Are there high paying jobs that you can work from home?

[noobie]

I'd like to hear from people working from home or know someone who does.  I eventually (within 4-5 years) want to quit my current job and work independently or telecommute.  I am pretty much open to anything that doesn't require me to go back to school full time and has the potential to pay well (100k+).  I am 40 y/o PhD (in physical science) currently making 135k+.  Computer industry seems obvious but there are so many different types of computer jobs (and not all pay equally as well). 

[marty998]

Financial services - I have accounting and finance colleagues who work from home.

Our office is in Sydney. One lives 6 hours drive up the North coast of NSW, the other lives in Canberra.

If you've got email, a messenger type function and a phone, there's no reason not to be able to work from anywhere if your job doesn't involve manual labor or client face-to-face meetings, and even then you can Skype/video call your clients.

[mozar]

It seems like it's more about convincing your boss to let you do it. I read the 4 hour workweek and it had some tips. I get 2 days telework now and am thinking of strategies to convince  my boss to increase it. I work in accounting.

[Rhoon]

Sales Engineer. I'm either home or at a customer site; more at home and the 40% travel breaks up the month

[iluvzbeach]

Software industry, fintech specifically. 100% work from home + travel. Pay at or above what you're currently making. No PhD required.

[cchrissyy]

The best paid WFH jobs are just arranging to do your old job, but from home.
Go freelance doing whatever you are already professionally experienced at.
Or be employed but do it home-based not office-based.

[Kaminoge]

The best paid WFH jobs are just arranging to do your old job, but from home.
Go freelance doing whatever you are already professionally experienced at.
Or be employed but do it home-based not office-based.

This. My husband is an office manager. Basically he manages all the non-attorney staff at a law firm, hiring, firing, marketing, leases... and a million other things that are required to run a law firm. Not the sort of thing you'd naturally think of as a "work from home" job. He's been doing in from on the road the last few years. Multiple time zones, multiple countries. Then he met me and now he's "settled down" in Bulgaria where he continues to do the same job which is based in the US.

I'm not claiming his job is super high paying (although the salary certainly goes a lot further living in Bulgaria than it would if he lived in NYC for example) but I'm just pointing out that there's all sort of things that can probably be done remotely if you've got a boss with enough vision.

[big_slacker]

I did a combo of WFH and travel to consult for almost a decade making in the $125-$150k range.

Yes, computer stuff. Network security specifically. To make the pay rate though you'll need between 5-10 years of experience and probably some industry certifications. I know a lot of the IT folks here are programmer types, but networking is oft overlooked and absolutely necessary in today's world as everything has to talk to everything.

I think the problem with your transition though would be the people who can demand/land the remote jobs are those with lots of experience and high level certification. The lower levels you'd have to progress through are usually on site. Don't know how feel about doing that.

[ender]

Yes, computer stuff. Network security specifically. To make the pay rate though you'll need between 5-10 years of experience and probably some industry certifications. I know a lot of the IT folks here are programmer types, but networking is oft overlooked and absolutely necessary in today's world as everything has to talk to everything.

I think the problem with your transition though would be the people who can demand/land the remote jobs are those with lots of experience and high level certification. The lower levels you'd have
to progress through are usually on site. Don't know how feel about doing that.

I think this is key.

If you are an experienced professional, you have a much higher likelihood of this than entry level folks.

[GetItRight]

IT or dev. There is value in being present in the office from time to time but I can do 99% of my job remotely.

Sales, particularly if you deal with customers in other time zones. Remote or at least flexible office hours can be done.

Mostly it depends on the office culture and your boss as to how feasible it is.

[QueenAlice]

For a science PhD, consulting may be the way to go.

I started offering consulting services to companies (remotely) while in grad school and continued through my post-doc to make a few extra bucks. The hourly rate you can charge is just ridiculous. I'd simply say something like "I would love to help out on a project if you find you need an extra hand" while networking. That line works surprisingly well. One of the companies eventually offered me a full-time position which remained work from home and the starting salary was well over 100k.

My PhD is in engineering, but I work with plenty of science PhDs who consult. With a consulting gig, you may never even actually need to work for another company, anyway. Just set yourself up as an independent contractor.

[abhe8]

How about teaching? My bil teacher online classes, all from home. Could pair that with another work from home job to boost income.

[Smevans]

I guess you can say I work from home. I am an account manager. Make around $85k right now but co-workers make over $100k. Work from home 2-3 days a week, on the road visiting my accounts the other days.

