Salary

Average Salary: $36,620

Expected Lifetime Earnings: $1,529,000


Salary, schmalary. What do you need with a salary? After all, you're knocking off zombies every day, trying to make the world safe for thousands of computer users. That's in addition to your full-time computer repair tech job. In your spare time, you're leaping tall buildings with a single bound. Oh wait, different career. And you refuse to put on that red cape for any amount of money.

Supermannequin.

Let's assume, then, that you do need (and want) a salary that lets you pay your bills and live on something besides ramen noodles. You'd also like to drive a vehicle that's not a Rent-a-Wreck reject. The average annual wage for computer repair technicians is between $35,000-$40,000 (source). It's enough to scrape by.

If you’re just getting into the business, you may have to start out closer to $20,000, but the opportunity is there to eventually be making $60,000-plus (source). Unless you've been troubleshooting and repairing computers since the day you were born, you'll have a bit of a learning curve. That's a tactful way of saying you'll earn more money when you get more experience.