In what fields do jobs like this exist?

January 5, 2012 10:19 AM

Do you live in the USA? Do you work for a living? Do you make $60-80k/year? Do you average 40 hours or less of work per week? 45? What do you do? How did you get where you are? Are you happy with your work?

I'm trying to get a better sense of where and how these jobs exist, cross-cutting industries and job descriptions, as I begin my job search, post-grad school.
(If it's relevant, I have significant experience in software development, academic research, teaching, and project management.)

posted by zeek321 to work & money (57 answers total)

I think that 60-80k is pretty average salary for people in the lower and middle levels of upper management in not-super-cheap, but not the most expensive places to live. And those people (that I know at least) worked their way up by starting as a 30k/year person in their early 20s and gaining an additional degree along the way possibly.

The people I know like this are senior product managers and senior analysts.

They generally work over 40 hours a week.
posted by k8t at 10:24 AM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yes, more or less.

I am a Web Developer. I work in a large corporate environment, which is probably the key to the "40 hours or less per week." It's about 40 hours exactly but there are frequent half days, ie before holidays and "Summer Fridays."

I am not happy with it, but that is because I don't want to do this as my career. Someone else might well be.

To be frank, I got here because I needed a skill to make money after graduating with a Psych BA. The fact that I'm not very ambitious about this career probably leads to me working in lower-pressure environments, rather than 70-hour-week craziness.
posted by drjimmy11 at 10:25 AM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm vey close to that range now, and will comfortably be in there in another year or so as a network engineer. Something I just fell into, really. No degree. And I'm pretty happy with my job in general..
posted by empath at 10:44 AM on January 5, 2012

I have made just over $60k in Dallas as a technical writer, and I worked 40-hour weeks. There wasn't much of a trick to it; I got there by impressing managers, usually by volunteering to do the projects no one else wanted to do. My colleagues in software development also made $60-$65k, although I think they worked more hours and their jobs required some travel.
posted by neushoorn at 10:49 AM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

I think that 60-80k is pretty average salary for people in the lower and middle levels of upper management in not-super-cheap, but not the most expensive places to live. And those people (that I know at least) worked their way up by starting as a 30k/year person in their early 20s

I'm not there now, but I was up there a few years ago, working as a "Job Captain" (a technical term of art for the architecture industry indicating someone above a drafter but below a project manager) for a decently sized firm. I'd worked my up to that pretty much how k8t describes, but no additional degree beyond my Bacheor's. I started out making in the 30Ks a bit after school (late 90s) and just worked my way up over the years. I was making that much pre-recession, which has obviously dampened the construction (and thus, architecture) market considerably.
posted by LionIndex at 10:52 AM on January 5, 2012

To emphasize, I'm trying to figure out industries and positions where 40-ish hour weeks are not shamed and frowned upon, that still have salaries between $60-80k. drjimmy11 has the flavor of answer I'm hoping for, above.
posted by zeek321 at 10:53 AM on January 5, 2012

I work 40 hours a week and sometimes, but rarely, have over-time. With network engineering, though, you're pretty like to be on call and have to do stuff at odd hours, especially as you make more money and are responsible for more gear.
posted by empath at 10:56 AM on January 5, 2012

As a hospital RN working 0.6 FTE (6 8-hour shifts per 2-week pay period) I don't make the salary range you listed, but if I was working full time at 40 hours a week the number would be in that range. In fact, if I worked the overnight shift I would probably earn that much at about 32 hours (4 shifts) a week. Staffing a hospital works such that I can pick up more hours if I want to earn more in any given pay period, or sometimes work less if they don't need me and I'd rather have the time off than the money.

Of course, nursing is not for everyone, and people who go into it just for the money seem to become miserable pretty quickly. But it does fit your criteria as listed.
posted by vytae at 10:56 AM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm a designer in a small interactive agency in San Francisco. I earn toward the lower end of your range, but I generally don't work more than 40 hrs/wk (that can fluctuate now and again, though). I'm very happy at this job, but came here from a much larger agency at which I earned much less, worked far more (60 hrs/wk avg), and didn't like it so much (I did get more and better clients there, though).

I got where I am by going to a state university and getting a degree in what I now do. You certainly don't need to go to university for a job in my field (my last creative director had a masters in biology), but I wanted to. I was transitioning out of 12 years in the medical field, and wanted not only the technical training but the time to work in the studio that university afforded me.
posted by Pecinpah at 10:58 AM on January 5, 2012

Oh, and I've been at it for about four years.
posted by Pecinpah at 11:00 AM on January 5, 2012

Do you live in the USA? yes.
Do you work for a living? yes.
Do you make $60-80k/year? no, I make twice that.
Do you average 40 hours or less of work per week? Well, about that. Sometimes less, usually just after a release has gone out. Sometimes more, usually just before a release is supposed to go out.
45? Sometimes that.
What do you do? My job title is "Senior Software Engineer".

How did you get where you are?
I started programming for the web in high school (in the mid-nineties) for fun. I built various websites for myself and a few small local customers. I went to college and studied computer science. I moved to San Francisco and joined a startup software company and worked hard and met smart people who helped me get better at what I do. I worked at a bigger, more established company and worked with other smart people who emphasized different aspects of what I do and helped me get better at those. I periodically asked for raises and wasn't afraid to either take on new responsibilities or ask to be compensated for them. Fifteen years after those first perl scripts and HTML pages, here I am.

