You think you make good money?

Went to the pub tonight with my wife and another couple. Some random stranger bought drinks for the entire bar. I ended up chatting with him and he was working on the new pipeline. (Kinder Morgan) He told me how much he was paid and I didn't believe it until he showed me his pay stub.   He works 3 weeks on and on off so he gets a check for two weeks and one week a month. He had made a little over $22,000 after taxes and deductions for the two week period. He said he felt like he had won the lottery and I guess he was right. I did not know you could make money like that working by the hour. Anyone else ever make money like that? I sure have not.

Most people can't work like that. It would run them into the ground. It pays well because it has to. The guy earns it.

Sound like around four hundred per hour? Nope never did that....! 

But there are folks who bring in a million a year and more. Imagine making $100k per month. Stuff like paying for kids college certainly is less of a "save for years" endeavor. 

I just paid a guy $600/hr for many many hours.  

My son however, who was falsely accused has a clean record.   

I as a fresh faced engineer once struck up a conversation with a welder who was doing an install job at our plant. He had a nuke cert and was an amazing welder.  He was doing gas piping and burner upgrade work on big industrial ovens.  A reallly talented guy.  He was about 45-50 at the time. 
 

he told me about how he made so much money that he got a new truck every year and he has a new bass boat and a Harley.   He talked fondly of his lake cabin for hunting and finishing.   He only lamented that he had to travel so much that he never had the chance to use them. 
 

8 years later I had nearly tbt same conversation with an ex army ranger and ex black water "consultant". Kid was a sniper.  He said black water paid 90k every three months for the types of assignments they wanted him for.  Three months on three months off is what they offered him( this might be wrong was many years ago).  His big put was that the money was good but he was away long after a couple tours in Afghanistan and it was eating up his marriage.  Also they paid so well because  if you're injured or killed on that job, no insurance sometimes no evac home.  Said he saw many good guys go over and not return and never enjoy their money. 
 

anwyay no such thing as a free lunch.   

Most people making that kind of money, don't talk about it. The most I saw on an actual pay stub was just over $300k for the week. (Professional athlete friend). I thought it was funny they just mailed him a check like it was McDonald's. 

In reply to bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) :

Is he responsible for his own travel and expenses? Insurance? If so, that could eat into that pay a fair bit.

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :

Friend of mine, former Marine, did IT work in the sandbox when he got out.  Made double that sniper's pay, but had to sign up for a year at a time. 

Pretty close to a free lunch

I have a friend that does traveling work and can bring in 10-15k in revenue a week. Other than tool costs and living in a hotel room he doesn't rack up a lot of expenses.  Being away from home all the time is really hard on family life. It's sounds great in theory but it's more of a single man's life. 
 

Same goes for the guy that does ammonia refrigeration work at our business. He is local to us but we'll call him and he is all over the country for jobs. 

Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) :

Is he responsible for his own travel and expenses? Insurance? If so, that could eat into that pay a fair bit.

Contract work for nursing during Covid was 11k a week in the hotspots.   Of course it was 6 days a week, 12 hours a day, sometimes up to 6 intubated patients.  That sucked

I had the opportunity to go to Kuwait after the first gulf war. They were looking for electricians to work 18 months on, 3 months off. They paid for all flights and room and board while you were there. The pay was $314k for 18 months. It was very tempting as I was making about $14/hr at the time.

At some point, you have to decide what is more important. Money or living. I decided living was worth more than money. I don't regret that decision. 

In reply to Steve_Jones :

It sucks being a realist... 

I work with guys in their mid-20s making over 300k tracing bad guy money. Nerds

A senior manager at amazon starts at 280k a year for non tech roles.  Tech roles are easy to get into the 4's.  Sure there's a slowdown now but it'll be back.  They'll also work you like a rented mule but gotta be better than freezing your ass off mortgaging your body for a quick buck. 

Mr_Asa said:

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :

Friend of mine, former Marine, did IT work in the sandbox when he got out.  Made double that sniper's pay, but had to sign up for a year at a time. 

Pretty close to a free lunch

One year away?  That's a divorce recipe in my book. 

The sniper story was from 2008 or 2010. so I'm sure pay etc has changed.  

I know a bunch of high priced consultants on wife #3.  Ain't worth it. 

yupididit said:

I work with guys in their mid-20s making over 300k tracing bad guy money. Nerds

Been hearing about this, there's a pretty acute shortage since cryptocurrency companies are hiring them all out of their government roles...apparently to do actual work, but to those companies it might be worthwhile to pay those guys to just sit on their hands...anyway, the best part is that the job isn't rocket science, it's actually easier than a lot of high-level cybersecurity work.

