
Surprising salaries for jobs you’d never imagine - garagumu
http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20140814-that-job-pays-how-much
======
rm999
I really dislike this - an article with unverified sources and no original
content in the BBC, what I consider a very reliable, ethical news source. To
me this is yet another example of the cheapening of modern journalism - quora
has been "partnering" with several "content distribution partners" including
BBC to market themselves while doing the newspapers' jobs.

> Quora exec Marc Bodnick sees the media deals as a win-win, where Quora
> writers get more distribution, and media partners get good content.
> ([http://allthingsd.com/20131119/quora-will-push-its-most-
> link...](http://allthingsd.com/20131119/quora-will-push-its-most-link-baity-
> content-to-buzzfeed-though-it-would-never-call-it-that))

At least some publishers have been called out and ended up doing the right
thing, like when huffpo published unsourced, ridiculous answers about trader
joes' two buck chuck:

>This blog post contained un-sourced claims about Two Buck Chuck and its
proprietor, Bronco Wines. It has been removed from the site in accordance with
our blogger terms. ([http://www.starkinsider.com/2014/08/trader-joes-two-buck-
chu...](http://www.starkinsider.com/2014/08/trader-joes-two-buck-chuck-wine-
really-bad.html))

~~~
crdoconnor
>I really dislike this - an article with no original content and unverified
sources in the BBC, what I consider a very reliable, ethical news source.

About that...

[http://www.forbes.com/sites/neilmidgley/2014/06/03/bbc-
news-...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/neilmidgley/2014/06/03/bbc-news-
division-to-cut-500-jobs/)

I personally thought that the BBC News jumped the shark when they introduced a
"BBC Capital" section. It really rammed home Chomsky's point about major
newspapers having a "business" section but no "labor" section.

It's been a downhill slide ever since Hutton, to be honest, and a crying
shame.

At least we still have Al Jazeera, though.

~~~
endianswap
Oh the irony in linking to a third-party contribution to Forbes as your source
of this news. Is this what each newspaper's online presence is going to
devolve into across the industry?

~~~
crdoconnor
LOL, true. In my defense it was the first hit in Google.

Judging by the time it took to dig this up, BBC could do with some SEO work:

[http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-
arts-28342929](http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-28342929)

------
bendmorris
Is this what passes as journalism now? I mean:

>“My 19 year-old boss was taking home $35,000/year with benefits,” he said.
“Plus they train you on the job for free. She told me that she was on track to
be a regional manager by the age of 30 and would make 100k by then.”

>Katie Nellis said managers of Walgreen's drugstores in the US “often retire
in their 40s.”

Are we just taking these wild, likely highly exaggerated claims at face value?
And did the BBC really just re-publish comments from Quora as a story with no
additional verification?

In that case, the most surprising salary is for journalists at the BBC - I'm
surprised they can keep a job at all.

~~~
cliveowen
BBC's articles often report direct quotes from average Joes, it's part of
their style. I don't like it either.

~~~
crazy1van
I've heard it called grain of sand journalism. It usually goes from a couple
of very broad statements about the entire desert directly to an in depth look
at a few grains of sand.

------
mgkimsal
I'm not at all sure why these are 'surprising'. $100k/year for a dog walker is
not possible in most areas unless there's a lot of dogs to walk for a lot of
dog owners with disposable income. That $96k figure is 'up to', and while much
may be in cash, it's probably closer to 50-70% that on an annual basis. If
you're doing this in an area with enough rich dog owners to sustain that
business year 'round, you're living in an area where earning, say, $60k isn't
going to afford you a great lifestyle. Liveable, certainly, but not wealthy.

The 'not surprising' part really is the down to hustle - it should not be
surprising at all that some people can hustle up paying customers for services
that we'd ignore or look down on. The dog walking gig - you must _really_ love
dogs to be cleaning up dog crap for _up to 8_ dogs at a time, 5-7 days per
week, 6-8 hours per day.

I've known dog walkers and pool cleaners. Most don't make anywhere near that,
because they're not good hustlers - they're not networked sufficiently, and
don't know how to attract enough customers and manage a business. Someone with
the skills to attract customers and properly manage 'busyness', money will
flow almost in spite of whatever skills/education they may have or, more
usually, not have.

------
dghughes
The oil boom in northern Alberta, Canada is another good example of high
paying jobs without any skill or at least education.

Many small towns and fishing villages have been de-populated of men aged 20 to
their 40s who went to work in the oil fields.

Going from seasonal work drawing unemployment benefits to $100,000+ working
six months and all your food and lodging paid for even free tickets to fly to
and from home.

Small towns now have big loud trucks from Alberta and lots of "that's not how
we do it in Alberta" arguments. Small town poor boy makes it big can create
some assholes.

