Category: Career

STEM careers include everything involving science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. With such skill involved, it’s understandable that many of those careers provide a high salary. Which are the most lucrative, though? If you have a STEM-focused mind and want to enter a role that’ll give you a comfortable (and even luxurious) life, here are ten STEM careers with lucrative salaries.

1. Data Analyst

Average Salary Per Year – $71K

Data analysts collect and analyze data to help a business grow and make the right decisions. Data analyzing is a skill that most businesses require, which means there are plenty of different settings for those wishing to pursue this career, including finance and marketing.

Who would make a great data analyst?

To thrive in this role, you must have great attention to detail and excellent mathematical skills. It’s also recommended that you pursue a master’s degree. An online master’s in statistics (requiring no GRE) provides analytical skills that are necessary to succeed as a data analyst while also being able to study from home.

2. Civil Engineer

Average Salary Per Year – $86K

Civil engineers focus on the designing and building of infrastructure, which includes bridges, buildings, water systems, and roads. They also ensure quality maintenance.

Who would make a great civil engineer?

Civil engineering requires excellent communication, technical skills, and critical thinking. You also need to be highly organized and able to work as a team, as projects are worked on by many. If you’re interested in becoming a civil engineer, expect to spend at least four years in higher education attaining your bachelor’s.

3. Environmental Scientist

Average Salary Per Year – $70K

Environmental scientists use their specialized knowledge to identify and solve environmental damage. There’s a lot of variety within this career depending on expertise, but most spend their time conducting research and devising ways to solve environmental issues.

Who would make a great environmental scientist?

It’s not just the technical skills needed for great environmental scientists – it is also a true passion for the environment. The best environmental scientists would be those who are highly analytical, organized, innovative, and care deeply about the earth.

4. Nurse Practitioner

Average Salary Per Year – $109K

Nurse practitioners have more responsibilities than registered nurses, as they can perform physical exams, prescribe medication, and diagnose illnesses. They work in a range of settings, including clinics, nursing homes, hospitals, and schools.

Who would make a great nurse practitioner?

On top of deep knowledge of medicine and treatments, great nurse practitioners are those who have genuine empathy and can communicate well. It’s not just about providing treatment – it’s also about being caring and comforting while you do so.

5. Software Developer

Average Salary Per Year – $105K

Software development is a particularly lucrative career, and it’s not hard to see why. The role is to design, maintain, test, and create software systems, which is something that many businesses seek out.

Who would make a great software developer?

To succeed as a software developer, you must have extensive knowledge of coding as well as high levels of organization, problem-solving skills, and accuracy. While some people imagine software developers as alone, they often interact with multiple people in one day, so excellent communication skills are also essential.

6. IT Manager

Average Salary Per Year – $84K

Information technology managers help companies with their computer needs. As they are in charge of the IT team, they are responsible for organizing the IT department and the maintenance of the business’s computer systems.

Who would make a great IT manager?

Not only do IT managers need to be tech-savvy, great with computers, and effective communicators, but they also need to be stellar leaders, as they are responsible for managing the entire IT department in a company. That is what makes this career more lucrative than others.

7. Dentist

Average Salary Per Year – $169K

Dentists don’t just examine teeth – they perform surgeries, diagnose oral diseases, take x-rays, and advise patients on optimal oral health. It’s a challenging role and one that requires a lot of knowledge. For this, they earn an extremely high wage.

Who would make a great dentist?

Dentistry requires a hard-working, intelligent person who has a passion for helping people. You’d also need to be willing to put many years into the study, as dentists typically spend around eight years in higher education before becoming qualified.

8. Web Developer

Average Salary Per Year – $74K

Website developers design, build and maintain websites for clients and businesses. Many web developers work freelance for several different clients, while some work for a specific company. 

Who would make a great web developer?

To become a successful web developer, you’d need a great handle on code as well as a keen eye for design. It’s crucial to be organized and self-disciplined, too, especially if you’re a freelance web developer.

9. Psychologist

Average Salary Per Year – $77K

Psychologists take up a part of healthcare that revolves around mental health. They assess, diagnose, and treat mental health patients with a wide range of problems, from depression to eating disorders.

Who would make a great psychologist?

Many psychologists hold a doctorate, so someone willing to learn is required to become a great psychologist. It’s also crucial to be empathetic, patient, and organized in this line of work, as no two days are ever the same, and sometimes a patient or general situation might be challenging to handle. 

10. Biochemist

Average Salary Per Year – £94K

Biochemists use their knowledge of biological processes to aid healthcare. For example, a biochemist might study the cell development of cancer cells to understand them better for treatments. Due to this, they play a pivotal role in the development of medicine and healthcare research.  

Who would make a great biochemist?

To become a biochemist, you must be analytical, have excellent mathematical skills, and maintain a high level of accuracy. Due to the nature of the role, biochemists have little room for errors, so perseverance and organization are also crucial.

By choosing to study one of these ten STEM careers, you’ll end up with a satisfying and lucrative career.

If you work with SQL Server then your role will invariably require you to fall back on a plethora of different skills in order to fulfill your responsibilities effectively.

