Top 5 Work-from-Home Careers & the Degree You'll Need to Get Them
By Amelia Gray
Ditch the daily commute and work from home! These great careers and college degrees offer the chance at freedom and a home office.
Check out five of the top work-from-home careers along with the degrees that can get you there. With an online associate's degree, you can even attend school from home, completing your education at your own pace.
1. Small Business: Associate's Degree in Business Administration
The ultimate work-from-home career is the small business you start for yourself. Whether you have a multi-million dollar idea or you just want to start a cottage industry venture, an associate's degree in business administration gives you a broad base of knowledge you can use to start the process.
- Finance Facts: Recent government funding for the Small Business Administration is good news for small business owners across the country. In the coming years, it may become even easier to take out a loan for your first business.
2. Private Detective: Associate's Degree in Criminal Justice
Use a college degree to solve your own career mystery. With an associate's degree in criminal justice, a range of potential career options become available, including working from home as a private investigator. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recommends aspiring private detectives take criminal justice coursework, particularly if they lack years of experience in the field.
- Salary Facts: Private detectives and investigators earned mean annual wages of $46,480 in 2008, a healthy salary for anyone working out of their home.
3. Medical Clerk: Associate's Degree in Medical Billing and Coding
Ensuring that medical records are processed correctly is a complex job. To meet the challenge, an associate's degree in medical billing and coding can be invaluable. A growing number of medical billers work from home, the BLS notes, adding that medical billing and posting clerks with an associate degree are likely to start at higher salaries and advance more easily in the field than those without.
- Salary Facts: Clerks earned mean annual wages of $32,120 in 2008. With a degree, advancement becomes more likely.
4: Child Care Provider: Associate's Degree in Early Childhood Development
How can you combine your desire to work from home with your love of kids? For many, an in-home daycare center is the best of both worlds. Many child daycare providers work out of their own homes or the homes of their clients. An associate's degree offers you the credential your clients may look for when considering your services.
- Salary Facts: In 2008, child care workers earned mean annual wages of $20,350. With a booming day care business, those numbers could go even higher.
5. Computer Support Specialist: Associate's Degree in Computer Information Systems
Working in tech support has its own rewards, like being the only one in the room that can fix the printer. With formal training, you could take that satisfying career home, working on a freelance basis as a computer support specialist. Recruit workers and grow your own business, or offer your services to a few choice clients. Either way, this career gives you a chance to use your high-tech skills every day.
- Salary Facts: Computer support specialists saw mean annual wages of $46,370 in 2008.
Online College Degrees
An online degree allows you to do your schoolwork from home, learning at your own pace as you build valuable skills. Another benefit? Once you're ready to take your career home, you'll also have the discipline and self-starting ability you learned while you were earning your degree.
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About the Author
Amelia Gray is a teacher and freelance writer in San Marcos, TX. Amelia earned a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature from Arizona State University.
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