10 Highest Paying Jobs in the US in 2016
The aim of life, for many, is to make as much money as possible. Many play what Robert S. de Ropp calls the ‘Hog in Trough’ game. Though there are more elevated games to play, we ought not to denounce this ‘object game’ unreservedly. One would do well to become a master, first, of the ‘object game’, claims de Ropp, before beginning to play the ‘meta-game’, whose end is the attainment of a cosmic consciousness.
Thus, in case you are a young man or woman wondering what to do with your life, wondering what route you ought best to take in order to become a master of the ‘Hog in Trough’ game, here follows a list of the ten highest paying jobs in the US (based on the findings of the job comparison website ‘Glassdoor’):
1. Physician - Salary : $180,000 PA
The physician’s median base salary (i.e., the salary than which half of physicians are paid more, half of physicians paid less) is $180,000 per annum. Considering the years of training, the long hours, and the exposure to the ugliest aspects of the human condition, physicians, perhaps, are deserving of their salaries.
2. Lawyer - Salary : $144,500 PA
The lawyer’s median base salary is $144,500. Like doctors, lawyers are required to undergo much education and examination—they must have a law degree, for example, and must pass a state’s written bar exam —before qualifying as a lawyer. For this reason, as well as their long work hours—many lawyers work in excess of forty hours a week—the lawyer’s salary is the second highest on our list.
3. Research and Development Manager - Salary : $142,120 PA
The average R&D manager makes $142,120. In charge of research into and development of products, the Research and Development Manager is in a position of great responsibility. One requires much experience and a high level of education to become a Research and Development Manager; for which reason their salaries are the third highest on our list.
4. Software Development Manager - Salary : $132,000 PA
These pull in a whopping $132,000 per annum. They spend their work time programming software; their leisure time- playing video games. Forgive me for stereotyping: some, I am sure, spend their leisure time reading Nietzsche.
5. Pharmacy Manager - Salary : $130,000 PA
Medium Base Salary: $130,000. The pharmacy manager leads a team of chemical-combining and prescription-writing pharmacists who wear white lab coats and help us defeat various diseases. These guys are great!
6. Strategy Manager : $130,000 PA
These guys too pull in $130,000 per annum; so technically they’re joint fifth. They’re in charge of strategizing businesses toward meteoric success; toward branching out, uniting with fellow businesses, etc. Such jobs require a high degree of education and entail a lot of responsibility for which they’re very well paid.
7. Software Architect - Salary : $128,250 PA
Some call these ‘the architects of the future’. The future is virtual reality, claims visionary Terence McKenna: there will come a time when, no longer fasted to the dying animal, we will all live eternally in dreamlands of our own creation. Why not? These software architects will rescue humanity from the slough of animal existence; these software architects deserve $128,250 at the very least. God bless the software architects! Hallelujah!
8. Integrated Circuit Design Engineer - Salary : $127,500
Just as essential to the attainment of virtual paradise as the software architects, these guys deserve their salaries equally. Though we might equate such a job title with a dull, balding task, we ought to be respectful of the engineers: these guys are taking humanity to the stars.
9. IT Manager - Salary : $120,000
IT is where the money is. I know a man; he comes from my hometown; he is an IT Manager and he makes ‘mad stacks of cash’. He can afford to go all the way to Las Vegas to attend Star Trek conventions; because he works in IT.
10. Solutions Architect - Salary : $120,000
Requiring an education in various fields including information, computing, and business—the Solutions Architect is a high-ranking member of the IT hierarchy.
So that’s the lot, then. Those are the ten highest paying jobs in the US at the moment. Don’t sound like much fun, do they? Perhaps there’s a reason they’re so well paid: because no one else wants to do them. Maybe you still envy them. Don’t. Because, so long as you make enough to live off of, everything is fine. Let’s all rise above the worldly hurly-burly! As we know, there are more important games to play.