Are you happy with your work? Yes, usually. I had been working on the same project for a long time and was getting a bit tired of it. I took a new job that I think will be more exciting, but haven't started yet.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 11:00 AM on January 5, 2012 [4 favorites]

Civil Engineer for a small municipality in Oregon. Got a BS in Civil Engineering degree from a good state school (this is an area where the Ivy league schools don't hold much cache over state schools). Worked for a construction company (this sucks btw-no job security, 80+ hours a week when building, and a fairly macho bullshit work enviroment)first, than a consulting firm doing mostly land development, than hired at my current job. I really like the design/consultant aspect of it, the bureacratic red tape gets old, but overall its a really good job.

I am at the lower end of your earning scale but that is partly due to working in the public sector now. If I had stayed with the construction end I could be looking at over 100k a year now if I had survived (some guys really like it). An engineering degree is not the easiest bachelors to get, I didn't really have any of the party/drinking/fun time college experience. I do have some student loans but it is manageable-it impacts my life some but not in a huge way-i am definately better off for incuring the debt and completing the degree.
posted by bartonlong at 11:01 AM on January 5, 2012

My husband is an SAP programmer for a large company in the midwest. He makes well over $80,000 (memail me if you want details) after 14 years of experience. In the beginning he made just about $60,000. Most SAP jobs require travel but he managed to turn a temporary position for said company into a telecommuting position wherein he is the go-to guy for EVERYTHING that has to do with SAP. He did this by becoming an expert on SAP (he's thinking of writing a book).

He works between 40-45 hours a week; more if he needs to. He is an independent contractor so he bills for every hour. That means we have private health insurance but that's a different thread altogether. He likes programming and likes the money he makes. He'd rather be a woodworker, truth be told. He's working toward that being an option someday.

He has an MS in computer science and learned SAP through a combination of training courses and self-teaching. He has no interest in management. His title is Software Engineer.
posted by cooker girl at 11:03 AM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

I have a SO who did this while working as a researcher for a large multinational corporation. He has a Bachelors degree in a related field and a couple years of experience at a non-profit.

I make more than that, working about that much, as a lawyer, but I only got myself into that situation by first spending 6 years working much longer hours (for more money, granted, but still).
posted by dpx.mfx at 11:04 AM on January 5, 2012

I did market analysis and research of enterprise-level computing, networking, and storage. I wrote white papers and drafted sales training presentations for an industry evangelist. I started at the upper end of your stated salary range.

That was a major career jump (formerly a manager of a regional radiochemistry laboratory for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission) that was fueled primarily by a degree with honor from Georgia Tech with help from my record of meritorious service in the United States Marine Corps.
posted by Ardiril at 11:05 AM on January 5, 2012

In terms of a 40-ish hour work week, I think it has more to do with the company you work for than the industry or position. I am a user experience researcher and have about 10 years of experience in the field. When I was in the $60-80k salary range I was around the 5 year experience mark with a graduate degree, and I had vastly different experiences with expectations for work hours based on the type of work environment I chose:

Company A: consulting at one of the oldest companies in the country (think automotive) where unions still set the rules. As a result, nobody worked more than 40 hours a week and there were tons of holidays, even if you weren't union, because the offices just shut down according to the union schedule.

Company B: big glitzy sexy tech company in the Bay area. You were dead meat if you didn't work at least 60 hours a week.

Company C: self-employed. I set my own hours and generally only worked as many hours as I needed to pay my bills and have fun money. I set my hourly rate pretty damn high so that I didn't have to work more than 30 hours a week.

Currently I work for a small consulting company in Seattle where most employees only work 40 hours a week. Occasionally we'll get a big project that requires more time, but there's always comp time to make up for it. Not all consulting firms are like this, however. It's all up to how the account managers set up project schedules and expectations with clients about our availability.
posted by joan_holloway at 11:07 AM on January 5, 2012

Do you live in the USA? Yes
Do you work for a living? Yes
Do you make $60-80k/year? Yes
Do you average 40 hours or less of work per week? Usually right around 40.
What do you do? Software Quality Assurance Engineer
How did you get where you are? Recent college grad, studied Electrical Engineering and decided to go into Software instead. Starting my career in QA, but will hopefully transition in development work in the next couple of year.
Are you happy with your work? I'm happy to be in this industry, but the work itself could be much more interesting and challenging.
posted by carmel at 11:07 AM on January 5, 2012

To emphasize, I'm trying to figure out industries and positions where 40-ish hour weeks are not shamed and frowned upon, that still have salaries between $60-80k.

This is very, very common in state and federal governments and by extension in large companies that serve those clients. (Bonus, most federal contractors also score the 3-5 weeks of vacation that feds do.) Being a consultant, project manager, software engineer, or general all-around analyst would probably bring in $60-80K, depending on your experience level.

I think one thing that might help you think about this is to realize that while there are always exceptions, industries tend to trend together in terms of work hours, vacation days, and benefits. If federal contractors want to hire people that are interested in doing federal-government-running type work, they've got to offer similar hours and benefits. Software firms designing video games? Not so much; none of their competitors offer those working hours so there's not much pressure on them to offer it.
posted by iminurmefi at 11:10 AM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

I work for a public agency doing Geographic Information Systems, been 40 hours a week since I started years ago, and probably because of how expensive the area is, I make more than your range, but was within your range when I started here doing the same work. I am not management, I am not on call, I have not done any overtime.

