How are you making money?

I work in environmental consulting, doing pre-construction wildlife surveys (usually desert tortoise) before development projects break ground. Usually it’s for solar farms, mines, or really any development on public land. Most of the survey work is during 4 months of the year during the field season. Tons of hiking, hot days, living out of your car usually. Pretty fun though.

Other work during the year is being the on-site biologist at these projects, acting to make sure environmental regulations are being followed. Long days on a construction site, construction worker hours. Think 60-75hrs a week, 6-7 days a week. Can be pretty brutal mentally tbh.

As an entree level *employee*, pay is just okay. However many times you can get hired by companies as a sub-contractor and pay rates are much much higher, well worth it. The big plus is you just take whatever work you want. It allows me a binge-work-binge-play lifestyle currently. I’ll work pretty full on 4-5 months of the year, take the rest off and do trips and travel. 

 I work at a large tech company as an average corporate slave. But, it’s a pretty relaxing job and I easily work less than 40hr a week, I just view it as a way to fund my actual life.

Christen Shultzwrote:

Just graduated high school and working a minimum-wage fast-food job!

trying to figure out cool ways to make enough money to live and also climb a lot for the next couple of years.

Buy all the BTC you can get your hands on, and get a Youtube channel established.  
When the market runs again in a couple years, and if you can master the art of financial self-custody, you'll be sitting in the driver's seat for years to come.

FrankPSwrote:

What are you doing after you graduate from high school? I hope it's more than just climbing. College? Full-time job? Learn a trade?

Are your parents letting you live at home while you're working your fast-food job?

Don't make climbing your primary goal.

Don’t listen to frank, you can make climbing your primary goal. Just don’t expect to make any money 

To echo those that have said it already, Healthcare is a solid option. Travel nursing gigs typically pay well and can afford you the opportunity to move around while making good money. It's also pretty secure as an industry, and I think people landlords/short term rentals are generally pretty happy to rent to Healthcare workers. 

In that same vein, mental health work is also a growing industry with a lot of demand. There's a ton of variability in what you can do, but I'm working on a Masters in mental health and plan to work in private practice/for a group when I finish up. It's relatively good pay (generally, not always), and it affords the option to do telehealth and work your own schedule. That said, it's not necessarily easy work, emotionally, and can have high consequences that are often overlooked. Lots of shitty therapists out there. 

Well, this thread is a wake-up call for me at least, that it's time to get a new and better software job. The current one's really making me cynical.

I work as a sous chef at a casual fine dining restaurant. I work 3 (sometimes 4) days a week, usually 9-10 hours a day. My rent is cheap, and I have 3-4 days a week to fuck around. I used to do the corporate m-f nonsense which had many advantages but free time was not one of them. 

I worked as a bellman at a hotel in Jackson, Wy for 10 years. Great experience and money was nice but having shifts that were 7am-3pm or 3pm-11pm afforded me many hours of pre or post work shenanigans. If you speak English and have a pulse, many hotels will hire you for a front desk or bell position in beautiful place. 

Dirt Kingwrote:

Mineral exploration and commercial fishing, gotta give up 3-6 months of the year to do just that, but get the rest of the year to do whatever.

Zach is that you lol

John Edwinwrote:

Zach is that you lol

Idk, ask Willow

Eric Roewrote:

I have absolutely zero qualms about telling college students to study IT or software dev, it's probably the single most consistent fast track to upper-middle class available to the average joe.  And it's inherently future-proof.  

I wish this were true. 
Unfortunately IT or software dev follow the same boom and bust cycles as all other industries (except government).

Quite a few people on this forum work as Registered Nurses with good enough money and typically 4 x 12 hours shifts per week that allow at least 3 days off every week.
Another option is to work as a doctor at a hospital.
For example my son works 3 weeks every month (with some rotations having 7 work days per week) with 1 week off.
Recently he took 1 week of vacations that got combined with 1 week off from a previous month and 1 week off from the next months that gave him 3 weeks off.  

Yurywrote:

Quite a few people on this forum work as Registered Nurses with good enough money and typically 4 x 12 hours shifts per week that allow at least 3 days off every week.  

Nursing, technologist, therapist (radiation, respiratory, physical, etc), technician, sales. All these healthcare positions are a faster and more sure track to upper middle class than IT. Not all even require patient care interaction. The catch is that they can’t be done remote.

the best decision you can make financially, though, is to not have a kid

Christen Shultzwrote:

What do yall do for work to fund your climbing?

Does your job let you get out very often?

How often can you afford to go on a climbing trip?

By now, you’ve received a wide range of ideas, but by providing some extra information, you might be able to hone in on a few ideas a bit better.

Is your goal to climb as much as you can and put everything else in life on hold?

Do you want to climb once or twice a week, and go on a couple of big trips each year?

Is there a region/state you want to live in?

Is there a job(s) / career path(s) you are currently considering?

Do you want to go to college?

Do you want to have a family or own a home in a few years/ever?

I’ve worked state jobs most of my career.  The pay is good enough where climbing is hardly about the money, but rather about the time. Before getting married, getting a house, and having a kid, I was hitting ~50 climbing days per year. Most of them were at my local crag (45-60 minutes away), but I’d take at least one or two big trips each year. 

Really good thread. 4 pages in, I'm surprised that not only did FrankPS not cry bot but he actually responded like a regular person. Although he did ask a bot probing question.

"Anything that pays ain't nothing to be ashamed of, one racket's as good as the next. A man who's ashamed of his racket is a man who's ashamed of his mother." 

 --Nelson Algren, The Man with the Golden Arm

J Ewrote:

Nursing, technologist, therapist, technician, sales. All these healthcare positions are a faster and more sure track to upper middle class than IT. Not all even require patient care interaction. The catch is that they can’t be done remote.

the best decision you can make financially, though, is to not have a kid

I'd argue against that, for therapists at least. COVID showed us that remote therapy, particularly with modalities like CBT, are just as, if not more effective over telehealth than in person. The body of therapists successfully practicing effective remote therapy is growing quick. The bonus is that wherever you're licensed, say, WA for example, my clients are required to be present in state, but I am not. 

Jeremy Lwrote:

Really good thread. 4 pages in, I'm surprised that not only did FrankPS not cry bot but he actually responded like a regular person. Although he did ask a bot probing question.

Thank you for the honorable mention. I'm sorry I got into your head, but this, too, shall pass. Don't let me own you like that.

Teacher and Climbing Gym Instructor with a wife who's salary (will always) dwarfs mine.

James Wolffwrote:

I'd argue against that, for therapists at least. COVID showed us that remote therapy, particularly with modalities like CBT, are just as, if not more effective over telehealth than in person. The body of therapists successfully practicing effective remote therapy is growing quick. The bonus is that wherever you're licensed, say, WA for example, my clients are required to be present in state, but I am not. 

I was speaking more about medical therapies such as radiation therapy, physical therapy, respiratory therapy, etc.

I don’t think psych is easy to get into as general healthcare

J Ewrote:

I was speaking more about medical therapies such as radiation therapy, physical therapy, respiratory therapy, etc.

I don’t think psych is easy to get into as general healthcare

Do you mean in the sense that most sustainable psych careers are masters level or above? It is definitely not due to demand, though I can appreciate that the road to some specialties is longer/more expensive than others. 

I think the other neat thing about the fields you mentioned is the opportunity for travel contracts. Not remote, but allows you to rotate to different areas. Difficulty may vary depending on specialty, but I know some PT's, OT's, and respiratory therapist's that have enjoyed the benefits of travel contracts as a means to access more climbing opportunities. Point being, a lot of healthcare jobs will be good launching points for this lifestyle.