Deadend Jobs with Good Pay

Darude Sandstorm on 27/05/2026 - 16:06

My auts gonna be the death of me.
What jobs are out there that are simple, allow me to go to work, come home, not think about work afterwards and still be able to pay my rent?

Currently a Security Technician and while it pays over $60/hr, comes with a fortnightly RDO, a vehicle etc it's just a little too taxing and understimulating for what it's worth (Understimulation is fine if it comes with less responsibility)

Previously I've worked in the APS, been an ICT Manager and Technical Lead for the support teams.

tbh I just wanna go to work, come home, play vidya game and not think about work too much but life is super expensive, always, out of nowhere so I fear I may have to be stuck working a real job for the rest of my life.
My misso got a middle manager job that pays $50/hr and it seems aight, her team hits kpis and she just chills and plays hearthstone all day.

Anyone got any other ideas?

Education & Work

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  • jv on 27/05/2026 - 16:07

    Deadend jobs with good pay

    https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/

    • 101
    • parsimonious one on 27/05/2026 - 16:13

      That job is usually stepping stone in to a cushy corporate gig

      • 27
      • OzzyOzbourne on 28/05/2026 - 10:04

        As long as you sell out the country, it's people and resources first. Fair sacrifice for a cushy job for a couple of ex-politicisns

        • 3
        • smartazz104 on 29/05/2026 - 08:51

          And yet the most vocal critics never get out of their armchairs to have a go…

          • 2
    • Checkmate3023 on 27/05/2026 - 16:33

      He said deadend not useless corrupt c—ts

      • 9
    • ATangk on 27/05/2026 - 19:59

      Free statue too

      • 3
      • OzzyOzbourne on 28/05/2026 - 10:05

        And several "get out of jail free" cards

        • 0
      • arcticmonkey on 30/05/2026 - 13:31

        Introduced by the Liberals. They keep changing their leader so often and sue each other, it may take them a while to get a statue

        • 0
    • arcticmonkey on 30/05/2026 - 13:30

      MPs seem to end up in massive plum gigs such as:

      https://www.smh.com.au/national/liberal-andrew-robb-took-880…

      • 0
  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 27/05/2026 - 17:31

    Always wanted a corner office with a view? How about being paid to travel? Plus drive a $400,000 company vehicle? I did, so I became a bus driver.

    • 40
    • Gunnar on 27/05/2026 - 17:38

      I have a similar job but in a higher position, my company vehicle is worth much more - I’m a monorail driver

      • 13
    • Some Random Guy on 27/05/2026 - 19:58

      Thought this was a Seinfeld reference at first glance

      Has OP thought about going for the office with no windows?

      • 5
      • Gunnar on 27/05/2026 - 20:12

        Just wait till you get your hands on the Penske file

        • 8
        • Mikeer on 28/05/2026 - 08:03

          He’s not Penske material

          • 6
    • JIMB0 on 27/05/2026 - 18:14

      A corner office with an ever changing view of the entire city sounds pretty sweet.

      • 1
      • mafmouf on 29/05/2026 - 19:00

        Until those outside peasants are literally throwing themselves at you.

        • 0
    • BewareOfThe Dog on 27/05/2026 - 20:33

      Is this you in the front seat driving?

      • 1
    • MS Paint on 27/05/2026 - 17:44

      We must be on the same meme algorithm 😉

      • 0
  • wetsandwich on 27/05/2026 - 16:20

    Kind of sounds like you're on a bloody good wicket already? How much better do you think things can get for you? Better to just deal with it and check out a bit so it doesn't get to you if you don't like it. Don't take it the wrong way, but I was you in my early 20's, thinking the world owed me high pay and low effort, but ultimately I decided to grow up and start applying myself. If I don't like a job, I just.. stop caring and do it, and seek fulfillment by improving things and making things more efficient. Nobody actually likes their job, we seem to believe we can magically find a fun and enjoyable job and want to leap out of bed every day, there is no such thing, so it is best to just accept that.

    It is very hard to find a job where you aren't responsible, technical, or leading a team in some way, and also expect to get paid much more than $30. If there is such a thing, there is always an uber driver ready to fill the job for less money, which makes the pay go down. You have to be valuable in some way to get valuable pay, you can't just be a generic warm body.

    Penalty rates are probably the only way around this. So what about being a security guard at late night venues? The base rate is usually rubbish, but late nights on weekend is probably at least 50% more.