I had done some studying of this subject back in college and after a headhunter found my resume online, I interviewed for the job and they liked me/my work well enough to keep me around. I got a GIS certificate from a junior college just to have, but if you are considering this as a career track, getting one of these or taking some of these classes would help you decide if you want to continue, and familiarize you with the type of basic work done.

I'm pretty happy with my work in that there is enough of a variety of tasks and learning that is needed to keep up with the changing technology. Based on your skill set, I would find the software development, project management, and teaching (we do some infrequent training) useful for this position.
posted by Seboshin at 11:11 AM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]

I'm a librarian for a public library in a midsized city (pop 90K). We work 40-hour weeks, no OT allowed. I make $65K per year after being here for 4 years. I have a MLIS, which is pretty much required for librarian jobs these days. I love what I do. Since I'm in technical services (not public-facing) I can make my own hours, though I choose to work the standard 8:30-5 M-F schedule.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 11:12 AM on January 5, 2012

Yes to all your primary questions. I live in Southern California and I am a software consultant aligned with a specific software suite - installation, implementation, customization, maintenance, and support. I've been working with this software for nearly 10 years and in IT for 15.

Most employers in the US require 40 hour weeks to receive benefits and insurance; there are very few jobs that are less than 40 in the IT/software world. I generally work 45-48 hours a week, occasionally more. I am exempt, or non-exempt, whichever one means I don't get overtime.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:19 AM on January 5, 2012

I do network administration for a research institute at a Big10 University. I work around 40 hours per week - sometimes more sometimes less; but I more or less set my own schedule.

I started in IT building and repairing computers as a night job. I liked it a lot, and was hired by a fortune 100 company a year later to do support and administration for an entire plant. From there I worked for the State Supreme court, which I left to pursue a degree in electrical engineering. I got this job after I graduated.

I turned down higher paying jobs (10-12k more per year) with corporations because I get much more vacation time and I can wear jeans to work. Plus, I work in SCIENCE! with some very smart people.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 11:22 AM on January 5, 2012

I had one programming job that was for a traditionally union company. I got overtime at that gig. They really didn't want to pay OT for programmers so you better believe they made sure I was out the door at 5.

That was a 1 in a million job though.
posted by Ad hominem at 11:25 AM on January 5, 2012

Do you live in the USA? Yes
Do you work for a living? Yes
Do you make $60-80k/year? Yes
Do you average 40 hours or less of work per week? Work week is 35 hrs, I seldom work more.
What do you do? prospect research and fundraising systems management for a large NGO
How did you get where you are? Masters in Social Work, but ended up working in retail management for three years before finally moving into the non-profit world. Started as entry level admin in development, but promoted to middle management level within 5 years.
Are you happy with your work? Generally, I love what I do, and I love being part of organizations that work for social justice, progressive causes, and making the world a better place. My day-to-day work can be a little dry sometimes, but I have a good mix of work that keeps me interested. I seldom bring work or work stress home with me. And I have fantastic benefits.
posted by kimdog at 11:25 AM on January 5, 2012

I'm right in the middle of that range (70K) and work exactly 40 hours per week. Here's what I did:

1) Went to library school and focused on organizing information (building databases, taxonomies, etc.)
2) Taught myself everything I could about web stuff, short of hard-core programming.
3) Had an internship where I did a lot of information architecture and taxonomy-building (and some light library cataloging), as well as usability testing.
4) Learned Drupal and WordPress, and some wiki software, to the point where I can competently build and maintain just about any website (I still suck as a designer though, unfortunately).

At this point, I work in higher ed doing all this stuff, focusing on usability and info architecture. I occasionally supplement my income doing freelance web work, but I'm too lazy to do too much of that.

With this skillset, I can work just about anywhere making a little more money, but I appreciate the job security and benefits of higher ed.

I could also make more money if I went into management, but I absolutely hate management. The Peter Principle is so ingrained in higher ed (maybe especially in libraries) -- I just don't want any part of it. I like being part of the solution, getting my hands dirty, and helping students achieve their goals (indirectly. I hate people too much to teach.)
posted by coolguymichael at 11:27 AM on January 5, 2012 [7 favorites]

Do you live in the USA? Yes
Do you work for a living? Yes
Do you make $60-80k/year? Yes
Do you average 40 hours or less of work per week? About that, but we have a crunch time every year that's about a month long where it can be double that.
What do you do? I do management research for a consultancy/research firm.
How did you get where you are? Spent a year in politics, another three years in public relations, and got the gig here with a little digital/social expertise.
Are you happy with your work? Yes, more or less. Business can be kind of boring, though.
posted by downing street memo at 11:30 AM on January 5, 2012

I work 35 hours per week as an administrator at a Univesity in NYC and earn the lower end of your pay scale. There is absolutely no pressure to work beyond my 35 hours, and I have a generous sick/vacation and holiday package. I held several part-time academic jobs (adjuncting and part-time advising) while I was a graduate student and then put it together for a full-time administrative job. From there I've moved into a more advanced position.
posted by Pineapplicious at 12:09 PM on January 5, 2012

My wife is an internal auditor.

My wife works 40 hours a week, earns above this range, and has the additional benefit of "flex-time," where she gets every other Friday off. She likes her job.

The career path to internal auditor, though, typically goes through a public accounting firm. But even when my wife worked in public accounting (almost 6 years in all) she rarely worked more than 40 hours a week, although her experience may not have been typical. She was relentlessly focused on achieving a quality work-life balance and a result worked less than many of her coworkers.

