15 high-paying jobs for people who don't like talking to others

Advertisement
15 high-paying jobs for people who don't like talking to others

lumberjack

Reuters/Lisi Niesner

A lumberjack working for state-owned Austrian Bundesforste AG fells a tree in a wood near Vienna.

Advertisement
  • Some people work best by themselves.
  • Thankfully, there are plenty of jobs that require very little person-to-person contact.
  • Using data from O*NET, we calculated the jobs that require the bare minimum of dealing with others.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

For some workers, talking to other people is the absolute worst part of their day. But if they had a job where they kept human interaction to a minimum, they just might thrive.

To calculate the jobs with the least amount of human contact, we used data from the Department of Labor's O*NET Online occupational database, which lists seven job characteristics that involve talking to other people: Speaking; communicating with persons outside the organization; communicating with peers, supervisors, or subordinates; contact with others; face-to-face discussions; public speaking; and social orientation.

After averaging those seven characteristics together, we filtered for jobs with median annual wages above the overall national median in 2018 of $38,640.

Here are the jobs with the lowest average social scores. They're the highest-paying jobs you can have that don't require talking to other people.

Advertisement
{{}}

Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders (Metal and Plastic) have an overall communication score of 49.3

Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders (Metal and Plastic) have an overall communication score of 49.3

Lowest-scoring communication skills:

1. Public speaking: 15

2. Social orientation: 44

3. Speaking: 50

What they do, according to O*NET: Set up, operate, or tend milling or planing machines to mill, plane, shape, groove, or profile metal or plastic work pieces.

Median annual wage in 2018: $43,590

Number employed: 19,440

Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders have an overall communication score of 49

Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders have an overall communication score of 49

Lowest-scoring communication skills:

1. Public speaking: 10

2. Speaking: 47

3. Social orientation: 54

What they do, according to O*NET: Set up, operate, or tend continuous flow or vat-type equipment; filter presses; shaker screens; centrifuges; condenser tubes; precipitating, fermenting, or evaporating tanks; scrubbing towers; or batch stills. These machines extract, sort, or separate liquids, gases, or solids from other materials to recover a refined product. Includes dairy processing equipment operators.

Median annual wage in 2018: $40,810

Number employed: 49,770

Advertisement

(Tie) Mine Shuttle Car Operators have an overall communication score of 48.4

(Tie) Mine Shuttle Car Operators have an overall communication score of 48.4

Lowest-scoring communication skills:

1. Public speaking: 10

2. Speaking: 47

3. Social orientation: 50

What they do, according to O*NET: Operate diesel or electric-powered shuttle cars in underground mines to transport materials from working face to mine cars or conveyor.

Median annual wage in 2018: $56,340

Number employed: 1,690

(Tie) Tapers have an overall communication score of 48.4

(Tie) Tapers have an overall communication score of 48.4

Lowest-scoring communication skills:

1. Public speaking: 7

2. Social orientation: 45

3. Speaking: 47

What they do, according to O*NET: Seal joints between plasterboard or other wallboard to prepare wall surface for painting or papering.

Median annual wage in 2018: $55,080

Number employed: 18,320

Advertisement

Refractory Materials Repairers (Except Brickmasons) have an overall communication score of 48

Refractory Materials Repairers (Except Brickmasons) have an overall communication score of 48

Lowest-scoring communication skills:

1. Public speaking: 7

2. Speaking: 44

3. Social orientation: 48

What they do, according to O*NET: Build or repair equipment such as furnaces, kilns, cupolas, boilers, converters, ladles, soaking pits and ovens, using refractory materials.

Median annual wage in 2018: $52,190

Number employed: 1,120

Loading Machine Operators (Underground Mining) have an overall communication score of 47.3

Loading Machine Operators (Underground Mining) have an overall communication score of 47.3

Lowest-scoring communication skills:

1. Public speaking: 17

2. Speaking: 41

3. Social orientation: 50

What they do, according to O*NET: Operate underground loading machine to load coal, ore, or rock into shuttle or mine car or onto conveyors. Loading equipment may include power shovels, hoisting engines equipped with cable-drawn scraper or scoop, or machines equipped with gathering arms and conveyor.