    Also I thought HS was dead and that I'm the only remaining human player playing against bots, maybe all is not lost.

    • 39
    • McMaferMur on 27/05/2026 - 16:58

      yep human never happy….
      look at those NSW train driver…

      • 5
    • OZBargainer in SA on 28/05/2026 - 10:15

      Genuine kudos for this comment, sometimes things are obvious until they aren't.
      "a job where you aren't responsible, technical, or leading a team in some way" is the low hanging fruit AI is already taking over

      • 3
    • Onemoredeal on 28/05/2026 - 23:22

      My mum always responded to my moaning with “if it was fun you’d do it on weekends for free”

      • 2
    • TimOfEastBNE on 27/05/2026 - 17:16

      Definitely one dish on the hook anyway

      • 0
    • leesangyee on 29/05/2026 - 20:47

      +1
      You work a job to earn money.
      You use the money to do things you like.
      You gonna be bloody lucky to actually have a job you like that earns you money.

      • 0
  • Duckie2hh on 27/05/2026 - 16:20

    Currently a Security Technician and while it pays over $60/hr

    Life must be hard.

    • 27
    • wetsandwich on 27/05/2026 - 16:21

      Literally already doing what he is asking us how to do..

      • 21
      • Duckie2hh on 27/05/2026 - 16:29

        6 months later……

        "Why is housing so expensive? Where do I get a second job?"

        • 5
        • McMaferMur on 27/05/2026 - 16:59

          12 months later……

          "my job got outsourced overseas, I cant get a new job - Where is centrelink when i need a shoulder to cry on?"

          • 7
          • Darude Sandstorm on 28/05/2026 - 15:18

            @McMaferMur: Nah centrelink don't outsource.
            APS3 in the call centres get $40/hr presuming they're an IIE (incl casual loading on Full time hours)

            • 0
            • Muppet Detector on 28/05/2026 - 16:44

              @Darude Sandstorm: Oh, you work for Centrelink?

              That's easy. Just get in contact with a chick called Terry and adk her how her, her husband and two teenage daughters moved into somebody's PPOR which was temporarily vacant as interstate with terminally ill child.

              Ask them how they stayed there for five months and would not even let the owners into the house to collect their own furniture, clothes and possessions.

              Ask them how much rent or bond they paid over that five finish. Ask if there was even a lease?

              Their children went to the local Catholic school each day and the family went to Catholic Church every week.

              Ask them how much Centrelink (their bosses) their church, their school or their friends cared.

              Nah centrelink don't outsource.

              sure they do

              Centrelink outsources everything, even independent homes to scammy scummy people who work for them that the others have absolutely nothing to do with Centrelink, not even on their books for a cent. No tax benefit, no baby claims, no childcare subsidy, Fkn nothing.

              • 0
      • Darude Sandstorm on 27/05/2026 - 16:27

        I asked for a deadend job.
        Not one where I gotta be running cables and doing wiring all day lol
        The pays good sure, and all OT and nights are double time but this isn't for me, I have too much responsibility and take too much home with me after work and that's the killa.
        Brain is in work mode 24/7 so the money isn't worth it, I don't need the car either, that's only for me to do my job

        • 4
        • stewy on 28/05/2026 - 09:07

          Personally I would have classed a security technician on $60/hr as a good paying dead end job.

          Also as basically trade labour with no supervision or design responsibilities, your job should be more about physical labour and less so about mental output. I'm unsure you're going to find any decent paying job that will let you turn off anymore mentally. I'd suggest it's more so your personality type or other life factors that aren't allowing you to switch off after work.

          • 13
          • Darude Sandstorm on 28/05/2026 - 15:22

            @stewy: Eh.
            There's 2 main pathways, one doing installs which is just dead end labour (I am not capable of this and not sure why they're treated as interchangeable jobs) and the other is Service work, which is 60% work on the computer (Relay Logic, Lift Logic, automation, reports etc), 20% manual labour and 20% multimeter fault finding.

            Also, the latter is true, which is the core problem, I can't switch off. I need a job that doesn't have any ongoing work, go in, do a task for a couple hours, a day, maybe 2 days max then move onto the next, the continuation of jobs shits me to tears.

            • 1
            • stewy on 28/05/2026 - 15:42

              @Darude Sandstorm: Above you wrote this about your job:

              Not one where I gotta be running cables and doing wiring all day lol

              Now apparently you aren't capable of that work and it's 60% computer based.