[letired]

If you have the statistics/data experience and you are interested in picking up some basic scripting/programming, Data Science might be a good fit. My friend who is currently working on getting into that field said starting around 100K is not unheard of. YMMV, etc.

[Case]

For a science PhD, consulting may be the way to go.

I started offering consulting services to companies (remotely) while in grad school and continued through my post-doc to make a few extra bucks. The hourly rate you can charge is just ridiculous. I'd simply say something like "I would love to help out on a project if you find you need an extra hand" while networking. That line works surprisingly well. One of the companies eventually offered me a full-time position which remained work from home and the starting salary was well over 100k.

My PhD is in engineering, but I work with plenty of science PhDs who consult. With a consulting gig, you may never even actually need to work for another company, anyway. Just set yourself up as an independent contractor.

I am a science PhD, now with 5 years of industry experience.  Do you know how one goes about getting into consulting? 

[eyePod]

If you have the statistics/data experience and you are interested in picking up some basic scripting/programming, Data Science might be a good fit. My friend who is currently working on getting into that field said starting around 100K is not unheard of. YMMV, etc.

Data science and analytics is a hugely popular field. I've thought about getting a masters in it but A - I have not programmed significantly at all and only minimally did during college and B - I don't want to take the time to get my masters in that when I already have a masters in engineering. The flexibility would be nice but not worth the time requirement.

[2Birds1Stone]

Sales. I know many software sales professionals making $200k/yr + working from home 75% of the time with 25% travel.

[chesebert]

USPTO.  Patent Examiner.

With a PhD you'll start at about $80k and can get to $100k base salary in about 3yrs capping out at about $150k (eventually) unless you go the mgmt route.  With overtime and bonuses you can get over $100k after the first year and potential to make about $180k.

You can work from home after 2yrs, GS-12 grade and passing 1/2 the patent bar test.  You can't work from Hawaii or Alaska,  but Puerto Rico is available.

Part time schedules available after 3yrs of service or if you have young children (not sure on exact rules). Pension accrues at 1% per yr until you hit 20yrs at which point it changes to 1.1% per year.

Be prepared for a constant workload based on a production system.  Some call it a white collar sweat shop. 

You can do better being a patent attorney (prosecution) and working from home. Might not be able to do that when you are starting out but definitely achievable after a few years of practice.

[squatman]

For a science PhD, consulting may be the way to go.

I started offering consulting services to companies (remotely) while in grad school and continued through my post-doc to make a few extra bucks. The hourly rate you can charge is just ridiculous. I'd simply say something like "I would love to help out on a project if you find you need an extra hand" while networking. That line works surprisingly well. One of the companies eventually offered me a full-time position which remained work from home and the starting salary was well over 100k.

My PhD is in engineering, but I work with plenty of science PhDs who consult. With a consulting gig, you may never even actually need to work for another company, anyway. Just set yourself up as an independent contractor.

I am a science PhD, now with 5 years of industry experience.  Do you know how one goes about getting into consulting?

I'm a science PhD with management consulting experience and I have the same question. :)

[trashmanz]

USPTO.  Patent Examiner.

With a PhD you'll start at about $80k and can get to $100k base salary in about 3yrs capping out at about $150k (eventually) unless you go the mgmt route.  With overtime and bonuses you can get over $100k after the first year and potential to make about $180k.

You can work from home after 2yrs, GS-12 grade and passing 1/2 the patent bar test.  You can't work from Hawaii or Alaska,  but Puerto Rico is available.

Part time schedules available after 3yrs of service or if you have young children (not sure on exact rules). Pension accrues at 1% per yr until you hit 20yrs at which point it changes to 1.1% per year.

Be prepared for a constant workload based on a production system.  Some call it a white collar sweat shop. 

You can do better being a patent attorney (prosecution) and working from home. Might not be able to do that when you are starting out but definitely achievable after a few years of practice.

Generally physical science is less in demand than computer technologies with regards to patent prosecution but it is possible to make good money if you carve out a specialty. Not sure I'd recommend going to law school though because you can get a large percentage of the pay as a patent agent. Just depends how serious and how long someone wants to do patent prosecution.

[nawhite]

I work remotely doing DevOps (IT related) not quite at that salary but close. Everyone in IT at my company works 100% remote. We usually have a get together about once a year. I currently live in an RV full time and work outside whenever the weather is nice.

The best paid WFH jobs are just arranging to do your old job, but from home.
Go freelance doing whatever you are already professionally experienced at.
Or be employed but do it home-based not office-based.

