A Job is Not a Career
Understand that a ‘job’ is not a career. A job is something you do to pay the bills today, and usually does not require very special skills. Because of this, it is easy to get fired from a job.
A Career is something you plan to do for the rest of your life. It requires special skills that are not commonly found in the workforce. Because of this, people tend to keep career employment because it is so much more difficult to replace you.
I had this described to me in this funny way once:
“If you get hired for an unskilled ‘job’ and your boss comes in hung-over one morning and you offend him in some insignificant fashion, he will fire you, because he can hire another one just like you in 10 minutes.
On the other hand, if you have skills that are hard to find in the workforce, that boss will grumble and go about his business, because it is too damn hard to replace you”.
How to Pick A Career
- IMPORTANT TO NOTE: Careers by going to the ‘Trades’ or going to College?
- A “Trade career” refers to a career that requires specialized skills and training, often acquired through vocational school, apprenticeships, or on-the-job training. Often on these skills THEY PAY YOU to learn them, rather than having to pay an institution. Some examples of Trade Careers:
Construction: Electricians, plumbers, carpenters, welders, HVAC technicians.
Manufacturing: Industrial mechanics, machinists, tool and die makers.
Transportation: Aircraft mechanics, auto mechanics, commercial drivers.
Other: Boilermakers, elevator mechanics, solar installers
In these fields, Unions will pay you to learn the skills, or the companies will pay you while you learn. Surprisingly, these careers often pay MORE than many college careers.
- A “College Career” will require that YOU PAY someone to teach you the skills for your career. Sometimes these fields pay much less than a trade career.
- A “Trade career” refers to a career that requires specialized skills and training, often acquired through vocational school, apprenticeships, or on-the-job training. Often on these skills THEY PAY YOU to learn them, rather than having to pay an institution. Some examples of Trade Careers:
- List the highest paying careers by average salary
Every year there is a list of the highest paying careers created by places like US News and World Report . Additionally you can check the “Fastest Growing Occupations” at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Also in recruiting sites like Zip Recruiter have this information. In 2025 the list looked like this on Zip Recruiter (first 10 shown):
25 of the Highest Paying Jobs in Madison, WI for 2025
— Nurse Practitioner: Salary range: $108,800-$151,200 per year
— Salesforce Developer: Salary range: $111,800-$148,100 per year
— Senior Project Manager Salary range: $104,400-$147,200 per year
— Cyber Security Engineer Salary range: $102,800-$143,200 per year
— Computer Engineer Salary range: $112,400-$132,500 per year
— Registered Nurse Salary range: $66,000-$104,800 per year
— Outpatient Clinic Registered Nurse Salary range: $65,500-$101,300 per year
— Meteorologist Salary range: $99,300-$99,300 per year
— Technical Writer Salary range: $60,500-$98,800 per year
— Clinical Documentation Specialist Salary range: $70,000-$94,200 per year
…… - List how much education is needed for each one
Nurse Practitioner: $108,800/yr Salary
Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), gain clinical experience as a Registered Nurse (RN), and then a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) or a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
Salesforce Developer: $111,800/yr Salary
An associates or bachelor’s degree in computer science or bootcamps
Senior Project Manager: $104,400/yr Salary
Bachelor’s degree is generally required, often in business, management
Cyber Security Engineer: $102,800/yr Salary
An associates or bachelor’s degree in computer science. Industry-recognized certifications, such as CISSP or Security+
Computer Engineer: $112,400/yr Salary
An associates or bachelor’s degree in computer science, or bootcamps, or ABET Accreditation
Registered Nurse: $66,000/yr Salary
Either an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) or a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN)
Meteorologist: $99,300/yr Salary
bachelor’s degree in meteorology, atmospheric science, or a related physical science.
Technical Writer Salary: $60,500/yr Salary
Bachelor’s degree in English, communications, journalism
Clinical Documentation Specialist: $70,000/yr Salary
While a formal degree in a specific field like health information management or nursing is not always mandatory, it’s generally beneficial
- Given how much each job pays per year, how long will it take for each job to pay off your education
We call this a return on investment or ROI. Simply divide the amount of money it will cost you into the annual salary for the job to give you the number of years it takes to make your money back.
To determine the education costs, simply Google “how much does a A.S degree cost” or “how much does a B.S degree cost” or “how much does a masters degree cost” .
In 2025 this returned
for an A.S (an associate degree) $11,600 per year ($11,600×2=$23,200) and
for the B.S (a Bachelor’s degree) $28,700 per year ($28,700×4=$115,000) and
for the M.S (a Master’s degree) $65,000
Now apply these numbers to the requirements you just compiled from above.
