Eager to earn big bucks? There are many careers out there with salaries of over 100k, but as you can imagine they’re not easy to achieve. Often it takes years of education and training, as well as the willingness to work long and unpredictable hours with a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. You may even have to invest a lot of money into chasing your career. That said, such jobs often come with a lot of prestige and the high income gives you a good quality of life outside work hours (work hard, play hard!). Here are just a few of the highest paying jobs for those considering such a career and how you can achieve them.

 

Surgeon

 

There are many well paid medical careers out there ranging from anesthesiology to dentistry, however, surgery is usually the highest earning with an average salary of £100 -£150k for senior surgeons. Becoming a surgeon involves obtaining a bachelor’s degree after which you’ll go on to complete a minimum of four years at medical school. Getting into medical school is no easy feat and many that do get through don’t pass the vigorous exams. For those that do succeed, there is then the option of specialising in surgery and completing a residency program in which you work as a surgeon under supervision. All in all, it could take over ten years before you’re on a full salary, but for many people it’s worth it.

 

Data scientist

 

Data science is the hottest new tech career and involves finding productive new methods from big data. Data scientists can earn anywhere from £30k to over £100k depending on the company. You’ll need to be good at maths and ideally have programming knowledge to chase this career – there are now courses in data science, although courses in computer science can also help you get into this career.

 

Financial advisor

 

Financial advisors help everyday people and businesses to better manage their finances. The job has an average salary of £40k – finding a placement at a large company or starting your own business can earn you the most amount of money, often allowing people to earn beyond the 100k mark. Scoring this career requires completing a finance-related bachelor’s degree and then completing a certification preparatory program. Some financial advisors also take a psychology course to help increase their chances of obtaining this career (financial advisors may also serve as counsellors in many cases, which requires a good understanding of people).

 

Aircraft pilot

 

Commercial airline pilots working for the largest airlines can take home £140,000 a year. Courses in aviation such as these ACS 10 aviation courses are the best way to get into this career, after which you’ll have to attend a flight school and complete a minimum 40 hours of flying before you can get your pilot’s license. Working for a major commercial airline may involve obtaining 3000 hours of flight experience first, on top of a full medical check and various licensing – many people work as flight instructors beforehand or pilot private/chartered jets.  

 

Air traffic controller

 

Air traffic controllers are responsible for organising air traffic to and from airports and can earn up to £90,000 a year (most start on a salary of £30k). This career field is notoriously known as being one of the hardest to get into and involves completing numerous tests, some of which require a 100% pass mark. That said, no prior qualifications are needed and you can apply for training with no more than 1 GCSE. Once you’ve obtained your ATC license and a full medical check, you can get hired.

 

Marketing manager

 

Many company management positions will earn you big bucks, but marketing executives often have the biggest salaries with some earning well over £100k. There are numerous ways to obtain this job title from starting your own company to scaling the career ladder, but often you’ll need some qualifications behind you and a few years of experience. There are so many different niches from sales to SEO to advertising – it’s often worth specialising in one and focusing all your energy on become an expert in this area.

 

IT manager

 

IT company managers can also earn over £100k, making this another well paid management position. An IT-related bachelor’s degree is often required, after which there are many ways in which you can carve out this career including working your way up the ranks of a company or simply starting your own business. As with becoming a marketing manager, you’re best finding some kind of speciality within the field in order to succeed.