Welcome to Edition #13 of Ask Gorick Anything. This AMA is part of Gorick's Newsletter, where Harvard career advisor and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Gorick Ng shares what they don't teach you in school about how to succeed in your career.
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→ Read time: 5 min
ASK GORICK ANYTHING
“What jobs out there are high-paying but do not require you to be ‘noticed’ or work very much with people?”
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Subscriber’s question:
“What jobs out there are high-paying but do not require you to be ‘noticed’ or work very much with people?”
— “Pete” from Charlotte, NC, USA
Gorick’s response:
Hi Pete,
This is such an interesting question that I just couldn’t ignore it. Thank you for making me think!
I wish I could just give you a straight answer like “go be an accountant,” but career decisions are never this straightforward. We need to get a bit more nuanced—and this begins with asking:
1. What counts as “high paying”?
2. How do you “not work very much with people”?
3. Under what circumstances do you not need to be “noticed”?
4. What’s realistically attainable?
(You didn’t ask #4, but my response felt incomplete without it, so here I am)
We’ll tackle the first 2 questions today, and I’ll address the last 2—how to avoid being noticed and what’s realistically attainable—next week.
1. What counts as “high paying”?
What counts as “high paying” depends on your context. The more you live in an area with a high cost of living (I noticed Charlotte is slightly below average in terms of cost of living in the U.S.—which is a good thing!), the less debt you owe.
Meanwhile, the lower your own “overhead,” the less you’ll need to make to consider your job “high paying.”
In contrast, the more expensive your area is, the more money you owe, the more people you need to support, the more expensive your lifestyle is, and the more lifestyle inflation you have, the more you’ll need to make for your job to be considered “high paying.”
(I still remember stepping foot on Wall Street and being in awe at the higher-ups, some of whom were making millions. Then, a coworker whispered in my ear, “Don’t be fooled; many of these people are living paycheck to paycheck.” As the son of a working-class single mom, I was floored. How?? But yep—lifestyle inflation is a thing! And so are golden handcuffs.)
Of course, few people would say “no” to more money, but life is so much more than just about making money. It’s about living a happy and fulfilled life—and being happy begins with asking, “What’s enough?”
A 2003 study published in Psychological Science put it best: having more money might make you happier, but seeking more money won’t. So, rather than get caught up with the pursuit of “I must make $X to be happy,” do what companies do: a “cost-benefit analysis”—fancy speak for “is this worth it?”
Or, in the context of pay, ask yourself, “Is this high(er) pay worth the sacrifice?” If it isn’t, you might soon realize that the extra zeros in your bank account still can’t make up for your lost mental and physical well-being.
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2. How can you “not work very much with people”?
By avoiding a promotion. Seriously.
There are 3 types of jobs out there:
1. Deciding jobs—where you determine what to do next for the organization or team (and spend all day, every day, working with people)
- This is what senior leaders do (e.g., CEOs, Presidents, SVPs, Managing Directors, Executive Directors)
2. Scoping jobs—where you take a decision and figure out who should do what and how (and spend much of your day working with people)
- This is what middle managers do (e.g., Managers, Senior Managers, Directors)
3. Doing jobs—where you do what someone else has already decided and scoped out (and might be able to afford not working with others)
- This is what junior or front-line employees do (e.g., Analysts, Senior Analysts—which are Individual Contributor jobs)
Take the case of a software engineer. It seems like a job that would involve lots of coding and little human interaction, but this is only true at the entry-level.
What happens if you get promoted to, say, a Lead Engineer or Tech Lead? No longer are you doing the work—you’re scoping the work.
What if you get promoted further to, say, VP of Engineering or maybe even CTO (Chief Technology Officer)? No longer are you doing or scoping—you’re deciding (and delegating the rest).
Here’s the reality of career advancement: You may be able to start your career exclusively staring at numbers, petri dishes, or code, but if you want to make more money (which I assume is your goal), you will need to get promoted.
And so we arrive at a bit of tension in your question: your desire for high pay and your desire to not have to work with people. If you’re okay with (and can*) stay in a doing job forever, then you can make do without much human interaction.
Assuming you’re talking about white collar jobs, just look for roles with the words “quantitative,” “data,” “technical”/”technician,” and/or “research” (e.g., “quantitative researcher,” “data scientist,” or “laboratory researcher” or “lab technician”).
*Notice the asterisk? I said, “If you’re okay with (and can*) stay in a doing job forever.” Why? Because the more your job involves just following someone else’s instructions without any creativity, adaptability, or human interaction, the easier your job will be to be replaced by AI. So, while your job may pay well now, the party might not last for long.
I know this is a long answer to a short question, but career building is complex! Hope I’ve at least given you a bit more clarity, though. :)
Next week, I’ll tackle:
- How to avoid being “noticed” at work
- What’s realistically attainable for your career
So, don’t forget to check back in. See you then!
—Gorick
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