‘I’m 38 and completely broke’: I earn $50,000 a year. What professional degree will guarantee me six figures?

A variety of data scientists, enterprise architects and software engineers — among other tech jobs — are frequently mentioned in analyses of six-figure jobs. But it’s folly to choose a career on salary alone, particularly as you could be doing this job eight or 10 hours a day. Unless you truly enjoy what you do and/or have an aptitude for it, your life will become gray and gruesome faster than you can say “Is it five o’clock, already?” IT often requires intense, data-heavy work — and many hours in front of a computer screen.

U.S. News & World Report also has a list of graduate jobs that are more likely to pay six figures upon entry — there are no guarantees in life, my friend — from software to space. They are extremely challenging professions and ultra-competitive. They include aerospace engineers, anesthesiologists, astronomers, biophysicists, computer hardware engineers, environmental engineers, human-resources managers, marine engineers, doctors and pharmacists. You have a wide selection of careers, but start with what you love. I believe that, if you love what you do, you’ll make it to the top of your field. If you don’t love what you do? Your $100,000 will feel like one dollar.

Be extremely careful before signing up for for-profit colleges, especially those that tell you what you want to hear: “Yes, we GUARANTEE you a job with six figures upon graduation.” Anyone who speaks in such terms should be greeted with much skepticism. Prior to the Great Recession, workers who studied at four-year for-profit universities had earning parity with those who attended other four-year colleges, but they suffered a sharp decline in salary compared to their peers in the years after the Great Recession. Word of warning: Zero debt after attending a non-profit college is also not a given.

Blame a rise in low-quality colleges. “Setting aside that for-profit institutions enrolled a larger share of working adults who may have started at a higher income level before entering higher education to begin with,” this report — “Paying More for Less?” — by the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Third Way found that “the combination of deregulation of for-profit colleges and the proliferation of online education during the 2000s led to substantial increases in for-profit enrollment and the rapid decline of for-profit students’ labor market outcomes.”

It may seem hard to believe now, but money is only one part of the equation.

More columns from Quentin Fottrell:

‘We’re happily married, mediocre gay men’: We’re 58, earn $160,000 and saved $2.2 million. We grew up poor. Our families treat us like ATMs. Are we OK?

‘I’m not jealous — just genuinely curious’: How can a woman work from home and mind her 3-year-old child at the same time?

I’m a veteran, 53, with 6 degrees and $245,000 in student debt. I plan to discharge my loans due to my disability when I hit $1 million. Is this immoral?