A FEW IMPORTANT THINGS ABOUT COSTS OF COLLEGE DEGREES:
1. Your cost may vary. Rather than live in the dorms, you might find cheaper living arrangements.
2. Taking more time to complete a degree can lower the cost per year. An Associate Degree is two years of work, but you might take 4 years to do it so that the cost per year is more affordable for you. Same thing with a Bachelor’s degree. The total cost remains about the same but it gets spread over more time so it is more affordable.
3. How you pay for it changes how much time it may take. A Student Loan allows you to work full-time at school so an Associate Degree will take 2 years, or a B.S could take 4 years. If you work while going to school, figure that it will take you more time than that to complete those degrees. - Now find out more exactly what education or training that each career requires.
Let’s use the Nurse Practitioner as an example.
Google “what do I need to be a nurse practitioner“. You can also find this information at United States Department of Labor Statistics (BLS). The results will typically tell you the degree you need, and any boot-camps or other certifications that you might need.
Here is the results from the year 2025:
Nurse Practitioner: $108,800
Requires a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Master of Science in Nursing
So a B.S we know costs $115,000 and the M.S is an additional $65,000 making the total educational cost of $180,000.
So if a Nurse Practitioner makes $108,000/year we just take the $180,000 education cost and divide by the $108,000 yearly salary and it equals 1.6 years to pay back what we spent to get the education.
- Determine how easy it will be to get a job in today’s market for each job.
The United States Department of Labor Statistics (BLS) will help determine how the job market is for each of the jobs in your list. Here is an example assessing the 2025 market for the “Nurse Practitioner”. You can see it shows the growth rate is “Much Faster than Average” indicating that it is likely you will be able to find a job in this career area.
- Thinning down the list….
- First Sort the list by ROI (how fast you get your education money back)
You want to make sure that you pick a career that will quickly pay off the cost of your education. The lowest ROI year number is the one you should prefer.
Salesforce Developer: $111,800/salary 0.23 year ROI
Computer Engineer: $112,400/salary 0.33 years ROI
Registered Nurse: $66,000/salary 0.35 years ROI
Outpatient Clinic Registered Nurse: $65,500/salary 0.39 years ROI
Senior Project Manager: $104,400/salary 1.1 years ROI
Meteorologist: $99,300/salary 1.15 years ROI
Nurse Practitioner: $108,800/salary 1.6years ROI
Clinical Documentation Specialist $70,000/salary 1.6 years ROI
Technical Writer Salary: $60,500/salary 1.9 years ROI - Now, Remove the jobs where the projected job growth rate looks bad…
Don’t go into a career that is going out of style. Imagine what it was like when cars came out and people tried to get buggy manufacturing jobs…. pretty bad huh? Use Google for this. Try googling ‘job growth rate for Meteorologist’ to see the growth rate of jobs for meteorologists. In 2025 it showed this:
“The job outlook for meteorologists is projected to grow, with an estimated 6% increase in employment between 2023 and 2033. This growth is anticipated to be faster than the average for all occupations“
drop the lowest growth careers from your pick list.
- Finally, Pick the career that offends you the least and pays the most
Regardless of what some people might say, it is stupid to pick a career doing what you ‘love’. It makes you end up hating the very thing you loved because it will become ‘work’. Because of this pick something that you think you can live with or tolerate.
Look at the job descriptions for the careers at the top of your list. Imagine yourself having the skills and doing that job. Also imagine the lifestyle that goes with it. If you think you can handle it, pick that career and start getting the skills.
- First Sort the list by ROI (how fast you get your education money back)
How to Start Your Education
- Where is the education offered.
When at all possible get your education in this order of preference:
1. Join a Union if you can apprentice and learn the skills.
or
2. Get training at a Technical School or Vocational School.
or
3. Get your skills at a University
You won’t always have a choice.
A career as a Technical writer ($60,500/year) will not often have an employer paying you to learn the skills, but an Electrician ( $61,965/year ) can join a union as an apprentice, and get paid to learn the skills. - How can you pay for it
- Student Loans
These are loans that the federal government guarantees that the bank will get paid. You have to pay it all back with interest, although this program has a slightly lower interest rate. If you go to the school administrative office, they will help you navigate the programs to get a student loan. After all, they WANT YOU to attend there. You can read more about student loans at Federal Student Loans . The downside of this is that you will have a sizable bill when you graduate and get a job. Remember the ROI? That is an idea of how many years you will have to work to pay it off!
- Work and Go to School
This method means you get out of school with no debt to pay off. It is a lot harder, but may people have done it this way and so can you! Keep in mind that a two year degree does not have to get done in two years. If it takes you four because you are working your way through school, you still will get the job…just a little later and WITH NO DEBT!
- Student Loans
- Start planning what companies you will be applying to…while you are building your skills
- Focus on the skills they need by watching their job postings
For larger companies, watch for listings on Indeed.com, Monster.com and other recruiting web sites. They will describe the skills that they are looking for in the candidates they will hire. Focus your energies on learning and perfecting these skills in school.
