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Best degree for making as much money as possible while maintaining a good work life balance (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter tonys88
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pikachu975
Premium Member
Computer science imo
If you wish to maintain a good work-life balance, it is reasonable to initially suggest avoiding degrees such as a Bachelor of Laws, Doctor of Medicine and similar degrees (for instance, a Bachelor of Nursing). There is a general consensus that while such degrees may enable their holders to lead highly-rewarding careers, the type and extent of work that must be completed to reach such stages are typically higher than other fields, that is also in addition to the longer duration of these degrees, with the minimum study path length for the Doctor of Medicine being 5 years for example.
While the extent to which your career will include a good work-life balance is dependent on your own working conditions (which may be different to those of other individuals), degrees that may lead to careers that generally offer favourable compensation while allowing you to maintain a good work-life balance include:
While the extent to which your career will include a good work-life balance is dependent on your own working conditions (which may be different to those of other individuals), degrees that may lead to careers that generally offer favourable compensation while allowing you to maintain a good work-life balance include:
- Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) and similar degrees - Consistent with the above post, career paths that may be accessible, such as in data, software and systems tend to offer good work-life balance. Working from home and the hybrid model of work are increasing in popularity and enable employees to work and effectively complete their tasks, while allowing them additional flexibility, which in turn makes a positive contribution to their work-life balance. There seems to be favourable salary increases the more experienced an employee becomes. A relative of mine has been a network engineer for 3-4 years and earns a six-figure salary. Of course, whether you will be able to achieve such progress from a compensation perspective will also depend on your own performance in your job.
- Bachelor of Business/Commerce - Depending on the specific major, a career in business can also offer additional flexibility by either offering working-from-home options or adopting a hybrid model, where the focus is placed on achieving particular goals, rather than maintaining a traditional 9-5. One thing to note is that salaries for entry-level positions may be slightly lower than those in the aforementioned paths, although they do tend to increase as you gain more experience and work in higher positions.
Would you recommend advanced computing/commerce at usyd then?If you wish to maintain a good work-life balance, it is reasonable to initially suggest avoiding degrees such as a Bachelor of Laws, Doctor of Medicine and similar degrees (for instance, a Bachelor of Nursing). There is a general consensus that while such degrees may enable their holders to lead highly-rewarding careers, the type and extent of work that must be completed to reach such stages are typically higher than other fields, that is also in addition to the longer duration of these degrees, with the minimum study path length for the Doctor of Medicine being 5 years for example.
While the extent to which your career will include a good work-life balance is dependent on your own working conditions (which may be different to those of other individuals), degrees that may lead to careers that generally offer favourable compensation while allowing you to maintain a good work-life balance include:
I hope this helps!
- Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) and similar degrees - Consistent with the above post, career paths that may be accessible, such as in data, software and systems tend to offer good work-life balance. Working from home and the hybrid model of work are increasing in popularity and enable employees to work and effectively complete their tasks, while allowing them additional flexibility, which in turn makes a positive contribution to their work-life balance. There seems to be favourable salary increases the more experienced an employee becomes. A relative of mine has been a network engineer for 3-4 years and earns a six-figure salary. Of course, whether you will be able to achieve such progress from a compensation perspective will also depend on your own performance in your job.
- Bachelor of Business/Commerce - Depending on the specific major, a career in business can also offer additional flexibility by either offering working-from-home options or adopting a hybrid model, where the focus is placed on achieving particular goals, rather than maintaining a traditional 9-5. One thing to note is that salaries for entry-level positions may be slightly lower than those in the aforementioned paths, although they do tend to increase as you gain more experience and work in higher positions.
The Bachelor of Advanced Computing/Bachelor of Commerce seems like a good option as it allows you to gain knowledge and skills relevant to both fields and potentially lead a career that involves applying what you learn in both degrees on a daily basis. I think that, in making an informed decision, it is important to consider two factors:
- Whether you are happy to study for 5 years as opposed to 4 years or 3 years in the case of the Bachelor of Advanced Computing and Bachelor of Commerce respectively.
