In 2025, we are seeing a clear shift in jobs that value proven skills and AI proficiency over a traditional four-year college degree. Many of these roles that no longer require a degee to apply are in the tech sector with starting salaries over $100,000 a year.
Examples of high-paying, skills-based jobs:
- AI engineer
- Full-stack software engineer
- Technical account manager
- Elevator installers and technicians
- Railroad workers
The job market has been flirting with the concept of skills-based hiring for years, but the recent advancements in generative AI have triggered a seismic shift.
According to LinkedIn data, 70% of the core skills required for most jobs are projected to change by 2030—and AI will be the catalyst. The public is also aware of the shift, with searches for “AI jobs” and “AI certifications” increasing by over 2000% since 2021, according to Google Trends.
For decades, the path to a successful career started with a college degree, but recent data indicate the era of higher education is coming to an end. In its place, verifiable skills and AI fluency are becoming the new must-have qualifications—and they don’t cost tens of thousands of dollars or years of full-time education to earn.
Report Highlights
- 70% of professionals will need to develop new skills in the next five years.
- Skills-based jobs are set to grow in the next decade (e.g. the number of wind turbine technicians is projected to increase by 60%).
- Since 2022, there has been a 140% increase in the pace at which LinkedIn members add new skills to their profiles.
- C-suite members rank AI literacy as the single most important skillset for navigating business change.
- We examined a random selection of job postings on LinkedIn and Indeed, finding that just 28% required a college degree.
The Data is Clear: Skills Beat Degrees
The “skills-first” economy is developing right under our noses, with LinkedIn data showing that an estimated 70%of professionals will need to acquire new skills within the next five years to remain competitive. This sentiment is echoed by professionals themselves, with a staggering 69%believing that verified skills are more important than a college degree for navigating the modern job market.
Employers are feeling this shift acutely. When HR professionals are asked about their biggest hiring challenges, finding candidates with the right technical skills (51%) and soft skills (45%) tops the list. This has ignited a move toward skills-based hiring, where a candidate’s demonstrated abilities and potential to learn outweigh their formal educational background.
This trend goes straight to the top. C-suite executives now rank AI literacy as the single most important skillset for navigating business change, while requirements for college degrees are dwindling. EmilyKate, COO of Hierographx, says their team has “moved away from treating degrees as a default requirement.” In recent years, the company has hired “developers who were entirely self-taught, designers who pivoted from unrelated careers, and strategists who built their skills on the job.”
The New Career Path: Jobs Without College, Powered by AI
The U.S. economy is projected to add 6.7 million jobs by 2033, and many of the most promising opportunities don’t require a four-year degree. This trend highlights a powerful new career path: high-growth, high-pay roles powered by specialized skills.
Consider wind turbine service technicians, one of the fastest-growing occupations in the U.S. The BLS projects a growth rate of 60%, with a median annual salary of $62,580—all in a field that values specialized training over a traditional bachelor’s degree. Other roles in a similar position include:
Occupation | Qualifications | Median Wage | Projected Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers | High School/Equivalent | $105,580 | 5% |
Railroad Workers | High School/Equivalent | $75,680 | 2% |
Computer Support Specialist | High School/Equivalent + Certifications | $61,550 | 6% |
Ironworkers | High School/Equivalent | $61,940 | 4% |
Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses | Postsecondary Non-degree Award | $62,340 | 3% |
Wind Turbine Technicians | Postsecondary Non-degree Award | $62,580 | 60% |
Medical Equipment Repairers | Associate’s | $62,630 | 18% |
This pattern is especially pronounced in the tech sector. The computer and information technology field is projected to grow much faster than the average from 2023 to 2033.
While a bachelor’s degree was required for 55.1% of these roles in 2024, there is more to the story: prior work experience was required for 73.3%, and on-the-job training for 66.9%. This reveals a critical point: for a majority of employers in tech, practical experience is non-negotiable—but higher education is.
As Matt Cholerton, CEO of Hito Labs, puts it:
“There are lots of fantastic candidates without a degree, and there are plenty of candidates with degrees that can not perform the job well. It’s increasingly about identifying and assessing the skills needed to do the job.”