For smaller companies, still watch those web sites, but also watch for “job fairs” in your area. Job fairs are where local companies will parade their companies in an attempt to lure quality candidates to join their firms. Fortunately the people at these events are very willing to speak with you, and tell you what skills that they are seeking. Again….Focus your energies on learning and perfecting the skills they want while you are in school.
- Focus on the skills they need by watching their job postings
- Finding Employment to start your Career: Internships.
Here is how they typically work:
Many times in the course of your learning and towards the final development of your skills, your school will offer the chance at an internship.
An Internship is a job that allows you to use the skills that you have learned at a real employer, who often will pay you (at a rate lower than a normal employee) for a period of time that applies to the credits you need to graduate. Many times if you perform well at an internship company, they may offer you a job.
The secret to having them offer you a job is :- Do high quality work promptly while you are there.
- Ask for more work when you finish the initial work.
- Work well with the people who are there. Be polite and pleasant.
- Graduation
- Starting the Job Hunt
Not so strangely, the Career Job Hunt works just like the Normal Job Hunt. The biggest difference is that now you have the skills your career employer needs!
- Starting the Job Hunt
- Resumes
You need to write one for each job you apply for prominently featuring the skills the job is looking for at the top of the first page. Accentuate your experience with those skills. When an employer looks at this resume, they need to see the skills they want IMMEDIATELY when they read it.
Don’t make them have to hunt for it.
Making and Managing a Career
Many people simply don’t manage their careers. They go to work each day and once a year they meet with their manager and hope that they will get a “raise” in salary. If they are lucky, they have a good manager who will manage their career for them, but this is not often the case. It really is YOUR responsibility.
- Managing what you get paid.
Some people will be surprised that YOU are the one who manages what you get paid. Working together with your employer YOU get to help define what you get paid. Here are the basic principles of how this works….- Don’t get paid too much…..Don’t get paid too little.
I was often surprised I have to remind a manager of this.
As an manager when you pay an employee too little, employees are motivated to find a different employer to pay them more….and that’s bad.
As an employee, if a manager pays you too much money, the employee has “golden handcuffs” on you and employees stay even when they are unhappy. As a manager, this means I end up stuck with a poor performing employee. - Use Salary surveys to determine what you SHOULD get paid
A salary survey is a research study that gathers and analyzes data on wages and salaries to help you understand what different jobs pay, and to identify trends in wage and salary levels. You will use this to determine what you should be paid in the area you work in. You need and want to be paid very near the AVERAGE. Not too high…not too low.
Here is an example of a Data Analyst.
- Don’t get paid too much…..Don’t get paid too little.
Communicating What you need For Next Years Salary
This is probably the hardest part of managing your career. Now that you have identified what you should be paid for your job, in the locality you are working, you are ready to put together a communication to your manager.
Here are the things you need to remember.
- It is helpful to show how you have been improving yourself in this job.
- Ask for one thing that is not important to you. Often a manager likes to feel they said “no” to something.
- Point out that you wish to remain competitive in the job market.
This thing you’re doing is a request. They might say “no” to it. Make sure you are ready to pursue another job if that happens. I had this happen once in the last 35 years.
The manager called and said “I just can’t make that number work.” and offered a lower number. I responded in my most polite voice saying “I understand that you need to work within a budget. I hope you will understand what I have to do going forward. “
That manager did manage to find a way to meet the salary I needed and called back in about 30 minutes. This was not surprising, I was right on average for the job market, and I was doing a good job.
He may not have been happy about it, but at least the number was not unexpected to him.
Here is an example of a letter for an I.T consulting job. Keep in mind this was back in the 1980’s when the salary was a lot lower!
Watching the Future of Your Career
Everyone wishes they had a crystal ball to tell the future and be able to avoid pitfalls in their career. Well, you won’t have one. Do the best you can. Watch for these warning signs:
- Too Many People Going after too few Jobs. Read news items about job seekers in your career area. Find the jobs that don’t have people going after them!
- Salary Survey is not showing the salary average gaining ground. It should grow at least 2% each year. If not, find a different job title within your career. It might require more training!
- Watch the behavior of your employer closely. Illogical cutbacks, or a lack of direction or focus might be a sign that you should seek a new employer. Watch for maintenance getting skipped, not only in your job area, but other places like no longer maintaining the parking lot!
- Always keep an eye out for another employer. It never hurts to be on good speaking terms with people at other employers. Not just for looking for another job, but just talking about the state of the industry.
- Join up with social groups that allow you to network with peers in your job industry. Not just people from your employer, but people from all the competing employers. You will learn about great opportunities this way, and many time they will be a timely advantage for you.