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Aussies have lifted the lid on the jobs that are paying them six figure salaries while not requiring a university degree.
The workers were stopped on the streets of Brisbane and asked what they did for work, what they are earning and if they needed a degree to get there.
From jobs in government to sales and trades, most of those asked revealed the years they would have spent in university were instead used to progress their careers.
One young woman said she makes $130,000 as a principal policy officer for Queensland Health despite ‘barely’ finishing high school.
She said she dodged uni and started at a call centre for the state’s health department at just 18-years-old before working her way through the ranks.
‘I work in the state budget team … So just working on budget submissions, a bit of project management, project engagement and stuff like that,’ she said.
One mum who helps sell fruit to Coles and Woolworths said high-ranking roles in horticulture can net over $200,000.
She said the industry is ‘crying out for young people’ and those who want to earn over six figures needed to ‘show some initiative’.
The workers are some of many interviewed by GetAhead who revealed Aussies can go against the conventional university pathway and still earn a well-paying salary.
Aussie have revealed how they’re making over six-figure salaries by starting from the bottom of the corporate ladder and working up instead of going to university
One man revealed he now earns upwards of $250,000 a year as an insurance underwriter after starting as a mail boy.
He said he ‘learned the ropes ropes from the ground up’ which gave him the skills to impress higher-ups when they finally gave him a chance.
‘(I’m) looking at risks and deciding which ones are good, which ones are bad, and then we put the pricing on it,’ he said.
His success in the industry also led to his employer paying for him to get a Master of Business Administration (MBA), progressing his career without incurring a debt.
Tradesmen also reported making swathes of money, with one plumber saying he makes $2,000 a week while a tree lopper said he made $26,000 in just a week of gruelling work.
Another man, a self-employed underground coal miner, said he makes in excess of $300,000 a year.
One mother said she started in a call centre in horticulture to earning above the average salary by selling fruit to Coles and Woolworths
A number of the jobs highlighted by the interviews are earning over the average Aussie salary which sits at just above $98,000, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The data also revealed the miner, who only need to take a one-year course, earns between $120,000 to $140,000 depending on the state.
Meanwhile, the average lawyer who spent about three-years in university earns between $90,000 to $110,000.
While the non-university workers may seem to be earning a feasible amount to purchase a property, analysis of PropTrack data by Finder.com.au found it not nearly enough to buy a home in Sydney.
The analysis found Aussies will now need to be earning $278,000 a year to buy a home in the NSW capital.
It also revealed homebuyers need to earn double the amount they did in 2020 just to afford the median-priced home in every capital except Darwin and Melbourne.