AI’s influence isn’t limited to creating new tech jobs; it’s reshaping existing ones across all industries:
- Data Scientists: Now one of the fastest-growing occupations, data scientists are being hired in every sector to analyze information and drive business decisions.
- Personal Financial Advisors: Even in a field where degrees are common, AI is augmenting, not replacing, human expertise. Demand for human advisors is projected to grow 17.1% by 2033 as their roles evolve to leverage AI tools for better client outcomes.
At Beamjobs, we also conducted our own investigation by selecting 50 random tech job descriptions on LinkedIn and Indeed. We found that only 28% of those job descriptions required a college degree—and a whopping 78% emphasized a mixture of technical and AI-based skills.
Of those 50 randomly selected tech job descriptions, 24 boasted starting salaries of $100k or higher, such as
Job | Salary |
|---|---|
Technical Account Manager | $100k |
Machine Learning Engineer | $137 to 196k |
AI Engineer | $160 to 220k |
Business Development Manager | $120 to 150k |
Solutions Architect | $220 to 280k |
Full Stack Software Engineer | $180 to 440k |
*Salary data is based on a manual review of 50 randomly selected tech job postings across LinkedIn and Indeed in July 2025. Listings were limited to US-based roles but not filtered by experience or degree requirements, in order to capture a representative snapshot of current hiring trends.
You Don’t Need a Degree to Learn AI
One of the most transformative aspects of the AI era is the democratization of skills. The idea that you need a four-year computer science degree to participate in the tech economy is officially outdated.
Since 2022, there has been a 140% increase in the pace at which LinkedIn members add new skills to their profiles, a clear indicator that professionals are embracing continuous, self-directed learning.
Alok, Digital Marketer at Keploy, says their company finds that
“The strongest contributors tend to be those who have also ‘made stuff’ out of fixed experiences—such as through self-learning, community projects, or cross-disciplinary experience.”
AI fluency is no longer a niche specialty; it’s a foundational competency that employers are seeking across all job types. The good news is that acquiring these skills is more accessible than ever. Online learning platforms offer a vast library of courses on everything from the fundamentals of generative AI to advanced data analysis and prompt engineering.
For example, subscription-based Coursera offers four-week-long courses on Generative AI and Prompt Engineering that anyone can enroll in for free. Or, over at EdX, the LinuxFoundation offers a 10-week course on Data and AI Fundamentals for $189. Combined, these courses currently have over 1.02M learners enrolled—and they’re just a drop in the thousands of courses available.
Conclusion: The New Career Currency
The data tells a clear story: skills, not just diplomas, are the new currency of career capital. The labor market is in rapid transition, driven by rapid advancements in artificial intelligence.
Employers are prioritizing demonstrable abilities—Stream Estate co-founder Helene Roche Perard says they’ve “never relied on degrees to hire tech talent,” instead valuing “problem-solving, adaptability, and critical thinking over theoretical credentials.” She also notes her company is not alone, but “part of a growing trend” toward skills-based hiring.
Data indicates that the most successful professionals of the next decade will be those who embrace a mindset of continuous learning. They will build and refine their skill sets through accessible education and hands-on experience, adapt to new technologies, and understand that their career path is not a straight line defined by a single degree.
FAQs about High-Paying, Skills-Based Jobs
Many full-stack software engineer, solutions architect, business development manager, and machine learning jobs pay over $100k a year.
While many employers are removing traditional degree requirements, keep in mind that not all companies have followed suit—even when skills matter the most for doing the job well. Read the job listing carefully.
No. It’s more than possible to find a job where employers are hiring based on your skills and ability to do the job rather than a formal education.
Yes. There are many online learning platforms, such as Udemy, Coursera, and EdX that provide trusted and credible AI and machine-learning courses to anyone interested in learning. Many are offered at a low cost, and some are even free.
Yes, our review of 50 randomly selected job listings on Indeed and LinkedIn found that 72% of roles did not require a degree. We also interviewed CEOs and executives in the tech industry who confirmed that they now prioritize technical skills and AI literacy over degrees.
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