# Waddaya do and waddya earn for it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 19, 2001, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809 "2001-01-19T04:19:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![posatyvo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b5ac83/32.png) [@posatyvo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/posatyvo)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809/81 "2001-01-20T06:21:30Z")
A pipefitter when I can be. When work is slim (as it is now) whatever I can find. Pipefitting = about $50K/year, other anywhere from $50k-$20k/year. ---
**Author:** ![Dominique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Dominique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dominique)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809/82 "2001-01-20T06:34:57Z")
Workers’ compensation insurance adjuster for about 90% of the hospitals in my state. Great place to meet the scum of the earth on a regular basis. $40k/yr plus bonus & benefits. ---
**Author:** ![slowhand53](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@slowhand53](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slowhand53)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809/83 "2001-01-20T06:37:13Z")
resident computer and phone geek for a major law firm branch office. roughly 70k hey **MannyL** , is Jan still there? He was a great guy but seemed like he was burning out when I was there a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809/84 "2001-01-20T08:35:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by UncleBill \* > \*\*Coordinate any and all packaging and graphics for a company that does stuff all over the world. > > round about $65k. > > **Tripler,** is the USAF actually still called the military? (mandatory jab from a jarhead) \*\* I’ll have you know I started out as a Marine! Damn right! Slated for combat engineering until someone at the Pentagon sent a letter to my recruiter saying I was officer material. Totally ruined my plans for world domination! 🙂 Tripler Wierd how things go in big circles. **God bless the Marines. Semper Fi.** ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809/85 "2001-01-20T12:36:48Z")
I’m a website designer and tech support person for an ISP in Australia. I work 3 days a week, and earned $15,000 AUS last year. This is barely $8k US. Currently I’m the richest person in this house, which makes no sense to me. My flatmate is a Plumber, who should in theory be rolling in dough. I plan to be involved in movies. The way things are going, these may end up being porn movies. Be they mainstream or porn, neither of them seem to want to give me money for the work I do. This is the story of my life. I’ve never known what it is like to have money. ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809/86 "2001-01-20T12:54:49Z")
I’m a math grad student with a teaching assistantship. Right now I’m making about $100 per hour 🙂 in the classroom, but since I teach in the classroom only about 2.5 hours per week, that’s only about $12-13000/yr :(. ---
**Author:** ![Adolph\_Peewee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Adolph\_Peewee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Adolph_Peewee)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809/87 "2001-01-20T14:06:44Z")
Just a student Nurse. I have to pay for the provelige of being a student nurse, but I get an allowance from the Gov’t. Only $300/fortnight…so about $12000 pa. I don’t even get paid for the clinical hours I put in at the hospital! ☹ I do hold a couple of casual jobs though, so helps with the finances a little! ---
**Author:** ![Adolph\_Peewee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Adolph\_Peewee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Adolph_Peewee)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809/88 "2001-01-20T14:08:27Z")
forgot to add tho, once I’m finished, during my Grad. year, I’ll be earning around about $30,000 - $35,000 pa. Sort of makes up for it a little! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809/89 "2001-01-20T15:37:13Z")
Not much and not enough. Actually, I work in a property management office. My salary is embaressing low, but I live cheap. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809/90 "2001-01-20T16:50:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SuaSponte \* > \*\*Attorney. $165-190k/year, depending on bonus. > > Sua > > - and will someone PLEASE post quickly who has a higher salary!! \*\* One of the code jockeys in the Bay Area that **City Gent** disparages, but I’m no kid and I don’t own an NSX. I’ve got 20 years of industry experience, much of it in database and application tools development (I design things like editors and application generators), and the code I jockey is java these days (used to be c, c++). Weighing in at a senior enough level that they have to give me a title like “architect”, I don’t beat **Sua** on base salary - I make low-to-mid 6 figures. However, I have that easily beat on stock options, even at the current market. My current “good” options will run out in 2 and 3 years though. Gee, it’s an unwritten rule around every corporate environment I’ve been in that you don’t discuss your salary with coworkers. As a guy I once worked with put it, asking someone their salary is a bit like suggesting that you go into the restroom and compare dicks. I’m sure we could come up with a suitable analogy for women employees, too. I feel like I’m posting an ad on a porn site. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809/91 "2001-01-20T16:56:56Z")