Median annual wage in 2018: $51,160

Number employed: 2,500

Advertisement

Wood Patternmakers have an overall communication score of 46.9

Wood Patternmakers have an overall communication score of 46.9

Lowest-scoring communication skills:

1. Public speaking: 3

2. Social orientation: 40

3. Speaking: 44

What they do, according to O*NET: Plan, lay out, and construct wooden unit or sectional patterns used in forming sand molds for castings.

Median annual wage in 2018: $60,940

Number employed: 530

Watch Repairers have an overall communication score of 46.6

Watch Repairers have an overall communication score of 46.6

Lowest-scoring communication skills:

1. Public speaking: 4

2. Social orientation: 46

3. Speaking: 50

What they do, according to O*NET: Repair, clean, and adjust mechanisms of timing instruments, such as watches and clocks. Includes watchmakers, watch technicians, and mechanical timepiece repairers.

Median annual wage in 2018: $39,910

Number employed: 2,610

Advertisement

(Tie) Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders (Metal and Plastic) have an overall communication score of 46.4

(Tie) Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders (Metal and Plastic) have an overall communication score of 46.4

Lowest-scoring communication skills:

1. Public speaking: 7

2. Speaking: 47

3. Contact with others: 54

What they do, according to O*NET: Set up, operate, or tend lathe and turning machines to turn, bore, thread, form, or face metal or plastic materials, such as wire, rod, or bar stock.

Median annual wage in 2018: $39,180

Number employed: 29,510

(Tie) Camera and Photographic Equipment Repairers have an overall communication score of 46.4

(Tie) Camera and Photographic Equipment Repairers have an overall communication score of 46.4

Lowest-scoring communication skills:

1. Public speaking: 3

2. Social orientation: 35

3. Speaking: 50

What they do, according to O*NET: Repair and adjust cameras and photographic equipment, including commercial video and motion picture camera equipment.

Median annual wage in 2018: $40,620

Number employed: 3,690

Advertisement

Rail Car Repairers have an overall communication score of 47.7

Rail Car Repairers have an overall communication score of 47.7

Lowest-scoring communication skills:

1. Public speaking: 11

2. Social orientation: 40

3. Speaking: 47

What they do, according to O*NET: Diagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul railroad rolling stock, mine cars, or mass transit rail cars.

Median annual wage in 2018: $56,220

Number employed: 24,720

Automotive Body and Related Repairers have an overall communication score of 45.6

Automotive Body and Related Repairers have an overall communication score of 45.6

Lowest-scoring communication skills:

1. Public speaking: 3

2. Social orientation: 39

3. Speaking: 50

What they do, according to O*NET: Repair and refinish automotive vehicle bodies and straighten vehicle frames.

Median annual wage in 2018: $42,730

Number employed: 142,060

Advertisement

Fine Artists (including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators) have an overall communication score of 43.3

Fine Artists (including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators) have an overall communication score of 43.3

Lowest-scoring communication skills:

1. Public speaking: 12

2. Social orientation: 49

3. Speaking: 50

What they do, according to O*NET: Integrate and develop visual elements, such as line, space, mass, color, and perspective, to produce desired effects, such as the illustration of ideas, emotions, or moods.

Median annual wage in 2018: $49,380

Number employed: 11,620

Tire Builders have an overall communication score of 42.9

Tire Builders have an overall communication score of 42.9

Lowest-scoring communication skills:

1. Public speaking: 15

2. Face-to-face discussions: 39

3. Speaking: 47

What they do, according to O*NET: Start rollers that bond tread and plies as drums revolve. Activate bead setters that press prefabricated beads onto plies. Inspect worn tires for faults, cracks, cuts and nail holes, and to determine if tires are suitable for retreading.

Median annual wage in 2018: $46,630

Number employed: 23,920

Advertisement

Fallers (or lumberjacks) have an overall communication score of 38.9

Fallers (or lumberjacks) have an overall communication score of 38.9

Lowest-scoring communication skills:

1. Public speaking: 7

2. Speaking: 46

3. Contact with others: 46

What they do, according to O*NET: Use axes or chainsaws to fell trees using knowledge of tree characteristics and cutting techniques to control direction of fall and minimize tree damage.

Median annual wage in 2018: $44,080

Number employed: 4,680

Next StoryReasons to eat more vegetables, even if you don't want to