              Good to see you are keeping your story straight!

              • 0
              • Darude Sandstorm on 28/05/2026 - 15:45

                @stewy: Maybe I misworded it, I'm stuck doing the install part of the job (That isn't interchangeable), and I have a background entirely in the service side of things.
                Experience doesn't match my job and I'm just crying on the internet about it rather than just getting the job I'm excellent at and capable of.

                (Also, I kinda don't wanna do the service work either, it's boring and I'm never coming up against problems that gets me scratchin' the ol' noodle

                • 0
            • Muppet Detector on 28/05/2026 - 17:22

              @Darude Sandstorm:

              Also, the latter is true, which is the core problem, I can't switch off. I need a job that doesn't have any ongoing work, go in, do a task for a couple hours, a day, maybe 2 days max then move onto the next, the continuation of jobs shits me to tears.

              Are you in Japan?

              Still can't work out what you do.

              So, when a company buys 50 computers, keyboards, mice, routers, wifi doobies and calls someone in to "set them up" you're the dude that does that right?

              So in a school, all that & connecting whiteboards to tablets etc… right?

              That's the job you want. Once it's finished you move onto the next school/business

              Then there's another job that keeps them all updated, fixing anything that breaks, tweaks things here & there, installs updates etc investigates isps, bots, deleted mails and files etc

              But you don't want anything to do with that, right?

              • 0
            • ChickenA on 29/05/2026 - 00:49

              @Darude Sandstorm: Are you working in like Honeywell or Johnson Controls? If you don't want to be tied to a site with ongoing work, can you asked to be moved to do commissioning only?

              • 0
        • tenpercent on 27/05/2026 - 16:37

          Wait, what is a "security technician"? Is that some kind of computer cyber security thing? Or is it a locksmith? Or a security guard? Or a bloke running cables for all the security cameras everyone buys on Ozbargain to turn their home into Fort Knox?

          • 10
          • Darude Sandstorm on 27/05/2026 - 16:42

            @tenpercent: The latter.

            It's kinda like being an electrician, except you only need to do a 1 week course and are working on extra low voltage circuits.
            Installing cameras, Alarm Systems, Access Control, Smoke Bombs etcccc

            • 3
            • tenpercent on 27/05/2026 - 16:45

              @Darude Sandstorm: What are you bringing home from work though? That kinda sounds like the kind of job where there's nothing to bring home apart from your tools.

              • 38
              • Darude Sandstorm on 27/05/2026 - 16:47

                @tenpercent: Just standard work drama.
                It's the same everywhere lol

                Almost as dog shit as an MSP

                • -6
            • wildstone on 27/05/2026 - 22:48

              @Darude Sandstorm: May i please ask why is running cables and installing cameras so stressful?

              Genuinely curious. Can you please elaborate?

              • 14
            • Cheaplikethebird on 27/05/2026 - 17:50

              @Darude Sandstorm: Ohhh that sort of security tech. I’ve considered this loosely before. Not worth it then you reckon? Also not my neg on your reply back on my comment, think you might have pissed someone off lol.

              • 0
            • lambaus on 27/05/2026 - 21:50

              @Darude Sandstorm: Interested in knowing about this course

              • 0
          • Jackson on 28/05/2026 - 14:38

            @tenpercent: Should have said "security systems technician"

            • 0
            • tenpercent on 28/05/2026 - 14:49

              @Jackson: That still doesn't make me think "bloke running cables for surveillance cameras".

              • 1
              • Darude Sandstorm on 28/05/2026 - 15:17

                @tenpercent: Electronic Security Technician is probably the more technical term, but job adverts hardly include the Electronic part, as if you're in the industry, it's kinda assumed.
                The main issue is Cyber Security guys started removing Cyber from their title, and then other people say security installer as in security shutters.
                Makes is super hard for recruiters to find people to employ but super easy to search for a job and advertise when you know what to look for.

                • 1
                • rumblytangara on 03/06/2026 - 12:00

                  @Darude Sandstorm: I come back to this thread a week later and am again amused. So a "security technician" is some guy that runs cables and not an infosec white collar job.

                  Sometimes descriptions are more useful than job titles, like "sanitation engineer" = "mop the floors"

                  You're a cabler, mate. Not sure how you can mentally bring this sort of work home with you, this is about as mentally untaxing and low responsibility simple as it gets. Versus tracking random CVEs and doing massive remediation efforts across a gazillion machines after news of a zero day exploit.

