for hotels when I traveled and I most certainly used those perks to my advantage. I’m talking killer suites for $25 a night."
"It was a clean job with no fry grease. Guests were almost always super chill."
- SignatureOwn9773
Bingo!
"I was a Bingo Caller. I used to just sit there and read for the shift, and after tips, my wage would range from about 20 to 40 dollars per hour."
"When it was my main job, I did it and cleaned five days a week. On weekdays, it was five hours calling and three hours cleaning, and on weekends, it was nine hours calling and three hours cleaning."
"I worked in a small hall, though. Most other callers I knew were full-time Bingo callers."
- Wizard_of_Claus
Architecture And Realtor Photography
"I photograph buildings for a living, and it pays surprisingly well. Two weeks ago, I had to make a two-hour drive to another city to photograph some apartment complexes for a client."
"Two hours there, two and a half hours photographing, two and a half hours back, and it paid 2,000 dollars. Even staying in town, I still average 700 to 1,200 dollars per day depending on the jobs."
- boredaz
"I work in architecture, and we pay some photographers 15,000 to 25,000 for three-day shoots (plus processing, travel, food, etc.). It’s wild."
- Le400Blows
A Driving Mechanic
"I make 45 dollars per hour to drive around and look at things 80 percent of the time. The other 20 percent of the time is pretty basic maintenance usually whenever I check something and it’s not nothing special."
"I do generator inspection and maintenance. Most of the time, I drive up take some readings, press the button to start it, and play games on my phone for an hour while the generator does its monthly exercise run."
"I started as an automotive mechanic and then applied for the generator position. I wasn’t qualified, but nobody else applied, so here I am."
- bigbruce85
Elementary School Tutor
"Tutoring elementary children. 50 dollars per hour to work through homework is pretty ideal, no concentration is required, and stickers keep the kids happy and well-behaved."
"The hard part is getting your first couple of students, but the rest is word of mouth. After you get a couple, your details get spread around by parents and you end up having to decline quite a few because you can’t keep up. I went to my local school and put a notice on the noticeboard as well as advertised on Facebook groups for parents, and I was pretty successful."
- EngineerDull1966
A Dog Show Handler
"I was a dog handler at a dog show. I had no experience (I was there with my ex-wife who had show dogs) and someone needed a handler since theirs canceled."
"I got paid 25 dollars per hour to run the dog around the ring for about five to ten minutes. Someone else liked how I did it, so I made another 25 dollars. I had to go around twice (class and breed), so that was 50 dollars."
"Their dog won for their breed, so I showed them in the group ring, and since it's longer and more detailed, they paid me 50 dollars for one round."
"Overall, I made 125 dollars for less than an hour's work, all cash."
"A professional can easily make several hundred to over a thousand dollars in a weekend."
- draggar
Piano Teacher
"I make 36 dollars per hour teaching piano to five-year-olds."
- perpetual_potato508
"This is the first one I’ve come across where I’m like, 'That person should be paid way more!'"
"Music lessons are so wonderful. Thank you for doing what you do!"
- xpknightxp
Datacenter Technician
"My last job was as a Datacenter Technician for a s**tty colocation company. The pay started out bad but got significantly better when they got bought out. I made around 30 dollars per hour just to be there. For a 12-hour overnight shift, there were maybe two hours of actual work."
"There were some busy days, but 98 percent of the time, I would get to work, finish all the day's tasks in about 45 minutes, go to the bar with my coworker, and monitor requests on our phones."
"I'd go back after a few hours, and proceed to watch movies, play games, and shoot the s**t with the one other person there. I did that four days a week and got paid to do it."
"I ultimately left for a much better-paying job, but during normal hours, I do occasionally miss the EASE of that job."
- Vospader998
Registered Respiratory Therapist
"I’m a Registered Respiratory Therapist. It’s still a two-year degree, and I make 45 dollars per hour for three 12-hour shifts."
"I can also make a lot more with overtime and bonus pay. I can easily get a job anywhere in the US, except apparently California, as that market is saturated."
- aikidonerd
Mortgage Loan Officer
"Traditional mortgage loan officers who are commission-based fit this question perfectly."
"The loan processor and loan assistant do 90 percent of the work, and the mortgage loan officer can very easily make six figures while functionally doing two hours of work a day, especially with remote work."
- bd5400
Youth Sports Coach
"Little league baseball umpire! I was paid 50 to 65 dollars per game to watch baseball."
- andyman171
"As a football referee, we get paid 75 dollars per game for the little kids, but that's mainly to deal with parents and coaches."
"If you have a thick skin and love sports, then youth officiating is an incredible side gig!"
- PandaBunds
Cybersecurity
"I'm on a night shift in cybersecurity working from home."
"It essentially feels like a part-time job, and I make an obscene amount of money watching Netflix and playing chess half the time."
"I did a computer science degree, got SEC+ certification, and went into incident response/SOC analyst roles."
"From there, I've collected SANS certificates that are worth their weight in gold (but prohibitively expensive if your employer isn't paying for them)."
"SANS also has Bachelor's and Master's programs where you get certifications and a degree that may be a better start than a straight Computer Science degree, though."
"Outside of that, stay curious, and constantly learn about hacking techniques and how to mitigate them. Do CTFs or learn from websites like HackTheBox. If you think something is interesting, dig in! Cybersecurity is a career field where you will need to constantly learn."
- Bisping
Technical Writer
"I get paid 100 dollars an hour for technical writing. I get information and data from a vendor and turn it into manuals, documents, handouts, slide decks, etc."
- IA-e
"Is that freelance? Do you have an agency who assigns contracts?"
- TorontoListener
"Freelance! Pass everything through an LLC and all of my contracts have come from contacts in my current industry (PreK-12 education tech/products, do this as a side hustle in the evenings/on weekends)."
- IA-e
...Wait A Minute.
"My first job was selling pictures of Spider-Man to 'The Bugle.'"
- WharfRatThrawn
"...Do you have something to tell us, Wharf?"
- TheBookishAndTheBard
It's awesome to see people be able to enter the workforce on the right footing. Being paid well, and either enjoying the work that they do or finding an easy rhythm in it, makes for a much better work-life balance.