The problem here is changing the company culture. After working at a place where EVERYONE is remote, it really makes all the difference. There are good processes in place (other than "time in chair") to track work done and communication works so much smoother when ALL conversations are via phone (or whatever tech your company uses). The most annoying thing about being "the guy who works from home" on a team where everyone else doesn't is you get left out of discussions unless everyone has good teleconference etiquette.

[trashmanz]

USPTO.  Patent Examiner.

With a PhD you'll start at about $80k and can get to $100k base salary in about 3yrs capping out at about $150k (eventually) unless you go the mgmt route.  With overtime and bonuses you can get over $100k after the first year and potential to make about $180k.

You can work from home after 2yrs, GS-12 grade and passing 1/2 the patent bar test.  You can't work from Hawaii or Alaska,  but Puerto Rico is available.

Part time schedules available after 3yrs of service or if you have young children (not sure on exact rules). Pension accrues at 1% per yr until you hit 20yrs at which point it changes to 1.1% per year.

Be prepared for a constant workload based on a production system.  Some call it a white collar sweat shop. 

You can do better being a patent attorney (prosecution) and working from home. Might not be able to do that when you are starting out but definitely achievable after a few years of practice.

Generally physical science is less in demand than computer technologies with regards to patent prosecution but it is possible to make good money if you carve out a specialty. Not sure I'd recommend going to law school though because you can get a large percentage of the pay as a patent agent. Just depends how serious and how long someone wants to do patent prosecution.

I would imagine with no IP experience and no law degree the OP will have to be hired on as a Technical Specialist and end up doing the same work as a Patent Agent/Attorney for much less pay until they pass the Patent Bar.  From what I have read, law firms are only hiring Technical Specialists with a PhD in a high demand field (so I'm not sure about the demand for the OP's specific field, but the PhD portion is satisfied).  However, I'm just an Examiner and not a Patent Attorney/Agent.

Yes, passing at least the patent bar would be the minimum level of effort if one is serious about getting work, but also would need to find a Firm willing to train a new agent and get them up to speed.  That is not often an easy job to land, and also would require in office work for a while to get up to their comfort level. 

How is your work as an Examiner?  Stress level from 1-10?  Probably depends on lot on supervisor?

[effigy98]

Software Developer, I would say after about 5 years experience you can get your total comp to be between 200k and 300k. I did not go to college, just picked up a few books, did a few projects that were interesting to automate, and learned on the job.

[QueenAlice]

For a science PhD, consulting may be the way to go.

I started offering consulting services to companies (remotely) while in grad school and continued through my post-doc to make a few extra bucks. The hourly rate you can charge is just ridiculous. I'd simply say something like "I would love to help out on a project if you find you need an extra hand" while networking. That line works surprisingly well. One of the companies eventually offered me a full-time position which remained work from home and the starting salary was well over 100k.

My PhD is in engineering, but I work with plenty of science PhDs who consult. With a consulting gig, you may never even actually need to work for another company, anyway. Just set yourself up as an independent contractor.

I am a science PhD, now with 5 years of industry experience.  Do you know how one goes about getting into consulting?

I'm a science PhD with management consulting experience and I have the same question. :)

It is 100% networking, you really have to put yourself out there.

Go to conferences, meet new people, talk with your PhD advisor about their network, look through your LinkedIn connections to see who you know that is connected to someone in the industry your expertise is in. Consulting opportunities don't just fall into your lap, initially. You need to get the ball rolling. Get your name out there as an expert in your field, build a solid reputation.

I have walked up to people after seeing their presentation and point blank said "The work you presented is really interesting, I would love to get involved somehow." In person conversations are much more effective than trying this over email or through a LinkedIn message.

Networking is a generic answer, but it is THE answer.

[tyleriam]

Software Developer, I would say after about 5 years experience you can get your total comp to be between 200k and 300k. I did not go to college, just picked up a few books, did a few projects that were interesting to automate, and learned on the job.

Wow.  Tell us more about this.

[JLee]

Software Developer, I would say after about 5 years experience you can get your total comp to be between 200k and 300k. I did not go to college, just picked up a few books, did a few projects that were interesting to automate, and learned on the job.

That's insane.  I hit ~100k after 3 years in IT but the growth pace is definitely slowing down now...I'd be absolutely stunned if I managed 200k in the next 2 years.

It'd be really convenient if I had any interest in software, but I really don't...

