Highest Earning 2016 IT Jobs With No College Degree

College is not for everyone. And honestly, college is not necessary to get a well paying job. Medieval History, calculus and underwater basket-weaving might be interesting to some people, but they are not for everyone and are certainly not crucial to all god career paths.

It's not uncommon to find skilled trades people such as electricians or welders making more money than office workers. However, not everyone realizes that there are also a significant number of Internet technology (IT) careers which pay well over $50,000 and do not require a degree from a four year college.

These are common enough that you should be able to find them in your local area. Underwater submarine fiber splicer is not listed here because that is such a specialized job that only a few such positions exist in the whole world. Instead, these are jobs that just about anyone can find locally.

Here are five of the top IT jobs which do not require a degree.

Data Center Technician

A data center or colocation technician is on call inside of a data center to make sure that everything is running properly. They are also responsible for remote hands, such as rebooting servers and running new cables across the facility to connect different types of equipment.

The job does not require much in terms of background. In many cases this is an entry level position which can lead to promotions such as network engineer.

Depending on the data center, there may also be a significant amount of downtime, allowing a dedicated individual to study and move ahead while on the job.

The national average salary for a data center technician is $42,315/year.

Field Technician

There are fiber optic cables run throughout the world. And there are fiber cuts which happen every single day of the year. These all need to be repaired, and they need to be repaired quickly. Companies will pay a good wage to ensure that they have reliable field technicians.

A field technician goes out into remote locations and works on whatever needs fixing or installing. Sometimes this is fiber, sometimes it is a machine which is located in a remote location.

The national average salary for a data center technician is $46,549/year.

Network Administrator

A network administrator is responsible for connecting different devices together. This means connecting the wired and wireless computers, printers, etc. together along with managing Internet connections for an office. It is a job which requires knowledge of routers and switches. Luckily this is something that can be learned in a local community college. Many colleges and trade schools offer networking courses and the networking industry also has a number of respectable certification programs which showcase a users knowledge.

Getting your foot in the door can be done a number of ways. One is starting in an entry level IT support jobs. This usually requires little to no background or experience. From there you can work your way up.

Another path is to go to a community college or trade school and take some courses where you can learn routing and switching, and then add some industry certificates, such as the CCNA to this.

The national average salary for a network administrator is $63,520/year.

System Administrator

A system administrator is in charge of devices. They make sure the computers, servers, printers, and other technology are running the way they are supposed to. The job involved a lot of problem solving.

College computer courses usually do not focus on the day to day usage of computer system. Because of this, a four year degree is not needed to become a system administrator. The most important thing is understanding how computers work and how to fix them when they break. Again, starting in an entry level IT support role is a good way to become a system administrator.

The national average salary for a system administrator is $72,258/year.

Front End Developer

A front end developer is a programmer who works on websites. Specifically they work on the 'front end' of a website, which is what the user typically sees. The skills needed include being able to program in HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

Computer science courses in school usually focus on algorithms and have a lot of mathematics and theory behind them. Many front end jobs do not touch on this, so even if math was never your strong point you can be a very successful front end developer. This is especially true if you are creative, as there is a lot of overlap between developers and designers (those who decide how a website should look) in website programing.

The quickest way to get into front end development is to start learning HTML, CSS and JavaScript. There are tons of free online courses and books to get your started.

The national average salary for a front end developer is $74,426/year.