Starting salaries for auditors are below this range, but not too much below it, but it wouldn't take too long to catch up and surpass it.

Incidentally, she is her company's "IT" auditor despite not having an IT background. Her experience is that many "IT auditors" come either from audit backgrounds or from IT backgrounds. It is possible to have her job without getting an accounting degree, in other words.
posted by MoonOrb at 12:18 PM on January 5, 2012

Do you live in the USA? Yes

Do you work for a living? Yes

Do you make $60-80k/year? I'm a little over $80k. There are other perks, holiday schedules, pretty good health care, access to gym, discounts all over town, etc.

Do you average 40 hours or less of work per week? Yes. There's some flexibility in my work schedule.

What do you do? Student Services/University Administration

How did you get where you are? Masters degree, and about 15 years of experience in the public sector/university settings.

Are you happy with your work? Yes. I love working with students. I enjoy advocating for them, supporting them, and seeing them move on to the next stage in their life. Academe can drive some people crazy, with the personalities and bureaucracy. But if you're deeply committed some clear values: to help students achieve their goals, to engage your work as if facing all of the silliness is in service to that goal, and to find people who are similarly committed - it is pretty awesome. I pretty much smile at some point every day.
posted by It's a Parasox at 12:35 PM on January 5, 2012

I live in L.A., working as an editor at an art museum (I produce books as well as exhibition materials). With my most recent raise, I'm just now cracking the low end of your pay range. In general, I work about 40-45 hours a week, but because my work is project-based it's not unusual to have to do substantially more than that at various periods throughout the year depending on deadlines and workload (and the fact that our department is perpetually understaffed, but that's another issue). That said, I know a few editors who work 40-hour weeks consistently, and I know some who work 60-hour weeks consistently, so it can vary.

I'm in my early 40s, have been working at my institution a decade, and have worked (both as an employee and a freelancer) in some capacity or another in writing/editing/proofreading since my mid-20s. So it took 15 years to get here. As for being happy with my work: well, yes and no. I produce things that I find meaningful and cool (hence the "yes"), but... how shall I say it? The circumstances under which I do what I do could be a lot better (hence the "no").
posted by scody at 12:39 PM on January 5, 2012

Do you live in the USA? Yes
Do you work for a living? Yes
Do you make $60-80k/year? No (less), but I'm relatively new and live in an area with a very low cost of living compared to the rest of the country
Do you average 40 hours or less of work per week? 45? 40 h/wk (salaried, non-exempt).
What do you do? Lab technician in a mechanical R&D lab for a division of a large corporation (you probably own or use at least one of our products whether you realize it or not).
How did you get where you are? 6 years of training/experience with the Navy as an Electronics Technician.
Are you happy with your work? pretty happy; there's lots of variety. also I get to break stuff on purpose. main gripes are with the company, rather than with the job itself.

We get very few holidays during the year (~6), but we always get the week between christmas and new years, and thanksgiving and the following friday off. new hires start with 10 days of vacation.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 1:01 PM on January 5, 2012

Do you live in the USA? Yes -- Austin, TX.

Do you work for a living? Yes.

Do you make $60-80k/year? Yes.

Do you average 40 hours or less of work per week? 45? 40 - 45, depending on project/deadlines.

What do you do? Software Developer (Android) at a digital ad agency.

How did you get where you are? Majored in CompSci at a private liberal arts school. 5 years out at this point. Was a (Java) consultant before I got into the Android dev.

Are you happy with your work? More or less. I love coding, but not so keen on the 'ad' part of where I work, but I get work on some "big" apps. Only been here for a few months, so we'll see how I enjoy it. The benefits are great.
posted by theRussian at 1:07 PM on January 5, 2012

Do you live in the USA and work for a living? Yes
Do you make $60-80k/year? Yes (although technicallyI brought in more than that this year, but I paid myself witin that range).
Do you average 40 hours or less of work per week? 45? The average was 21 hours per week but it really varied (from a few months with a few hours a week and a few months with too many hours of work per week (10 hour days, weekend work, etc.)
What do you do? Self-employed/medical writing/consulting

How did you get where you are? Past attempts at jobs did not go well, but this last time I made a plan as to where I wanted to end up. From previous jobs, I made a specific set of criteria that should and should not be part of how I was going to earn a living --part of that criteria included that I did not want to work in a cube/work billions of hours throughout the year with a miniscule 2 week vacation/still wanted to make a certain salary (many more things on my list, but those things probably coincide with the OP's). One more thing on this list was working for myself, because...no job anywhere was going to meet that list. I also wanted to use my prior education but I did not want to work in academia, so there was a limitation as to what I could/could not do.

After identifying a target industry, 1) I talked to people through informational interviews to find out everything from how to get into the field (and would my background education/work experience transfer) but also the salaries, life style, and if the businesses in the target field also employed independents and then 2) got a fulltime job in the industry (not fun, required >40 hours per week, but it had to be done to get to the next point and 3) when I had enough samples/connections (after 2 years) quit and let people/companies know that I was now independent and would take on other projects.

Are you happy with your work? Absolutely I get to learn what's new/cutting edge in a particular field in the sciences, don't work in an office or a cube, work from home, don't have to deal with people all day...in the end this is a better fit for me than any job I have ever had. I do have to admit that I want to find a way to balance the hours a bit more. I anticipate that I will probably work more hours this year because I want to see how much I can bring in (curiosity/stupidity) - ideally it won't be more than 35 hours per week except for the last few months of the year.
posted by Wolfster at 1:07 PM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]

I work in the U.S., in software development as an engineering manager, and I've been in the industry almost 30 years now -- working in a few different companies and many different organizations.

