The Jobs That Pay Over $100K May Surprise You — And Make You Want To Quit Yours

If making an excellent living is something you are interested in (this has apparently not been my focus), then we've discovered some options for you.

They might not be the first things that come to mind when you think, “How can I be rich?”

Rich, of course, is a relative term, so let me be clear: The jobs below are jobs where the median base salary is over $100k. If you're thinking to yourself, "THAT'S NOT RICH," first of all, stop yelling in your internal monologue. Second of all, it's rich enough for me.

The statistics this article is based on come from Glassdoor.com, which published a list of jobs that will net you $100k a year. You might not be familiar with them.

Of course, almost all of these are highly specialized jobs that require training, school and lots of time. So, it's not exactly that surprising that they'd pay well (despite the fact that literally every article on this report is about how CRAZY it is that engineers and airplane pilots make good money).

But they are definitely not the jobs people tell you about in school as awesome ways to make a great living and support a family (or gambling habit).

So, if someone in your life is pressuring you into spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, plus years and years of school in order to become a lawyer or doctor, you can send him or her a link to this article and say that Alec MacDonald (that's my name, and it is the most beautiful name in the world) thinks this person should shut up and let you join the FBI.

With that being said, let's begin. Here are six jobs you might've not considered that can make you VERY good money:

1. Nurse Practitioner http://giphy.com/gifs/joker-the-gif-JFZYCCbVHpDsk Total median pay: $101k Despite the public's perception of nurses, they are becoming more and more important in the health care industry. In fact, they're taking over much of the actual work and patient care. The very fact that people still use the term “male nurse” is evidence enough that the way we think about nursing is extremely dumb. And nurse “practitioners” (the black belts of nursing) are basically just doctors. They can even prescribe medicine. It's an easier path than actually becoming a doctor because it's less expensive. You need a master's degree, not a doctorate. But it pays extremely well and is an extremely important profession. In case you couldn't tell, I have a friend who is a nurse, and I like him a lot. 2. FBI Special Agents http://giphy.com/gifs/gillian-anderson-dana-scully-TFZNyq5uD6S1G Total median pay: $125k Now, the “special agents” I'm referring to here aren't Mulder and Skully. They're not the ones bursting down doors and rescuing hostages. (Although, why the fuck don't we pay the people who do that stuff more?) These are the people who, as Glassdoor puts it, “help build cases for criminal investigations by amassing evidence,” as well as “examine trends in criminal activity and propose strategies to prevent future crimes like financial fraud.” In reality, they're closer to analysts and lawyers. They usually require a degree in criminal justice, as well as law enforcement or military experience. 3. Airline Pilot http://giphy.com/gifs/Om41HCMdDj96M Total median pay: $134k Pilots are a lot like FBI agents in the sense that I've always just thought that the people who do those jobs just popped out of thin air. I just couldn't imagine actually trying to get a job like that. But you can. And if you do, they pay you really well. Although, apart from the whole “I have the lives of 70 people in my hands right now” thing, being a pilot is very difficult. Not only do you have to acquire thousands of hours of flight time, but you also live a strange, nomadic life. After all, your entire job is travel. But if you'd like to see the world, be called “captain” and get paid really well for it, go ahead and take to the sky. 4. Geophysicist http://giphy.com/gifs/will-ban-4K29GjVALQ0H6 Total median pay: $119k Again, you might be thinking, “Who the fuck becomes a geophysicist?" Well, it may shock you, but not everyone gets a job in branded advertising and social media. Geophysicists — or as they are more commonly known, cool adults who study the earth — make really good money. After all, it's both extremely important and extremely difficult to (as a geophysicist would say) “know what the deal is” with the ground. They study how the earth changes, seismic activity and where to locate valuable minerals beneath the ground. You need a bachelor's or master's degree in geology, usually. But after that, you can get straight to work. 5. Software Architect http://giphy.com/gifs/love-mini-hanger-HoffxyN8ghVuw Total median pay: $139k These are the people who make the software for the websites, apps and companies that make our new, weird, digital world actually work. They're essentially the architects of the virtual world we all spend nearly our entire lives in now. So, of course they deserve money. The amazing thing about this job is that it can be self-taught. Many people in this field have bachelor's degrees in math or software engineering, but you can even just go take a crash course in coding to get yourself started, and then learn from there. If you're smart enough and committed enough, you can make this lucrative job happen without school if you want. 6. Dentist http://giphy.com/gifs/comedy-central-broad-city-hannibal-buress-bOPrHa9apL7Ak Total median pay: $129k Of course dentists make a lot of money: We've all seen “The Whole Nine Yards.” OK, I may be severely overestimating how many people have seen that movie, but Matthew Perry has a nice house in it. He's a dentist in the movie. Anyway, dentists are great: Become a dentist. It takes forever and it's expensive, but your job can't be outsourced. All of us are going to get cavities and knock our teeth out by falling into amps while drunk at concerts, so you'll have a long road of steady work ahead of you. Actually, fuck that. I hate dentists. I canceled on one yesterday. This is not a lie: yesterday. Because dentists blow. Be a geophysicist instead.