Since there's been a good bit of discussion about how much money each career generates, including the perks, I thought I'd start a list. Obviously, each career now gets occasional bonuses, but I suspect most careers will be within a relatively small range when they first hit level 10. I have to say, the varying effects that you get from different career paths is one of the better changes from TS2.
I'll get better numbers later, but here are some ballparks for the careers I have experience with, off the top of my head. Feel free to post data below and I'll keep a running list in the first post.
Criminal (Evil) -
- requires athletics, workplace relationships (especially the boss) and, for the very last levels, a little bit of logic.
- ~3200 per day
- occasional free items, which sell for anywhere from 1k to 8k. I'd say about an 80% chance of an item on a given workday
- the dropdown option "Do Side Jobs" nets about an extra $750 per day
- also has dropdowns for improving athletic skill, meeting co-workers, befriending co-workers, and befriending boss.
- will post workdays later. Have to check, but I think it was 3 days a week. Works at night.
- Occasionally radiates a red aura in the presence of groups of sims. I think this is supposed to scare them because you're Mr. Evil, but it doesn't really appear to have any effect.
- At lower levels, your sim can get arrested and spend a 12 hours or so in jail. Jail has dropdowns which include building athletics and your fun meter. My sim was arrested twice in his career, both times very early on.
- Top tier ride is a black limo. Top tier costume is a black outfit with green piping, in a vaguely 1940s military shape. (tier 9 costume is Dr. Evil, to a T)
Music (Rockstar) -
- Requires guitar skill, workplace relationships and musical performances (can be performed at work via dropdown).
- At top tier, has no work hours. You perform shows or do an autograph session whenever you want, within certain hours.
- Theater shows net about 1k and last about two hours, Arena shows net 2-3k and last about four hours (time frame is a total guess. I wasn't paying attention). Money from shows seemed seriously lame, to me. There doesn't appear to be a way to get a raise, since there's no job performance bonus possible - the meter doesn't fill up anymore.
- Sims in your household can go to the show for free and will get a nice moodlet afterwards.
- Autograph signing sessions last four hours and net 6-7k, but it's not autonomous - you have to queue up a bunch of "sign autograph" actions (not that much work, really).
- Getting your guitar skill up has a lot of perks of its own, including the ability to make decent money by playing for tips in the park (playing for tips still generates skill) and to serenade significant others.
- Ride is a Rockstar bus from level 6 or so to level 9 (fully replaces the cab. The bus will take you everywhere). Level 10 is a blue limo.
Journalism -
- Skills Required: Writing from the beginning, Charisma at the higher levels. (Surprisingly, Creativity is NOT required at all. Because it no longer exists, my mistake.)
- Friends: Indirectly required to gain Charisma skill after the first few points. It is possible to get quite far (around level 7) with minimal friends (3, in my sim's case) however. The game recommends you befriend the boss, though I didn't notice much benefit.
- Other Requirements: At the higher levels, job performance is ostensibly influenced by the quality and frequency of your articles, interviews, and reviews, though my sim hasn't written anything but novels since level 6 or so with no effect.
- Perks: Under "Special" interactions, your sim gains the ability to Interview. This allows you to discover all five traits of any sim very quickly. Also, there is a special writing skill achievement ("Feature Article Writer") that increases the chances of producing hits and bestsellers. This appears to be exclusive to Journalists. The indirect perk is you're more or less required to max Writing, which makes it an ideal career if you want to concentrate on novel-writing primarily, and do a traditional career on the side.
- Salary: At level 10, Star News Anchor, I believe the starting salary was around 700 or 800 (not sure exactly.) With raises from maxing job performance, my sim is currently making 900+.
- Hours: For level 10, Star News Anchor, M W Th F : 8:00 am - noon.
- Opportunities: Interview City Councilman -- go to City Hall for a couple hours. Save your branch from being closed by the network -- write a bestselling article. A few other opportunities were similarly based on writing hit or bestselling articles. All successful opportunities result in higher job performance, money (not much, usually around 300) and sometimes, better relations with your boss, whatever that's worth.
- Job-Specific Working Technique: Practice Writing (increases writing skill) and Discuss News With Co-workers (increases relationship score with co-workers).
- Level 10 Vehicle: Margaret Vaguester - speed 10.
Athletics [
from roflganger]:
- I have to check my game for exact numbers, but at the top, they bring in a sizable sum and can also do autograph signings and advertising deals.
- Work schedule sucks though - 3 work days and 2 game days.
- Performance factors: relationship with boss, relationship with teammates, athletic skills and (after a certain point) how the team does in games.
- Extra perk: family members can attend games for free.