~~~
mikewhy
> Small town poor boy makes it big can create some assholes.

A lot of them came back to Newfoundland and the feeling is pretty much the
same. That province is going through an oil boom of its own and the influx of
yuppies, crime and condos is excruciating

------
kalleth
Proxy for UK users: [https://simple-
proxy.com/g.php?u=k3gVKwRdxrbr79mOfc6v2q7vafE...](https://simple-
proxy.com/g.php?u=k3gVKwRdxrbr79mOfc6v2q7vafEU8Vg4I7aQWp2mayClDtcUcmuUxhiayRGLR1du%2FtCtobsUCKBO5Cf8&b=7&f=norefer)

~~~
randall
Original: [http://www.quora.com/Salaries-and-Wages/What-is-a-job-
that-m...](http://www.quora.com/Salaries-and-Wages/What-is-a-job-that-most-
people-assume-does-NOT-make-a-lot-of-money-but-in-reality-pays-very-well)

~~~
grdvnl
Wow, this article merely rephrases the Quora comments' without contributing
anything new to the discussion.

~~~
Untit1ed
Pretty bad to see from the BBC, but at least you don't have to sign in to see
it.

------
jonnathanson
Not surprised at all re: construction workers. That they can make hundreds of
thousands of dollars per year is sort of a semi-open secret. The catch is that
construction is a feast or famine occupation. During building booms,
contractors and workers can make a small fortune. During busts, they can go
bust. New York is a great place to be a construction worker, as there always
seems to be a steady supply of new projects underway. San Francisco, right
now, is making a lot of construction workers quite wealthy. But this boom will
go bust eventually, and when it does, the demand drop will shock supply, and
the jobs will dry up virtually overnight. Nobody has any great idea when that
will happen, but the workers I've talked to [1] are an odd mix of giddy and
pessimistic. There is sort of a "get it while the getting's still good"
mentality afoot right now.

As you might imagine, any jobs tied to real estate development very closely
track the real estate market, be it residential or commercial. That market can
be exciting, but it's also inherently unstable.

[1] I don't work in construction, but I have invested in a few buildings, and
I talk to contractors and workers pretty regularly.

~~~
toyg
_> The catch is that construction is a feast or famine occupation. [...] There
is sort of a "get it while the getting's still good" mentality afoot right
now._

Indeed, and that's not good from the point of view of construction standards.
When the going is good, contractors go pedal to the metal and will do
everything they can as fast as they can, inevitably lowering their average
work standards (both in terms of output quality and safety measures). Plus,
construction booms typically lead to more widespread economic bubbles.

I wish we could find a way of stabilizing that particular market.

~~~
skj
> Plus, construction booms typically lead to more widespread economic bubbles.

If there is actually a causal relationship there, I would have thought it was
the other way around.

~~~
toyg
I think it's more of a symbiotic relationship: construction is the first
sector to accelerate when things start looking good and the first to crash
when things start going sour, because it relies on debt more than others.
Because of this position, it plays a very important role in exacerbating
trends.

------
chengiz
> In India, hair dressers can earn more than employees in the software
> industry. During a recent visit to the salon...