                  You want a deadend job with high pay? You already have it.

                  • 0
                  • Darude Sandstorm on 03/06/2026 - 17:35

                    @rumblytangara: I'd say a cabler is a cabler, a dude that runs cables and is just doing manual labour.
                    I do simpler stuff, deploy switches, firewalls, setup ACL's, VLSM on isolated networks, wire up all the inputs, outputs, Macro relay logic, fingerprint, hand print, eye scanners in secure facilities, resistor and circuitry wiring.
                    Occasionally I get to run some cables, fit them off and patch some cameras onto an isolated network and setup the jump host and gateways.

                    It's all physical security security systems, so there's doing all the programming, using COBOL most days and sanitising databases

                    Gotta remember the whole me coming from an IT roles, primarily just doing standard stuff in Azure, Kubernetes, IAC, WAF's. Very few people are encountering Zero Days where something like Sentinel is handling it for them, when it doesn't work you end up with the crowdstrike bsod issues.

                    Modern day cybersecurity for 95% of staff isn’t Mr Robot, just standard boring user phish testing, pen testing and audits to get their cyber security insurance discount

                    • 1
              • Jackson on 28/05/2026 - 15:15

                @tenpercent: Doesn't it? It does for me

                • 0
                • tenpercent on 28/05/2026 - 15:28

                  @Jackson: It's fairly vague from the perspective of someone not in the industry.

                  • 0
        • Muppet Detector on 28/05/2026 - 16:36

          Pyrotechnics is fun.

          Roadout for the dudes who do the sound, lights & screen for the big concerts

          • 0
    • JIMB0 on 27/05/2026 - 18:25

      It's the bare minimum I'd work for these days and that's only if there's no stress.

      • -2
      • Geoff01 on 28/05/2026 - 08:46

        Maybe give ilusca list of $60 an hour jobs that don't require much

        • 0
        • Muppet Detector on 28/05/2026 - 16:49

          Casual chickenboner $80+
          Sausage maker & stringer 90+
          Abbotoirs $80+
          Pot wash after hours $60 + free food + tips
          Cocktail shakers after hours + tips
          Tutoring >$200p/h
          Musical instrument tuition >$250
          AMEB or Trinity small group classes 8 x $60
          Traffic Control Worker
          Support/Disability Care Worker $70

          • -1
          • Muppet Detector on 28/05/2026 - 17:04

            @Muppet Detector: Dead scene cleaner
            Morgue cleaner
            Waiter
            Street sweeper
            Public toilet cleaner
            Horse poop collector st Horace racing tracks and stables
            High rise window washer
            Prawn peeler
            Uber eats
            Package delivery service
            Homework helper
            Nanny/housekeeper
            Shoe clean & polisher
            Knife sharpener
            Blokes who legally move dead bodies to the various places they're supposed to be
            Pall Bearers
            First Man Speeches etc
            Bachelor Party Organisers
            Learn to swim coaches
            SLCL
            Personal Trainers
            Dudes who label test tubes at IVF clinics
            Dudes who do your back to school book packs - cover books and name everything.

            School lunch maker

            • -2
            • Geoff01 on 28/05/2026 - 17:23

              @Muppet Detector: Yeah nah, a lot of those jobs are skilled, very unlikely most earn over $60 an hour. Not in WA anyway. Pretty much all unskilled mine workers don't come close to that. It's the number of days and hours they work that bulks the wage.

              • 0
              • Muppet Detector on 28/05/2026 - 17:26

                @Geoff01: Dude asked for $60 an hour jobs that didn't need much to get going

                My 10 year old was boning out chickens. Most were cleaning type jobs/entry level jobs, how could they be skilled?

                My cousin works as a pit washer and is 80% deaf

                Most of those you'd be over skilled if you watched a you tube clip with Big Bird as the star,

                • 1
            • El cheepo on 31/05/2026 - 11:37

              @Muppet Detector: Almost none of those are $60 a hour jobs (some aren’t even jobs lol) and the ones that are paying $60ish require training or a lot of background experience.

              • 0
  • Nutrino on 27/05/2026 - 16:16

    [grabs.popcorn.in.front.of.pc.playing.heartstone.at.work.reading.ozbargain]

    • 15
    • mikkeyg on 28/05/2026 - 10:06

      Hearthstone on one screen, Old School Runescape on another

      • 3
  • Duckie2hh on 27/05/2026 - 16:19

    allow me to go to work, come home, not think about work afterwards

    How good are you with stripping?