That made no sense - “low to mid six figures” should have read “low to mid 100k’s.” ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809/92 "2001-01-20T17:27:08Z")
Medical student. I’m going $24 large in the hole every year, half of which pays my tuition/books/expenses and half of which I live on. (I do have arrangements to have it all paid back for me in four years after residency, though.) > [@](#): > > Medical resident, about 35K (cdn) for a 90 hour week. Not complaining, but also don’t want to know what that is hourly… they say on my pay forms I work 40 hours a week! \ And they do it with a straight face, too! Some of my residents once figured out that they were making about $8/hr, which was exactly what Taco Bell was paying at the time. Dr. J ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809/93 "2001-01-20T22:05:56Z")
I manage clinical trials databases from setup to closeout for a pharmaceutical company at $75k/yr plus stock options, free company-brand drugs (still need a prescription though :(), in addition to the usual goodies. ---
**Author:** ![tubagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b77776/32.png) [@tubagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tubagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809/94 "2001-01-20T22:27:46Z")
I’m a technical/subscriber serv’ agent for a popular wireless PDA. I make 18,000/year. I am currently changing to another job with Sprint making 31,000/year. I recently found out that I am underpaid for the amount of experience I have. Ignorance was bliss until now. Sprint here I come! ---
**Author:** ![Mielikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Mielikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mielikki)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809/95 "2001-01-20T22:54:01Z")
I’m a government drone. You know those people who have 5 heart attacks and apply for disability and don’t get it? I’m the one that turns them down. It’s soul-crushing, and I’m trying to get out of it. It pays $30k a year and the benefits don’t suck, like with most government jobs. Latest scheme- open up a floatation tank (yeah, like the one in ‘Altered States’. Turning into a one-armed protoplasm costs extra) center. If you’re in Texas, give us a ring. [http://www.floatasia.com](http://www.floatasia.com) ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809/96 "2001-01-20T22:55:41Z")
Software Engineer for the last 13 years, and I make just under 100K. ---
**Author:** ![robgruver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@robgruver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robgruver)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809/97 "2001-01-20T23:12:41Z")
Technical support for a large Telco ISP on the East Coast. Salary: 23,000USD. Freelance photographer Salary: 12,000USD. Now if I could only make enough to live on from my pictures. ::sigh:: What we do for art? ---
**Author:** ![Booker57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Booker57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Booker57)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809/98 "2001-01-20T23:15:53Z")
Auto parts counter person. $8/hr Low pay screwey hours. I am 43 yrs old. Un-skilled. Time for a good Mid-life crises if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809/99 "2001-01-20T23:31:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yabob \* > I don’t beat **Sua** on base salary - I make low-to-mid 6 figures. However, I have that easily beat on stock options, even at the current market. Woo-hoo!! I consider that as definitely being higher than me. > [@](#): > > Gee, it’s an unwritten rule around every corporate environment I’ve been in that you don’t discuss your salary with coworkers. One of the weird things about NYC lawyerdom - as everyone of the same experience in large firms makes exactly the same, the whole “don’t discuss your salary” thing is not part of the culture. Bonuses vary from firm to firm, but The New York Law Journal publishes NYC large-firm salaries and bonuses at least once a year, so anyone willing to drop a buck for the paper can know exactly what I make. Sua ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809/100 "2001-01-21T00:35:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Woo-hoo!! I consider that as definitely being higher than me. Sua - You DID see my correction - I meant low 10OK’s NOT “low 6 figures”. I don’t want you thinking the first digit is anything but a 1. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waddaya-do-and-waddya-earn-for-it/50809.md?page=6)