One of the issues not addressed up topic, at least not as far as I saw, is the issue of "face time" versus "working time". I've worked in groups where it was very important to have > 40 hours/week of "face time" (being in the office, generally at your desk) but it didn't matter so much what you were doing during that time. You might be working, you might be surfing the web, you might even be on askmefi! :)

I've worked in other groups that didn't care so much about face time, but loaded you down with responsibilities and deadlines such that you needed to spend > 40 hours/week just to get things done.

I've also seen wide variations in individual productivity -- one person working 50 hours/week might be getting half as much done as the person who arrives at 8am, takes an hour lunch, and leaves at 5pm every day.

Finally, different workplaces have different demands on your "off time" -- I've been in workplaces where I was expected to read e-mail and be available for "really important" meetings weekends, holidays, and while on "vacation".

I suggest focusing on your personal efficiency and look for workplaces where how much you accomplish is more important than how much your boss or co-workers see your face :).
posted by elmay at 1:11 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

State employees in Illinois in management or as professionals with advanced degrees make that (or higher) with a 35-hour week and generous benefits. (In Chicago, where many state offices are, this can be tight with housing and transit costs; in Springfield, the state capital, this is a niiiiiice salary.)

Your state (or states you're looking at) will probably have published lists of employee salaries due to sunshine laws, so you can get a sense of what pays and what doesn't.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 1:12 PM on January 5, 2012

I work 45 hours a week here in the USA in about the middle of your salary range. I operate railroad signal and switch equipment. Overtime is occasionally mandatory but usually voluntary, and pays time and a half. I am required to work on all holidays but get bonus pay for doing so.

I like my job, sort of -- it's not stultifying, but neither is it too demanding. And, it's really kinda cool to know that TRAINS GO WHERE **I** SEND THEM!! It's kind of a hassle in certain ways though -- noisy, dirty, etc. And working weekends & holidays can be a bit hard on personal life.

I am rather overqualified for my job, in that I have a bachelor's in pure mathematics in a workplace where no college is required. I got the job by applying for it (needed to work my way through college), and stayed because I needed decent pay and medical benefits (and job security!), as a single mom. I definitely got that, and on the whole am satisfied. Been doing it for 30+ years now. Can retire next year -- oh, and it comes with a defined-benefit pension, an increasing rarity these days.
posted by RRgal at 2:13 PM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]

I make exactly 60k a year, I work 35 hours a week (scheduled for 40 a week , 1 hour lunch). I am a Network tech at a library. Yes I like my job. :)
posted by majortom1981 at 2:17 PM on January 5, 2012

Do you live in the USA? Mostly (im living in Japan for the Navy, but much of my career was CONUS)

Do you work for a living? Yup

Do you make $60-80k/year? Just above, depending of special pays

Do you average 40 hours or less of work per week? 45? I would say average 45, but due to my job requiring at least 2 people present 24/7 I tend to work at least one weekend a month (12 hour shift) and a night shift or two.

What do you do? I am a Naval Flight Officer is the US Navy with the P-3 Orion, though my current job doesn't involve much flying.

How did you get where you are? I was commissioned 8 years ago from Texas A&M with a BS in Sociology, then I spent 2 years in various flight training squadrons. After that one year in a deployed squadron deploying to mid east and central America, during which time I studied multiple hours to become the mission commander (senior person on Aircraft). There I was working easily 50+ hours a week not counting the time studying either at work or home. Now at the staff, my life is settled down, but for professional advancement I am working on master in International Relations. At this pace I should pick up LCDR (O-4) in 2 years.

Are you happy with your work? Yup! Much mode than not. Working Christmas and Thanksgiving away from family can suck, and the bureaucracy can be eyestabbingly painful, but I work with some of the most motivated (and interesting!) people in the world, fly around and see new parts of the world, have free healthcare, decent retirement, and can say with a straight face I make America safer and stinger (not to cause a digression.... But that feeling that at least some of my work has "meaning" is worth working 14-18 hour days back to back).

For your particular skill set I don't think my experience can give much help, but I know having funny or enjoyin the job is worth tons of $$... Though it can't put food on the tale by itself. everyone will work hard in their lives, and even if you really enjoy something work will ruin it, but a good culture and sense of significance I know for me makes me very likely not to switch jobs.
posted by aggienfo at 2:20 PM on January 5, 2012

Do you live in the USA? Yes. Utah.

Do you work for a living? Yes.

Do you make $60-80k/year? Yes.

Do you average 40 hours or less of work per week? Yes. Sometimes a little less.

What do you do? Web Developer.

How did you get where you are? I'm an English major. I taught myself web development from books and the internet and coworkers along the way.

Are you happy with your work? Yes sir. I may go back and finish my English degree, though. That might make me happier.
posted by Avenger50 at 2:20 PM on January 5, 2012

Meant "stronger" not "stinger".... Damn typing/autocorrect on IPad.
posted by aggienfo at 2:22 PM on January 5, 2012

Do you live in the USA? Yes Hollywood

Do you work for a living? Yes.

Do you make $60-80k/year? 2 to 3 times that

Do you average 40 hours or less of work per week? At least 50 to 60. No one in entertainment/show biz/film/TV works a 40 hour week.