Of course with such a variety of requirements on the table, knowing which areas to focus your attention on, and how to make improvements, is not always easy.

To help you out, here are a few ways you can build upon your existing abilities and foster new strengths as you progress your career in SQL Server administration.

Pay attention to server performance for troubleshooting & optimization insights

Hiccups in SQL Server performance can leave many database admins scratching their heads, and yet your troubleshooting tasks will become much more manageable if you are attuned to the advantages of persistent monitoring.

Tracking everything from storage usage and CPU load to TempDB status and the deployment of SQL integration services will give you a clearer idea of the moment to moment health of a server instance, as well as providing clues and evidence of issues that need addressing before they have had the opportunity to spiral out of control.

Embrace interdepartmental communication & listen to feedback

If your main job involves keeping SQL Server infrastructure up and running, then it is easy to be blinded to what is going on in the rest of the organization, when in fact you could actually benefit significantly from communicating with colleagues in other departments and being receptive to the input they provide.

Communication skills are worth working on if you are a database administrator, not only because it will provide you with the means to make meaningful improvements that are appreciated elsewhere in a company, but also because it can turn what is potentially a very solitary job into one that involves much-needed human interactions. And of course if you are improving your communication skills, these are entirely transferable to other roles further down the line, in a way that SQL-specific experience is not.

Use project management tools to your advantage

Having a structure or framework to use as the underpinning of your daily workload is sensible in many professional contexts, and is definitely something from which an SQL Server specialist can benefit.

In this case you do not need to rely on improving your timekeeping and deadline-hitting skills through sheer willpower alone, but can instead make ameliorations with the help of a wide range of tools designed to help you manage projects and track progress over time.

Using the best platforms for project management is also beneficial in other areas, allowing you to collaborate and communicate with other colleagues who may be involved in whatever you are working on.

Learn from the mistakes of others

When a database admin makes a mistake, the ramifications can be immediate and significant, so even if you might be able to learn valuable lessons from your foibles, it is better to find out about potential pitfalls by speaking with those who have already fallen into them.

Connecting with DBAs who have more experience than you, and can provide informative and instructive details about the snafus they have encountered in the past and how to overcome them, will keep you in the loop on common conundrums in the safest possible way.

Wrapping up

Clearly your own skills and experience will need to feed into any decisions you make about improving your abilities as an SQL Server professional, but the most important facet for individuals regardless of their abilities is to see this specialism as an ongoing journey of knowledge acquisition, rather than something with a fixed endpoint.

Modern technology and constant connectivity allow many workers to carry out their work tasks from any location, as long as there’s an internet connection. In recent years, an increasing number of forward-thinking companies have started to embrace the idea of allowing employees to work from home for all or part of the workweek. The COVID-19 pandemic took things to the next level, forcing many employees to work from home and arguably fast-forwarding a process that may otherwise have taken a lot longer. 

The pandemic has shown many businesses that were hesitant about their employees working from home that working remotely is in fact an effective solution. When employees are working from home they spend less time commuting, have a better work-life balance and it has been shown that they are typically much more productive. Countless tasks such as business invoicing, payroll, marketing, accounting, customer service, account management, and a range of other tasks can easily be completed at home. Working from home is becoming a popular choice in a range of different industries and it doesn’t show signs of slowing down anytime soon. 

Continue reading to learn why working from home is here to stay and why that’s a positive! 

Improved Work-Life Balance

Working from home allows your employees more flexibility with their schedule. In many remote jobs, employees can structure their day in a way that suits their lifestyle so long as they get their work completed. With this flexibility people have more time to spend with friends, family, doing, chores and exercising creating a much better work-life balance. 

No Commuter Stress

When you are working from home, you can avoid spending time stuck in traffic or on public transport every morning. If you bike or walk to work, you can still get out for your morning exercise but instead of finishing at the office, you can come home and have breakfast with the kids before logging on to work. Avoiding the stress of commuting in the morning, not only allows employees to save time but it helps to start their day on a positive stress-free note too. 

Embracing Location Independence

Just because you are “working from home” doesn’t mean you need to be at home. Many remote workers are choosing to spend their workdays moving from one cafe to the next, at a coworking space or in a public library. This flexibility also allows you to take your work with you if you need to take the kids somewhere or you are looking after a friend or relative. Having this level of flexibility is just another reason why working from home will be here to stay for the foreseeable future. 

More Productive Workforce

Employees that have a better work-life balance have been shown to be more content and therefore more productive in their work. When people have more free time to spend with family and friends and to pursue their passions and interests, they tend to be more focused when they are at work. Conversely, employees who spend all of their time at work are often distracted, thinking of all the things they are missing out on and their mental health can start to suffer as a result. 

Expect Remote Working To Become The Norm Moving Forward

The work from home concept has taken off in a big way because of the impacts of COVID-19 and it’s not going anywhere soon. Not only does this way of working benefit employees but companies can have a fortune in overheads and expensive office rents when their employees are working from home. With so much to be gained from working from home, we can expect it to not only continue but potentially become the norm moving forward.