Making $100k is a very easy thing to do. People put roadblocks up themselves by saying such things as they want to get a Master’s degree so they can be a project manager, or they want to this or that so they can whatever.
The fact is that the vast majority of corporate employees have nearly no real credentials and make at least $80k.
Take Project Managers. Go get employed by a company, with or without a college degree, and volunteer to take on small projects. Then, take some project management training; a few simple courses. Even get your employer to pay for it. Then, present yourself as a project manager. You will most likely succeed and start making big bucks for little work. Once you are in you are in and your pay will skyrocket. Those silly engineers with their skills and education? Who cares. You will be a project manager with no credentials and no real experience but you will be making what they make. “Manager” has become the new career field and pays extremely well.
Software tester. No degree required. Simply go to a staffing agency, take on a low pay ($15/hour or so) tester position on an hourly basis. Learn the trade over a few months, then continue to move up. Maing $55k to $95k as a software tester is easy money.
If you paid attention in high school and know English, you can be a technical writer. Same as software tester. Get a low pay contract job then move ahead as you learn more about the trade.
Requirements analyst. Same thing.
Software configuration specialist. Same thing. Learn a bit about a few software tools and you could be making big corporate bucks.
Computer programming. Easy money. Anyone can learn to program a computer at a level that can command not less than $55k and upwards of $95k with maybe a year or two experience. Again, teach yourself C or C++ or Java or C# by buying a book, downloading free software and practicing. Then, go get a contract job at a staffing agency by placing your resume on Dice or Monster. You’ll learng all the ins and outs soon enough and be making big bucks.
I know a guy that did just that.
Taught himself labview on the internet and landed a job as a software weeny for amazon.com
Project Management skills and certification is in high demand. As programmers are outsourced, the need for coordination of those assets becomes more and more important. When I first started in what I was doing (a similar field), a developer would also serve as a project manager or at least a SPO for many of his projects depending on the phase. You can’t get that from outsourced workers. You give them something to do, they do exactly what they have to, nothing more.
I taught myself C++ in one weekend because I needed it to start coding for a project.
But I realize this requires enormous mental horsepower that 99% of the population does not have, and most of the 1% already have good professions.