What do you do? Film production

How did you get where you are? English major to museum to journalism to documentary.

Are you happy with your work? Extremely
posted by Ideefixe at 2:51 PM on January 5, 2012

Do you live in the USA? Yes.
Do you work for a living? Yes.
Do you make $60-80k/year? No. I make significantly less than your minimum. But I have made in and even above that range depending on the job.
Do you average 40 hours or less of work per week? 45? 40
What do you do? I'm the site IT Administrator for one campus of a small for-profit technical school, though my job title is less impressive than that. (I think it's something like IT Assistant.)
How did you get where you are? I have an IT degree and a dozen-plus years of experience. I'm where I am because it's not a ton of hours or pressure, and when I started I was in grad school, which I've since taken a break from doing. I could pretty easily make double the money, but I would have to work 60-plus hour weeks and be in an extremely high-pressure job, both of which make me very unhappy. I'm trading salary for having a life I enjoy.
Are you happy with your work? Mostly. I really like helping people, but dislike bureaucracy and bad management, which seems to happen in lots of places. I've had to learn what I wanted and how to be happy by working in lots of places where I wasn't happy.
posted by cnc at 3:04 PM on January 5, 2012

My husband is 27, makes almost $90k a year, and we live in Los Angeles. He works for NASA as an engineer. He got a BS and a masters in aerospace engineering from UT-Austin. During undergrad he worked at NASA Langley for a semester on materials research (completely unrelated field to what he does now) and then worked on sonar (not quite related to what he does now, but sorta) for a couple years at a government lab in Austin. During grad school, he got a paid position working on radar stuff for NASA JPL and did his thesis on it. He did a good job so they invited him for a summer trial in the middle of his masters. He did a good job again, so they offered him a job for after he finished his masters. He finished his masters and started working there a few years ago. He works exactly 40 hours a week, has great benefits, paid sick and vacation days, etc. Due to his job duties he gets to travel a lot too, to wherever they are doing radar; so far he's gone to Hawaii twice, Alaska twice, and Costa Rica twice. He is not salaried so he gets time and a half and double time for extra hours worked while on travel.

Apparently he is unusually well-paid for his position, though. I think his extensive work during college, plus very good performance and initiative (he will create and execute big plans on his own, doesn't need to be told, that sort of thing) and doing his thesis on one of their projects had a lot to do with such a large starting salary. NASA JPL generally pays well, however; SoCal is pricey, but it seems most employees there who are part of a couple that each works can afford some nice homes in good neighborhoods. His colleagues are almost entirely great people, too. He really loves his job.

The one thing about working at NASA is that it can be precarious if you are tied to a particular project, because if the funding gets shot or the project ends even successfully, you could be let go just for lack of a place to put you, even if you're very talented. (They do end up placing some people elsewhere, but they only have so many openings.) My husband was fortunate to get hired on for general radar stuff, which is incorporated into a ton of projects, so when there are layoffs he is not particularly nervous. So if you aim to work at a NASA center, take that into consideration, and try to get started before you graduate if possible. I can say that the people I know of in any field that ended up with good jobs started working in undergrad; the ones that didn't get a job until they graduated had to take whatever they could get. When you're still in college there are amazing opportunities available that will not be there when you graduate, so take them; otherwise the people that took them will be beating you for jobs once you graduate.
posted by Nattie at 3:27 PM on January 5, 2012

Yes to your first three questions (I live in Portland, OR, but my company is based in Philadelphia). My base salary is in the $60-80K range, though with bonus it can go beyond. I work 37.5 hours a week.

I went to library school and ended up working for a company that specialized in databases for scientific/academic research. I started with them soon after graduating, back in 2000, and have pretty much been with them ever since. I started out doing technical support, and now do product training. I had a pretty easy time getting this job back then; this was before the MLIS glut and of course the economic crisis.

Am I happy with my job? Well, happy to have one. I do like my customers and my colleagues. After six years (and high travel demands) it's become a bit of a grind, though.
posted by medeine at 3:50 PM on January 5, 2012

I make 80 in Chicago. Stay the hell away from advertising if you want reasonable hours.
posted by Elminster24 at 5:49 PM on January 5, 2012

I'm a designer with a non-profit medical association in the midwest, mostly print design with occasional web graphics. I'm within spitting distance of the low end of your scale. Took me forever to get to this level, mostly due to some bad luck and a few missteps on my part; and I had to move to a large metropolitan area to make any money. More specifically, I guess I got here because it turned out I have a knack for editorial/publication design and am clever enough (barely) to keep up with technology.

The money is not great, given my level of experience, but the benefits are pretty good, I think -- about 4 weeks paid vacay, lots of sick days, low-cost (or in my case, free) healthcare insurance, and a contribution equal to 15% of my salary to a retirement account. I work 35 hours a week, and I'm outta there like a shot come quittin' time. (I've worked enough unpaid overtime in my life, thank you very much). Most of my colleagues do the same -- not having to work overtime is considered one of the benefits of an association gig.

Do I like my job...well...I'm a little burned out, to be honest, but I've lasted longer here, by far, than anyplace else I've worked. Associations are similar to civil service gigs, I think, in that you generally don't have to work as hard as in the private sector, with the trade-off that you'll make less money. For a lot of people, that's a fair deal. And, at least where I'm at, it's hard to get laid off.

