Hmm, my younger brother has a GED and makes more than I do as an Engineer. He started with his company on the floor mixing chemicals about 15 years ago making not very good money. Worked his way up the proverbial corporate ladder and has himself a nice little office now. Sometimes you just have to get your foot in the door.

Warehouse worker. Seriously. Depends on the company, but making $60-80,000 is quite doable. Much of this work is night time, which means you can go to school in the day time. That's what I'm doing. From there I'm going to refrigeration.

Where to find job? Beer, soda, grocery distributors all pay well. Depends on the area as well. Would not recommend Amazon,. UPS, or FedEx based on other warehouse workers experiences, though I've never worked there. Look for big name companies-Kroger, Pepsi, Straub (beer), etc.

A lot of large companies have multiple avenues of growth. The soda company I work for has refrigeration, drivers, sales, mechanic, chemists, graphic design, engineering, etc-tons of opportunity. Get your foot in the door and make a good impression from the get go-you'll go far.

As others mentioned, it is absolutely possible to build a career off of a GED, as long as you get into the right type of corporation, and are smart, willing to learn on the job and overall harder working to distinguish yourself amongst your peers. There are many examples of people who started out on the shop floor in manufacturing, moved up through the ranks as shift lead, supervisor, production manager etc.

There is an undeniable risk to this career plan though, the opportunities may never transpire due to a variety of reasons, so you can spend quite a few years spinning your wheels at the lower level jobs and unfortunately in a lay off situation, a shop floor worker is not likely going to move up to shift lead with a new company, you typically have to get that job in your existing company first, after putting in the time. So progress can be slow and uncertain to achieve the career levels you may have in mind. A much less risky path is to go get higher education so you can start your career from a higher point.

Are you looking for career ideas that are strictly limited to GED, or is a college degree eventually part of the plan? I ask because I'm a GED kid myself. I did go to college after getting my GED and eventually did finish my degree. I was able to start my career without having the BA finished, but I would have hit a ceiling pretty quickly without it in my industry. After 10 years in my field I make six figures plus bonus. I work in the insurance industry, by the way. Degrees are typically required for management positions, but there opportunities to get in at a low level in claims and then work your way up, because most of claims adjudicating/process has to be OJT anyway.

I work in IT and my girlfriend is a specialized pro photographer. Neither of us have college degrees.

Emphasis mine.

@ketchup Do you have a high school diploma though? A GED or HiSet is often more limiting than a high school diploma.

Fair enough. We both have high school diplomas. It's possible I wouldn't have been hired without it; I truly don't know (though I'd like to think that's not the case). GF is self employed and has never been asked for any credentials by anyone.

My Hub went back to night school and got his HS diploma, not GED. He eventually worked in the HVAC field, took the tests and went up the ladder in the HVAC licenses, to finally getting the top license. He was never, ever asked if he finished high school. I worked my whole life and was never asked if I had a HS diploma. Maybe when you fill out a job application they have a check box to say if you graduated and some ask you to list where you went to HS and the years attended. Can't lie about this stuff anymore. People can find out anything these days.

My advice is that if you get a job at a corporation doing any job, ask to go to short courses that apply to your job. I worked at a large corp. that encouraged it and they paid airfare, hotels, the course, food, rental car. It was like mini vacations. I was always told if you just come back with one piece of knowledge, it will be worth it. I went to many, many short courses. The other important thing, when you do take a short course, write a one page report highlighting the dates you attended, where you attended, what the course objective was about and put in some bullet points on things that stood out for you and how it applies to you or to your company. LOL, your manager will love it and you will get raises for attending the courses and possibly bringing new ideas to help the company. Oh, and lastly, in the last paragraph, thank the company for the opportunity of attending the course. When I was a newbie I found this so difficult but after a while, it came to me so easy! One of the last courses I took was Technical writing. There are a lot of scientific courses and computer courses too.

Also, if you are getting into a trade, you can go to some trade schools at night. Some community colleges have welding courses. I have seen some courses for learning how to be an operating room technician. I knew a guy who did that and made tons of money. He was always on call and he'd take all the OT he could get. Learning a second language can open up doors too. Lots of stuff out there.

If you want a great job with great benefits look into waterworks. You can go for certifications in water distribution systems or treatment systems. These jobs pay very well and are usually with municipalities which usually include great benefits, such as a pension. Plus you get to be out in the field rather than stuck in an office. Bonus is you will not incur any student loan debt. If interested take a look at job postings and the certifications they want.

Logged

ďThe hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life. Itís so easy to make it complex. Whatís important is leading an examined life.Ē

I want to second what Zoltani said earlier - water or waste water treatment operators are a great gig. I talked to a guy at my local watering hole last year and although he was a few years younger than me (both mid 30ís) he was making the same amount as me ($85k) and he had no college and I have a masterís degree in engineering. I looked into it and my city had an opening for an entry level position with no experience or certification that paid $26k - $40k/yr. To advance you need to get a certification but that requires taking 6-9 hoursí worth of classes at community college.

These positions are almost always with cities and have benefits including vacation and pensions. They canít be outsourced and are available in any part of the country. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in science/mechanical and electrical systems.

Another post to say look into municipal water operations. I supervise a wastewater plant and we have trouble finding good operators. Alot of States allow you to get the first level certification without experience in the field. This can be done for less than $500 and will automatically get people looking at your application. Stable job, benefits are typically decent including a possible pension, very good long term growth potential if you enjoy it and it has been a great job for me. I can't recommend it enough. We have a serious shortage of people in this field as a lot are retiring. I've hired people with GEDs and no experience that have turned into great operators.

I'm sure other entrepreneurs will jump on shortly but, if you consider being a self-employed business person a career then yes.

You'll never need to fill out a job app, never have to explain your education etc etc.

As others have said above, I was never asked about my education in any of the corporate jobs I worked up through. After I saw the light and struck out on my own, the only times I was asked about education was on some business funding and loan applications. I always answered "School of Hard Knocks". Never came up in any following tranactions... ever.

I was homeschooled and my HS diploma was something that we printed out and my mother signed. It's never been questioned, and my current employer (tech) didn't care about it or my college diploma (I have a 2 year degree).