Highest Paying Jobs with Little Schooling: Real Paths to High Income Without a Degree

What if you could earn $100,000 a year without spending four years in college? It sounds too good to be true - but it’s not. Across the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, people are building serious incomes with just a few months of training - often through online courses. No student debt. No campus life. Just skills, hustle, and the right path.

It’s Not About Degrees Anymore

Employers don’t care as much about your diploma as they used to. A 2024 LinkedIn report showed that over 60% of tech hiring managers now prioritize skills over degrees. Companies like Google, Apple, and IBM have quietly dropped degree requirements for more than half their entry-level roles. What they want is proof you can do the job - and online courses give you that proof.

Think about it: you don’t need a degree to fix a car, code a website, or manage a cloud server. You need practice, certs, and a portfolio. The barrier to entry has collapsed. And the pay? It’s skyrocketing for those who know where to look.

Top 5 Highest Paying Jobs with Little Schooling

Here are the real jobs that pay $70,000 to $150,000 a year - and require less than a year of formal training. Most can be started from your living room.

• Cloud Solutions Architect - Average salary: $125,000. You learn AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud through free and paid online courses (like those on Coursera or A Cloud Guru). Certifications take 3-6 months. No degree needed.
• DevOps Engineer - Average salary: $115,000. You need to know Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines. Most learn through YouTube tutorials and hands-on labs. Many land jobs after 4-8 months of focused study.
• UX/UI Designer - Average salary: $95,000. You don’t need to be an artist. Tools like Figma and Adobe XD are easy to learn. Online bootcamps (e.g., Springboard, Udemy) teach you user research, wireframing, and prototyping in 6 months.
• Cybersecurity Analyst - Average salary: $100,000. Entry-level roles ask for CompTIA Security+ or Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) certs. You can prep for these in under 100 hours of study. Many start as help desk techs and move up.
• Commercial Pilot (with private license) - Average salary: $130,000+. Yes, flying a plane sounds like it needs years - but in New Zealand and the U.S., you can get your private pilot’s license in 6-9 months. After that, you can work as a flight instructor, cargo pilot, or aerial survey pilot. Training costs $10,000-$15,000 - less than one year of college tuition.

How Do You Get Started Without Going to College?

You don’t need to quit your job or sell your car. Here’s how real people do it:

1. Pick one job from the list above. Don’t jump between five. Focus.
2. Find the cert that opens the door. For cloud roles, it’s AWS Certified Solutions Architect. For cybersecurity, it’s Security+. Google offers free prep materials for all their certs.
3. Use free or low-cost online courses. Platforms like freeCodeCamp, Khan Academy, and LinkedIn Learning have full paths. Some paid bootcamps offer income-share agreements - you pay nothing until you land a job.
4. Build a portfolio. Don’t just say you learned Python. Show a script you wrote that automates a task. Don’t say you’re a designer. Post 3 mock apps you designed. Employers care about what you’ve built - not what you studied.
5. Apply anyway. Even if the job posting says “Bachelor’s preferred.” Send your resume with your portfolio link. Many hiring managers will overlook the degree requirement if your skills are solid.

One woman in Wellington, 34, worked as a receptionist. She spent 6 months learning AWS and networking on LinkedIn. She applied to 12 remote cloud jobs. Got two interviews. Landed a $92,000 job as a junior cloud support engineer. No college. No debt.

What You Don’t Need to Waste Time On

Not all online courses are worth it. Avoid these traps:

• “Get rich quick” marketing. If a course promises $200K in 3 months with no experience - it’s a scam.
• Generic “career change” programs. If it doesn’t name a specific job title, cert, or tool, skip it.
• Overpriced bootcamps with no job guarantees. Look for ones that offer refunds if you don’t get hired within 6 months.
• Learning 10 things at once. Trying to learn coding, design, and marketing together? You’ll end up mastering none.

Stick to one path. One cert. One skill. That’s how people break in.

Why This Works Now - And Why It Won’t Last Forever

The demand for tech skills is exploding. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts over 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs by 2026. Cloud computing roles are growing 30% faster than the average job. Companies are desperate. They’re hiring based on ability - not pedigree.

But this window won’t stay open forever. As more people discover these paths, competition will rise. The people who succeed are the ones who start now - not when it’s “easier.”

Five years ago, you could land a web developer job after a 3-month bootcamp. Now, you need a portfolio, a GitHub profile, and a few real projects. The bar is higher - but still way lower than a four-year degree.

Real People, Real Results

Meet James, 28, from Auckland. He dropped out of community college after one semester. He was working at a warehouse. He spent 5 months learning Linux and networking through freeCodeCamp and YouTube. He got his Network+ cert. Applied to a help desk job. Got it. Six months later, he moved into network administration. Now he makes $88,000 a year.

Or Maria, 41, a single mom in Christchurch. She took a 12-week UI/UX course on Udemy for $20. Built 4 app mockups. Posted them on Dribbble. Got noticed by a startup. Hired as a junior designer. Two years later, she’s leading design at a SaaS company - earning $110,000.

They didn’t have money. They didn’t have connections. They had time - and the discipline to use it.

Start Today - Not Tomorrow

You don’t need permission. You don’t need a degree. You don’t need to wait for the “right time.”

Open your laptop right now. Go to Coursera and search “AWS Cloud Practitioner.” Watch the first free lesson. That’s it. That’s your first step.

Or go to freeCodeCamp and start the Responsive Web Design course. It takes 300 hours - but you can do 30 minutes a night. In 10 months, you’ll have a portfolio that beats most college grads.

The highest paying jobs with little schooling aren’t hidden. They’re just not taught in schools. You have to find them yourself. And you can - starting today.

What to Do Next

Here’s your 7-day action plan:

1. Day 1: Pick one job from the list above.
2. Day 2: Search for the top certification for that job (e.g., “AWS Certified Solutions Architect” or “CompTIA Security+”).
3. Day 3: Find one free course on YouTube or Coursera. Watch the first video.
4. Day 4: Set up a free GitHub or Behance account. Start saving your work there.
5. Day 5: Join one online community - Reddit’s r/learnprogramming or LinkedIn groups for cloud engineers.
6. Day 6: Write down your first goal: “I will complete Module 1 of [course] by Friday.”
7. Day 7: Tell one person your plan. Accountability changes everything.

You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to start.