[big_slacker]

Software Developer, I would say after about 5 years experience you can get your total comp to be between 200k and 300k. I did not go to college, just picked up a few books, did a few projects that were interesting to automate, and learned on the job.

Wow.  Tell us more about this.

I would be interested to hear as well. I work for one of the big tech companies and while there are a shit ton of devs making 6 figures 200-300k total comp is pretty rare.

Are we talking 1099 or W2?

[chesebert]

Software Developer, I would say after about 5 years experience you can get your total comp to be between 200k and 300k. I did not go to college, just picked up a few books, did a few projects that were interesting to automate, and learned on the job.

Wow.  Tell us more about this.

I would be interested to hear as well. I work for one of the big tech companies and while there are a shit ton of devs making 6 figures 200-300k total comp is pretty rare.

Are we talking 1099 or W2?

I am interested as well. How many hours do you typically work for your 300K comp?

[Beridian]

I currently work from home and have been doing so since 1997.  I provide technical support to field service technicians for a large technology company.  The pay is pretty good (130K-ish) but it took me thirty two years to get to this position and at that pay.   I think that as a general rule no company is going to pay a home office worker a high salary until that employee has a decade or so of proven performance.  Lower paid call center workers, transcribers and such are a different can of worms.

As a side note working from home isnt for everyone.  I tend towards introversion so it suits me, but even as a introvert I still get bouts of cabin fever and need to get out once in awhile.  Also working at home certainly is not the way to go if you are ambitious and seeking to rise within the ranks of a company, ditto if you aspire to starting your own company and need to make contacts and build relationships.  I felt that working at home was appropriate for me only after I had built my reputation within my company and was on the back slope of my career aspirations.

PS - one reason why my employer accepts home office workers for technical support roles is that we work rotational on-call weeks where we get woke up at all hours of the night to assist with crisis's.  Working at home benefits my employer because I am fully geared up to do my job at any hour of the day.  For other job roles they would not be as receptive, there has to be a clear benefit for the company as well as the employee.

[ender]

A moderately experienced dev (~5-10 years experience) can go to work at Amazon/Google/Facebook/etc and make well into the mid-$100k range base salary and have considerable other benefits as well (stock options, etc).

[Schaefer Light]

PS - one reason why my employer accepts home office workers for technical support roles is that we work rotational on-call weeks where we get woke up at all hours of the night to assist with crisis's.  Working at home benefits my employer because I am fully geared up to do my job at any hour of the day.  For other job roles they would not be as receptive, there has to be a clear benefit for the company as well as the employee.

I get what you're saying, but any person who's job can be done with a PC, broadband connection, and phone and who's performance won't suffer because of being remote should be a candidate to work from home.  Even if there's no obvious added benefit in terms of an employee's performance, the company will save a bit on their energy bill for each person they let work remotely.  They may also be able to reduce the footprint of their physical office space.  Plus, studies have shown that employees are more likely to stay with a company if remote work is an option.

[soccerluvof4]

Third Party logistics/Freight Brokers. Make six figures pretty quickly

[RobFIRE]

I WFH though travel to client site for work most weeks (currently 2 days a week, was 3 days a week last year). This is in software consultancy & implementations. My job normally involves working on 1-2 year projects on client site, so employer expects me to be out of the office most the time anyway. So WFH was a logical extension of that, already have the remote connectivity set up, had been working for company for about 7 years and colleagues used to email/phone contact. It came about because I asked politely with good notice and had FU money had they said no.

I think there are plenty of jobs where part/most WFH is perfectly feasible. Lots in IT, research, consultancy. Though with consultancy/freelance/contracting get into a "work on client" site maybe more than WFH. And 100% WFH where working with colleagues had only met once or twice might be a bit problematic during times of stress. But then again, if you work for a large company you may regularly work with colleagues in other offices/countries who you've never met, even if there's no WFH.

In terms of which jobs really allow WFH, there are a few modern companies that do it explicitly; some more enlightened ones do it semi-formally (one I've heard about prefers people to WFH part time as they don't currently have the office space for everyone to have a desk and don't want the cost of having it); some may offer it informally and there will be some where the owner is a "want to SEE people working" person so won't allow it. Avoid the last set. Pprobably you're in a better position to ask after establishing a good record for a year or two (proving you get the work done and solve problems), and using the occasional "need to stay at home today for electrician to come round" to prove you're still responsive on those days. Secondly it probably really depends on your manager, some may feel against it for undefined reasons. Asking for a 1 day a week trial as a starting point could work (my WFH was agreed on an "as fits business needs" basis), then increasing it over time.