I just went back and re-read Sam's OP and by God he's serious so I'll play.
I got my first job out of school in 1982 for $15k/yr. Had a 4 year degree in geology and tried to get into oil & gas but that was during a downturn and no one was hiring then. So I got out the yellow pages and looked up "environmental consultants." Snagged a job with a consultant, that was just when Superfund had started and the job was taking soil and groundwater samples on hazardous waste sites. Not a lot of money, but it allowed me to buy my first new vehicle, a Toyota short bed pickup for $4,995. And see a lot of the country that I hadn't seen yet including AK.
Worked various jobs in that industry and got into managing local operations and then regional operations. Worked for engineering and construction companies that did hazardous waste site cleanup, water/wastewater and transportation design, and construction. During the best years "my" business unit had 300 people, and grossed $100M a year at around 8% profit and we had some really interesting projects over the years. Did a site investigation and determined the best way to clean up a nuclear missile accident site in New Jersey contaminated with plutonium, had a $70M project to rebuild an army base for the Iraqi army in 2004 (I went over for that one, it was like the wild west) had a $25M design project for the big toll road project for I-35 near Austin, and did a $50M re-paving job for the runway on Adak Island in the Aleutians.
I was lucky to work with some really good people because any one of those projects could have gone upside down and cost me my job, but they didn't. I don't have that job any more, for the last 10 years I've worked for a small company that does the same kind of work, just on a smaller scale, with a whole lot less wear and tear and the pay is commensurate During the best years I was in the middle 6 figures.