- Whether you can actually pursue a career that provides you with the opportunity to apply knowledge and skills relevant to both fields. It is probably not a good idea to study a double degree (which takes longer and is more expensive) if you eventually do not end up needing the knowledge and skills that you have gained in one of the constituent degrees. It would therefore be a good idea to speak to academics as well as people in the industry to gain a better understanding of how you may be able to apply both sets of knowledge of skills to your own career.
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I think it's hard to give accurate advice on this without knowing your interests and strengths.
Comp Sci is a good pick if you are inclined to that type of work, but if you're not interested or good at it, it might be a rough course to get through and you might struggle to get good positions or good progression. That's not really unique to CS either, the same can be said of almost any profession.
Comp Sci is a good pick if you are inclined to that type of work, but if you're not interested or good at it, it might be a rough course to get through and you might struggle to get good positions or good progression. That's not really unique to CS either, the same can be said of almost any profession.
True I’m good at econ math and chem and I’m interested in sports and health a little. Idk about cs cuz I was bad and hated python when I was doing info tech in year 10. Any suggestions?
Dentistry, you easily earn over 100k (most experienced ppl probs on 200K+) and need a lot less of the study of medicine and also avoid a lot of the competition in Law after you grad i.e trying to get into a big law firm etc. Only thing is you gotta get in which is only slightly less competitive than medicine.
Also dentistry is very business based too, and if u do manage to run a successful practice you can probably earn north of 500k a year (Although this takes away a lot of the work life balance if you try to go for such high figures which should be expected)
Source: Has a few dentists as family friends.
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Probably the popular choice for people with interests like that is something quantitative in commerce, like Accounting+Finance major. For that, you'd probably want to do well at uni and secure a good grad job (e.g. Big 4), but eventually move into something with better pay and work/life balance - like public sector.
For the health and sports side, i'm not sure.
Oh I meant like after you get in, for example, a Dentistry degree is only 5 years and you qualify the moment you graduate from the said degree, however medicine you will be facing a year of internship (I think now 2 years? I may be wrong), then JMO years then residency or registrar training and then you have to go back to study for a certain specialty (this includes general practice as it is also a specialty), only after finishing all of this and attaining fellowship will you be fully qualified as a GP, now other specialties will take MUCH longer, for example, I think last year only 2 new neurosurgeon interns were actually admitted in the whole of Australia.
contro3ler
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Specifically, for the neurosurgery thing- according to
https://www.surgeons.org/en/become-...tion-process/summary-of-2020-selection-offers
50 people in AU/NZ applied and 12 got in. Note that for medicine in particular, I think the specialty that you get accepted into is also quite dependent on the state that you are in/graduated from. 12/50 is still vv low, but I think it's still more than the undergrad med acceptance rate.
https://www.surgeons.org/en/become-...tion-process/summary-of-2020-selection-offers
50 people in AU/NZ applied and 12 got in. Note that for medicine in particular, I think the specialty that you get accepted into is also quite dependent on the state that you are in/graduated from. 12/50 is still vv low, but I think it's still more than the undergrad med acceptance rate.
seremify007
Junior Member
This seemed like a logical response to me, but I may be biased given I did acct/fin as well. I was in big 4 for 15+ years and with that length of tenure, you do lose a bit of sense of what normal WLB is. I did manage to get it reasonably under control towards the end of my time in big 4 averaging about 45-50 hours per week most of the year (and maybe 60-80 during the really busy periods). That being said, for Op, I would focus more on identifying what you're passionate about (sometimes this may only become apparent once you're in uni and start attending societies/events/internships/etc) and then once you start working, learning/absorbing as much as you can whilst you're still young and are relatively free of commitments. Only recently did I change to work in commercial and have found the WLB significantly better and it's been an interesting change of pace... but given I have young kids now, I appreciate not having to always be on call or always thinking about work.
Edit: Just to be clear, by big 4 I mean big 4 professional services firms (and not the big 4 banks).
seremify007
Junior Member
Sounds like cyber is what you're more keen on, and at least in 2023, it is a far more booming/exciting area to be in. That being said, where are you based?
IMO working in a consulting firm to do work with big corporates... that's a far better opportunity for you than working with your local accountant shop (ie not a known name/brand). Given you're still relatively new in career, you're better off learning as much as you can and building up your experience. Remember that consulting firms, despite the current press, are in the business of making money by being experts in their field.