    • 15
    • Jimothy Wongingtons on 27/05/2026 - 17:25

      Forget the stripping… how good are op’s feet and could they pass for women’s?

      • 10
    • Darude Sandstorm on 28/05/2026 - 15:14

      I'm a security tech man, I spend all day stripping, how else do I expose the copper to terminate it??

      • 5
      • Muppet Detector on 28/05/2026 - 16:33

        how else do I expose the copper to terminate it??

        Call 000

        • 4
    • tenpercent on 27/05/2026 - 16:23

      How good are you with stripping?

      I don't know about OP, but Uncle Ian can have the engine gone in 60 seconds

      • 1
    • BewareOfThe Dog on 27/05/2026 - 20:24

      All you need is a leather cap.

      • 0
  • cashless on 27/05/2026 - 21:40

    Grave digger.
    Dead end job, but you won’t want to be taking it home with you

    • 14
    • Jimothy Wongingtons on 28/05/2026 - 17:32

      My dad was a grave digger (seriously) … growing up I thought it was so embarrassing when other kids parents were like policeman, lawyer, ceo of an engineering firm, European male gigolo etc - but u right , he never took work home lmao. Other than that time he was convinced he was haunted after a whole bunch of weird shit happened at work and then at home…

      • 3
      • tenpercent on 28/05/2026 - 17:38

        Other than that time he was convinced he was haunted

        Was he though?

        • 1
        • Jimothy Wongingtons on 28/05/2026 - 17:44

          If you ask me, yes and no - to this day I still believe the house itself was always haunted. We moved maybe 1-2 years after, and my uncle bought the house and his wife was also convinced it was haunted.

          • 1
  • brendanm on 27/05/2026 - 17:40

    Sounds like you are currently doing it.

    Failing that, register yourself as an NDIS provider and cut people's laws for $400 an hour.

    • 13
    • Darude Sandstorm on 27/05/2026 - 19:26

      The in-laws?

      • 2
      • brendanm on 27/05/2026 - 21:09

        Damn, should have checked that a bit better.

        • 1
    • Gunnar on 27/05/2026 - 20:13

      Do you think there’s a market for NDIS gift cards? I have it on good advice that they don’t fail

      • 1
  • dlakers3peat on 27/05/2026 - 23:55

    Man this was very hard to read. If you write like this, I hate to think what you sound like when you speak.

    • 10
    • Darude Sandstorm on 28/05/2026 - 15:36

      My apologies, due to how chronically fatigued and exhausted I get from work my brain turns to a fine mushy paste and it results in posts where I can not, for the life of me, be bothered using correct grammar, or English (peep the use of the oxford comma which most people seem to forget to use).

      Video for reference:
      https://www.youtube.com/shorts/p6JRnx1Qqd0

      • 0
  • FireRunner on 27/05/2026 - 18:04

    Thats sone fine trolling op

    • 7
  • tenpercent on 27/05/2026 - 16:20

    get a job under the misso

    • 6
    • Jimothy Wongingtons on 27/05/2026 - 17:37

      They say never shit where you eat… plus the accusations of banging the cute new hire in marketing….

      • 8
      • Mike88 on 28/05/2026 - 16:59

        Probably shouldn't shit on the misso

        • 13
        • Serapis on 30/05/2026 - 12:09

          Just needs to find a partner and a cup

          • -1
  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 27/05/2026 - 17:26

    tbh I just wanna go to work, come home, play vidya game and not think about work too much

    Oh no you don’t! That cushy job that is says awesome and pays liveable money is mine!!

    tires screeching

    • 6
    • Gunnar on 27/05/2026 - 17:37

      Not if me and my Vibe coding grocery idea have anything to do with it!

      • 5
    • Darude Sandstorm on 27/05/2026 - 17:27

      Shouldn't every job pay liveable money haha.

      • 0
  • Gunnar on 27/05/2026 - 17:36

    Something NDIS related

    • 5
    • Jimothy Wongingtons on 27/05/2026 - 17:59

      Start a new NDIS… but like.. sexy

      • 6
      • Gunnar on 27/05/2026 - 20:13

        Feels like I’ll be wearing nothing at all

        • 2
      • smartazz104 on 28/05/2026 - 14:13

        NDIC… nevermind.

        • 1
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