What are the best paying careers for you if you hold just an associate’s degree? Well, there’s a long list of careers, the pay scales of which are impressive enough to boggle your mind.
Seems to me, schooling doesn’t please you much. All you need is a whopping salary package with little efforts, or let’s just say, an associate’s degree. I don’t mean to dishearten my readers, but there is one thing I must tell you. If you’ve decided to go on a job hunting spree with an associate’s degree in hand, make sure you select your niche pretty well. The reason is, after some years, when you’re bored of what you’re doing, you might wish to switch to a different career. However, to your dismay, there might not be a lot many options to choose from. It has really happened with many. But, you can loosen your tie knots for there do exist some fields that offer enough flexibility even after a long course of service. What are they? Well, take account of the following options which make up for the best paying careers with an associate’s degree. As soon as you pass out from the school, land into any of these as an intern to test-drive them. Who knows, you might just find a career you always wished for yourself!
As the saying goes, with high education comes a high salary! But the following fields seem to bend the fact, if only a little. The jobs of many health care professionals and IT technicians have surpassed even the most lucrative of jobs that demand at least a four-year college degree from an accredited university. Take account of the following career paths that you can acquire with an associate’s degree.
| Registered Nurses |
| It might just astonish you to know that 42 per cent of registered nurses (RNs) in the US are the ones that hold just an associate’s degree, and haven’t studied any further. Well, if health care specialties amuse you, helping people understand their dietary needs gives you immense happiness, becoming a registered nurse can be the best paying career with superb job security for you with just an associate’s degree in hand. Annual Salary: $73,000. |
| Computer Specialists |
| Many friends of mine have always had a thing for bits and bytes. You unscrew the entire computer system, and they will screw it up all over again, sometimes, in a better condition, if need be. If you are the same, the job of a computer specialist doesn’t need a fancy degree. All you need is an associate’s degree, and some relevant experience, and you could take a hefty salary home! Annual Salary: $68,000. |
| Dental Hygienists |
| If you become a dental hygienist, you wouldn’t step out of your bed every morning before thanking all the chocolate companies of the world! Talk to your patients while knocking out the decayed tooth, and you could mint big bucks, even when you aren’t as qualified as an experienced dentist. You could also become a dental hygienist providing oral health assistance. Annual Salary: $62,000. |
| Radiology Technicians |
| In a world where technology surpasses itself everyday, the need for technicians who can keep up with the fast pace of technology is ever-increasing. If those intricate images of human body with the help of CT scans, x-rays, and MRIs make you happy, you should be a radiology technician! The best thing about this job is, you wouldn’t feel the need to switch to any other job for there is a lot to learn in terms of technology. Annual Salary: $60,000. |
| Paralegals |
| Looking forward to utilize your associate’s degree for a rather challenging profession? A career as a paralegal or a legal assistant can make you a valuable part of your law firm. There are a number of tasks of a lawyer that you would be asked to do. From advocating about legal rights to managing the responsibilities of the lawyer you are working with, there is a lot to do in this job. Annual Salary: $56,000. |
| IT Programmers |
| The more languages you know, the better it is for you. By languages I mean, .Net, C, C++, Visual Basic, Java, SQL, etc. An associate’s degree is more than sufficient for getting a job as an IT programmer, when there are a number of programmers who enjoy a big salary package with just a few certifications in hand. In just two or three years, you could gain enough experience to flaunt, and a promotion to request! Annual Salary: $54,000. |
Note: All the above-mentioned salaries are approximate, and may be subject to change.
While the above six are definitely the highest paying careers for the future that one can choose from with an associate’s degree in hand, what follows below is a list of some more careers with great pay scale that you could go for, if you don’t have interest in any of the above discussed fields. Browse through:
- Nuclear Medicine Technologists
- Sonogram Technicians
- Engineering Technologists
- Respiratory Therapists
- Police Officers
- Fashion Designers
- Ship Engineers
- Court Reporters
- Forensic Technicians
- Geological Technicians
Did you just realize that the career fields discussed above are dominated by ‘technicians’ of all kinds? Your associate’s degree which focuses on learning the technicalities of a particular field of your interest can help you mint big bucks. Figure out your passion, and breakthrough into any of the above-mentioned careers, each of which is equally lucrative. Whether you are looking for that big switch in life, or you are just a newbie to what they call the real world, there is no scarceness of opportunities, and the above career fields delineate this fact better than anything else.