So as a data point, you could consider the association field. We publish scientific journals, we sponsor research, we hold an annual meeting, all the usual stuff associations do. And we employ designers, software developers, database-ers, meeting pros, technical editors, writers, etc. -- a lot of disciplines that match up pretty well with your experience.
posted by Bron at 5:52 PM on January 5, 2012

I know it's not exactly answering your question but, apart from some obvious example and counter-examples, it's not that industry-dependent. For example, simply by answering "no" o your first question you'll instantly get completely different answers.
posted by turkeyphant at 5:54 PM on January 5, 2012

Do you live in the USA? Yes
Do you work for a living? Yes
Do you make $60-80k/year? Yes
Do you average 40 hours or less of work per week? Yes 40 every week, I very rarely have to work overtime.
What do you do? Program Analyst for the Federal Government. Program Analyst is a generic term and depends on what section you work in. In my case we handle User Acceptance Testing. I write reports, etc.
How did you get where you are? Have a degree in English. Started answering the phone in the Fed's version of a 401k call center and as soon as I was able I applied to get the hell out of there.
Are you happy with your work? Yes, I really like it. I hated my previous section but now I love what I do. Can't wait to go to work.
posted by govtdrone at 6:45 PM on January 5, 2012

I'm a web developer in the Bay Area, California. I make the top end of your range. I generally work - in the office - about 40 hrs a week. However, I'm expected to be reachable via email on weekends and about once a month someone from the help desk calls me (usually around 9pm on a Saturday) and needs some help with a web site issue.

My company is not one whose sole product is its content, so web issues are somewhat less important than they are at other companies I've been at where the web content *is* the product. This may be something you want to think about when considering web development as a job - is your company's website its only avenue for revenue? If not, hours may be a little more lenient than they might be if your website was all you had. For me it's a new perspective and a refreshing change.

On re-reading your question, if you're into the Internet and related industries at all, the Bay Area may be a really good place for you. I think there is plenty of job security here for web developers and other types of programmers/engineers and the inevitable project managers as well. Cost of living is high, but so are salaries, relatively speaking. I lived in San Francisco for 10 years and now live in San Mateo. My first couple years here I made $40K, but since then I've been able to live alone or with a partner and have now managed to buy a condo. If buying isn't important to you, you can rent something nice for the same amount of money.

Feel free to Memail me if you want more specific advice about SF and/or the bay area.
posted by bendy at 9:10 PM on January 5, 2012

Do you live in the USA? Yes.
Do you work for a living? Yes.
Do you make $60-80k/year? No, around a third of that.
Do you average 40 hours or less of work per week? Yes.
45? Maybe one week a year.

What do you do?

I am a programmer who works for a small company doing work on a point of sale system. This involves fixing random bugs that get called in, facilitating clients from the back end (importing/exporting data from/to excel, etc.), adding new features (direct integration with payment processors, reports, inventory management customization, etc.), and working on our next generation project. The core product is written in VB6 (with mysql for our database needs) but we're moving away from that and towards C sharp (08 and 2010, being used with our reporting stuff right now).

How did you get where you are?

Started programming in high school, dropped out of college (was going for CS) after freshman year to take this job which had been an internship. Been here ever since, for almost 5 years now.

Are you happy with your work?

Yes, but I wish we were moving forward faster. The codebase I'm entangled in is just terrible, even after whipping it into shape year after year. It gets frustrating every once and a while. I work on my own projects at home, right now getting into node.js and learning to code web apps.

I also wish I made more money. I'd be willing to change jobs (even if it means relocating) but I'm kind of afraid that I'd hate any other job worse for other reasons, and it seems like all the job listings are looking for something very specific and my current skills are never it, even though I'm confident I could pick up stuff on the job quickly. My wife is in school so I'm the sole breadwinner for now, and we don't get to save much at the end of the month, but we get by ok. If I made 60 - 80k I wouldn't even know what to do with it.
posted by symbollocks at 8:17 AM on January 6, 2012

Do you live in the USA?

No. I have lived and worked in the US, and I work for the affliliate of a large, really large, US company. I can tell you about myself, and my counterparts with similar backgrounds and skills who work for the US mother ship. I am in Calgary, they are in Houston.

Do you work for a living?

Yes

Do you make $60-80k/year?

No, twice that. My American counterparts make ~20 - 30% more than I, in a city with a much lower cost of living and lower taxes. However, the quality of life difference more than makes up for that.

Do you average 40 hours or less of work per week? 45?

830 to 5, with about an hour for lunch. I might work a bit more near deadlines, but slack off reading interesting semi-relevant science or policy articles at other, less busy times. The Houston crowd tends to work slightly longer hours, and have much, much longer commutes. They also get 1 - 2 weeks fewer vacation.

What do you do?

I am a geologist, in oil and gas exploration.

How did you get where you are?

PhD in geology. University teaching. Mineral exploration work. Work for government geological surveys. Environmental geology. All fun stuff, each with pluses and minuses. Minimum qualification for our company is Master's degree for geoscientists. My salary and position is typical for recent post-graduates with 3 - 5 years post- grad school experience. Starting salaries right out of grad school in the US are 90 - 140K; 75 - 110K in Canada.

Are you happy with your work?

Generally, yes. Great colleagues, get to do scientific work, maintain pure science interests and curiosity, learn something new almost every day on the job, all while doing work of tremendous practical importance, with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line. I do miss teaching, however, and the industry has its issues, primarily in terms of environmental performance.
posted by bumpkin at 4:44 PM on January 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

Do you live in the USA?