Are they really using Quora as a reference? Even if this is honest, the
responder went to probably one of the top salons in Bangalore, in which case
the same would hold in Western countries. Most hair dressing jobs in India are
low paying, and most of the rest are average paying.

------
cletus
I don't buy the numbers on dog walkers. I live in NYC, which is probably at
the high end for this and many other things, and I don't know anyone who's
paying $25/day to walk a dog with up to 7 other dogs. People will pay more to
have their dogs walked by themselves or in small groups. I don't think I see
groups of more than 4.

The theater/opera carpenter one really surprised me. I wonder why they are
paid so much? Unions?

Construction I totally understand. I come from Perth, Western Australia, which
is in the midst of a resources boom that has been going on almost unabated for
15-20 years. The scope and scale of what is being dug up from the ground or
drilled from the sea is probably unprecedented.

This puts an incredible amount of pressure on construction. So much so that in
2000 you could buy a house for ~$100k in Perth. 5 years later that same house
was $350k+. Most of that was just increased construction and materials cost,
not land appreciation.

The problem with such massive increases in the cost of construction is that it
feeds into virtually everything else. If you've ever been to Perth, you'll
know it's an incredibly expensive city now. Back in the 90s I lived
comfortably as a student in a 2 bedroom apartment and all expenses for
<$200/week.

I often wonder if Australia will suffer (or is already suffering) from Dutch
Disease [1]. It's a place now of the haves (those in mining/construction) and
have nots (everyone else). Even if you're one of the lucky ones, the standard
of living is not great.

I say this as someone who lives in _Manhattan_. But New York City has way more
options for the whole income spectrum. Less than $200k can get you a 1 bedroom
in Sunnyside, Queens that's <30 minutes to Midtown.

In Perth, there are no cheap options anymore. Even 5 years ago, 40-50 year old
crappy apartments were being rented out for $300/week sight unseen.

Anyway I don't begrudge any of these jobs their good fortunes (I am a software
engineer after all). I do worry about construction in particular however
because of the on-flow effect into everything else.

Construction really is a mixed bag too. Highly paid crane operators? That's a
stressful/demanding job. No problem there. 6 figure incomes for guys who stand
on the street with a stop sign wearing a hard hat? Well, that's just a racket.

[1]:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_disease](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_disease)

~~~
eCa
It's $25 _per session_... Their math is $25 * 8 dogs * 2 times daily * 240
days a year. That's how "up to eight dogs" turns into "eight dogs every day,
every time".

------
e40
_Working your way up to store manager has its perks. According to Murray
Godfrey a Wal-Mart store manager “of a store in a moderate-sized locale can
easily make $200k plus bonuses based on sales.”_

Don't forget the other part of the job: scheduling much of the just above
minimum wage workforce under you to work less than 30 hours/week so they don't
get benefits.

------
theoutlander
Several years ago I knew a hair dresser who made 90K working only a few hours
a day while I worked three times longer as a software engineer making only
75K. A third of her income was from tips (and I've heard that a lot of people
don't pay taxes on those).

------
bluewolf
The dog walking job, at $96,000, is a flat-out lie. I owned a dog walking
company for several years. There is lots of competition and no barrier to
entry.

~~~
mgkimsal
Agreed. It's someone extrapolating out 1 45 minute dog walk @ $X/hr x Y dogs,
saying "they work 6 hours per day".

Yeah... perhaps of actual 'walking'. This says nothing about the time required
to actually market your business, sign people up, deal with angry customers,
not to mention deal with sick dogs, cleaning up crap for multiple dogs daily,
and dealing with year-round weather.

If you're in an area where there's enough business to support $100k/year in
dog walking, you still can't afford to live well, because that $100k will buy
you relatively little.

------
pandaman
I am not surprised at all. Whenever my leftist friends bring up the "poor" who
cannot find a job I ask them if they know how much does a dog walker make and
why is it so.