The most remarkable story I've heard of someone making money on a straightforward work-for-pay basis (no C-suite work/IP-related income or other shenanigans that break the employment compensation laws of physics) came from my cousin's best friend. My cousin seems to have made this guy think I was a genius (which was especially odd because after hanging out with this guy the day before I could already tell he was very smart) and he was arguing that I should move into a tech hotspot city to make mad money - not even Toronto, but SF or NY. Then we got into a discussion about highly specialized professions, I argued that training for one was a high-risk-high-reward life choice that can leave you vulnerable to industry changes or economic downturns, and if it requires on-site work it could lock you in to living in certain regions.

He then argued that one upside to a highly specialized career was freedom, which puzzled me, but then he revealed to me a manner of working that I didn't think possible when working for another company outside of the C-suite: that as a highly specialized nuclear engineer, he only had to work about 2 hours per day, entirely from home. I don't know how much he was making but he was able to own a nice house and a nice car and support a family, including leaving his wife free to do whatever she wants - IIRC she was selling artworks on Etsy. This was in the thick of the pandemic when my work day consisted of at least 8 hours of nonstop fast-paced panic that left me with a level of chronic mental exhaustion I'm still not sure I've recovered from, and while the pay isn't bad it's not property-owning money in today's world. And here this guy was quietly living a solarpunk lifestyle in a cyberpunk world. Just blew my mind.

Fueled by Caffeine said:

Mr_Asa said:

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :

Friend of mine, former Marine, did IT work in the sandbox when he got out.  Made double that sniper's pay, but had to sign up for a year at a time. 

Pretty close to a free lunch

One year away?  That's a divorce recipe in my book. 

The sniper story was from 2008 or 2010. so I'm sure pay etc has changed.  

I know a bunch of high priced consultants on wife #3.  Ain't worth it. 

Not a divorce sentence if you are single.

He was in a similar role last I talked with him, but the start was probably around 2012?

Guys making big money live large - look up the Autobahn Country Club membership costs in Joliet, IL.  Then the cost of a spendy spouse, cabin, vacations, private schools, therapist.......

Datsun310Guy said:

Guys making big money live large - look up the Autobahn Country Club membership costs in Joliet, IL.  Then the cost of a spendy spouse, cabin, vacations, private schools, therapist.......

Cheapest way for a random person to drive on Thermal Club: Buy a used McLaren, ideally from a dealership in the area, and get on the mailing list of every nearby McLaren dealership, then wait for a track day invite...

In reply to Toyman! :

i had a similar opportunity as a fresh-out BSME in 1991.  $300k/year, IIRC they wanted a 2 year commitment.  I did not go.  Instead I took a job as a DoD civilian, GS7 Engineer pay was $29k/year.

gimpstang said:

Contract work for nursing during Covid was 11k a week in the hotspots.   Of course it was 6 days a week, 12 hours a day, sometimes up to 6 intubated patients.  That sucked

Well that's the prolink life....

With respect to the topic, there was a TikTok about how to make 35k/mo as an electrician in one of the unions... the math is fairly easy, but your working 84hrs/wk. You have to jump at it because it's not every day money like that comes around, aka a blank check.

Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) :

Is he responsible for his own travel and expenses? Insurance? If so, that could eat into that pay a fair bit.

Part of the check was accommodations. I think it was around $200.00 a week, but he was living in his fifth wheel in a campground for $39.00 a week. And he flew himself from Vancouver to Winnipeg on his weeks off. That would be $300-$700 according to Expedia.

My sister is a medical professional and she and a friend took on a contract with the Provincial government to write reports based on provided data. The government assumption was a certain number of reports a year. They quickly got it down to a fine art and were pumping out that many every month. The gravy train rolled on for two years, at which point they both appeared at the top of a publicized list of the 100 best paid government employees. Needless to say that was the end of that deal. 

I was dating a lady during Covid who was a nurse.  The hospital was so desperate for nurses they were offering $80/hr OVER AND ABOVE their salary for overtime.  She continually refused because it's illegal for nurses to work more than X hours per week so they're not exhausted and do something malpractice-y.

As for me, I make less than $40k, but I have a job interview on Tuesday for a job that pays $72-82k.  Cross fingers.