Boulder, Colorado to be exact (one of the more expensive places to live in the USA or so I'm told)

Do you work for a living?

oh boy do I ever.

Do you make $60-80k/year?

yep, sometimes more, depends on OT and bonuses.

Do you average 40 hours or less of work per week? 45?

non-exempt (hourly), strongly encouraged to work at or below 40 hours - we do get overtime but they don't like to pay it out, so our bosses get scolded for it.

What do you do?

legal secretary / records manager / regulatory tech writing (so: jack of all trades document wrangler). looks like I may get to put a project management hat back on soon, too since I just got asked today to help bail out some species of flood threatening our new EDM system implementation.

How did you get where you are?

The cheap-and-dirty hard way, which I seriously do not recommend. I'm talking zero college and over two decades schlepping thru shit retail, foodservice and clerical jobs; sometimes holding 3 and 4 jobs at a time when the economy was in the tank. I was a bike messenger for two years in my teens/early 20s, washed dishes, washed cars, watched babies, wrangled boxes at FedEx, and got paid out tips for dancing on the stage at a trendy goth club. I eventually worked to the top of my field (secretarial) by being a data sponge and research ninja and getting some primo temp contracts at Fortune 50 companies. I carry a Strunk and White and am not afraid to use it. It also helps I understand scientific / medical / legal / engineering jargon, and IT related tomfoolery better than a good percentage of my peers. I learnt basic software/tech skills as an ERP project admin and kindergarten level hardware tech well enough to translate to IT staff what's broken about some jacked-up interface, why it broke, and the best way to explain to users how to handle it without getting folks all riled up. last but not least dumb luck and being in the right place at the right time. Specifically this job? I was a temp-to-hire, 6 week short-term contract doing database cleanup in Regulatory Affairs at a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant. That was in July of 2007. Somehow they just keep finding more things for me to do.

Are you happy with your work? Most days. This week it's been more: "In Soviet Russia, job work you", but most days it's such an interesting mess of discovery that I can't complain.
posted by lonefrontranger at 4:51 PM on January 6, 2012

Yes, yes, yes (pretax), yes (~40), mechanical engineering, Bachelor's degree in engineering, usually yes.
posted by sninctown at 5:24 PM on January 6, 2012

I have most of a bachelor's in CS, and about ten years of experience, in seven or eight different jobs in that time. I work as a software engineer, and encourage anyone in the US who has interest and some skill in that direction to pursue technical careers; we don't have enough technical people to fill the jobs we have.

Software and network engineers have about 1/3rd the unemployment of the population as a whole. 60-80k right now would be "mid career" salaries in a mid-sized city; you'd make more working in NYC, LA or DC, but you'd also be spending more.

When I've worked for large companies, 45 hours is pretty much the maximum I wind up working. I ask questions ("what's the release cycle, how do you handle tight deadlines, etc") in job interviews to ensure I'm not going to a ballbuster of a job, as I had one of those that occasionally required 60+ hours regularly. (I left politely, and moved to something with a decent work/life balance, and really haven't looked back.) In the right shop, you also get treated like a human being instead of a replaceable part, albeit that takes a few tries to find the one that suits your personality.

I got here by taking progressively harder jobs that taught me new skills, by not pigeonholing myself into any one skillset, and by consistently moving up in responsibility and pay, or moving to another job offering more responsibility and pay. Making sure that I'm *working* while at work made sure that I built more and more skills. Some previous coworkers are very much stuck where they are because they haven't followed that plan; they found a niche they were comfortable with, but if that niche ever goes away, they're absolutely screwed.
posted by talldean at 3:24 PM on January 7, 2012

Ms. Vegetable:
Do you live in the USA? Yes
Do you work for a living? Yes
Do you make $60-80k/year? Yes
Do you average 40 hours or less of work per week? 45? Yes. This is because i am the bottom of the totem pole, though.
What do you do? I am a product analyst for an insurance company.
How did you get where you are? math/cs/physics background, 3 actuarial exams, first few years at a major insurance company that was awful to work for
Are you happy with your work? If i have to work full time, this is the best place i could be.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 7:02 PM on January 7, 2012

My job fits those criteria. I am a print production artist, also called sometimes a layout artist or (shudder) desktop publisher. I work for a small company in DC whose clients are international NGOs like the UN and the World Bank. I work from home and definitely average less than 40 hours because I do not have to sit there and wait like I would in the office. I make lots of tables and graphs and have developed a keen interest and skill in information design. Because of the nature of my clients' work, I've also developed a keen interest in macroeconomics and infrastructure and the effect of global aid on people's lives in poor countries. The work is interesting. I am well paid, especially considering I don't have to pay the thousands a year that a DC commute costs. But I hate working for such a tiny company, where the boss's wife controls the daily doings with an incompetent iron fist. Still, I own a house, I'm really good at what I do, and the work, because I truly believe it helps people, feels worthwhile. I don't think print publishing is a growth industry, except for what i call statistical scholarship (roughly my area), and children's books. Those jobs are still there.
posted by kostia at 12:55 PM on January 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

I live in San Francisco. With five years experience as a legal secretary I earned $70,000 working 37.5 hours a week. I started out just temping, was hired full time, kept moving from bigger firm to bigger firm and each time I moved, my salary increased.
posted by queentut at 1:38 PM on January 8, 2012