Culinary [
from gyrobot]-
- Very low maintenance Career, requiring only cooking as the only skill with good workplace relationships.
- You get an improved Food Processor and a Fridge that boosts all food quality by 1. Leftovers also last longer in that fridge.
- You get half price meals for the place, not that it matters since the only place worth going is the Bristo
- Can switch between restaurants for speed/mobility.
Science -
- Top Pay (Will update this. At Level 8 it's currently 257/hour with MTTF workdays, 9:00-1:30)
- Performance Factors: Mood, Gardening, Handiness, Fishing (One of the more skill oriented careers)
- Decent work hours - Seems to hover around 6 hours.
- Occasionally you can get burned at work.
- Standard Work Options: Business as Usual, Work Hard, Hang Out in Specimen Closet, Geek Out With Fellow Scientists, Help Boss, Independent Research.
Business -
- Rank 10, Power Broker started at around $400/h. Workdays were only 8-11AM on M,T, and T.
- Player could choose to 'Hold Meeting' at the upper levels, which lasted an hour or two and paid $750. Good for raking in cash. They should have called this Srs Bsns.
- The company occasionally gave out a 'Deliver the Top-Secret Package'/'Host a Work Party' opportunity, or some other tomfoolery.
- It was a rather dull career, but such is business I suppose. Undecided
Medicine -
- Requires logic skill, and reading medical journals (not as a career opportunity, but as an aspect of job performance)
- Don't remember that well, but I think it was just shy of 3k per day when I hit level 10. Someone else can probably give a better number.
- Can sleep at work, or play golf at work (sleep meter and fun meter).
- You sim has to carry a beeper and is often "on call." Occasionally, you'll get called back to work at odd hours.
- My retired medical career sim makes 460 a day.
- Law Enforcement ( superspy / forensic analyst )
- During the career your given your own police car and your own laptop.
- You also get the option to question sims to learn every detail about their traits and life status.
--Working From Home--
Hacking -
- A full night hacking session currently nets my hacker around 3-4k. It has gone up noticeably since I started, probably due to logic gains (though possibly due to hacking experience). Logic is still around 8, so I'll update this later. Can only hack between 9pm and 7am, so it's not quite as flexible as other home careers.
- Hacking requires the computer whiz trait, it does not appear to require any skills, and it does not boost any skills
- Cybercrime division occasionally fries your computer (I assume the unbreakable upgrade will stop this, but haven't tested it)
Logic Problem Solving on the Computer -
- I had initially assumed that every time I did this I'd get a harder problem and make more money, but it appears to be a random amount between $50 and $150, and I don't think it goes up. The failure rate is also very high. Not a viable way to make money, as far as I can tell, but works for getting your logic up.
- does boost fun meter, as well as logic skill.
Writing -
- Very slow starting, but a high ceiling. I've read one person claim they currently make 24k per week in royalties. Royalties come in every Sunday for 6 weeks from when the book is published, and you can be receiving royalties from numerous books at once. If you're not playing on Epic lifespan, getting paid once a week pretty much sucks. Especially early on, when your big payday is 2k.
- You receive a free copy of each book you publish
- Different types of books become available as you increase in skill. Different types have different lengths and different payouts.
- fun meter drain and stress moodlet generator (contrast to painting, which is a fun generator).
Painting [
from VeilSethekk] -
- Seems to be in the same boat as Writing, a slow start, but a high celing. And the lack of 5-digit number earnings on painting (Compared to writing royalties) is offset by the increased frequency in terms of the time it takes to finish a painting.
- Chance to receive a "Paint X amount of paintings" opportunity, which can rake in 5-digit earnings. I've yet to see a Sim get that more than once though, so it maybe just a one-time thing.
- Paintings made can contribute to the "Decorated rooms" moodlets should you decide to keep them.
Gardening -
- Time-consuming for your sim, but easy for the player thanks to EA adopting an auto-garden script that some brilliant person had for Sims2.
- Not very profitable from what I can tell. A stack of 200 low-grade veggies will net about 2k. I haven't tried selling high grade veggies yet. Plants grow very slowly, can be harvested 2-3 times, and then go barren and die.
- There is a money tree that you can grow. Produces bags of cashable money that increase steadily. Does produce seeds occasionally. Lives much longer than other plants. Most cash seen so far is $700.
- Sims can eat most of the foods harvested, providing quick hunger relief. The only things that I've seen harvested that are unedible were the Death Flowers and the Money Tree cash bags. This is really useful if you're off on a fishing or hiking trip and get hungry.
- Massive hygiene drain (about equivalent to working out).
Fishing -
- As with TS2, it's possibly to reel in objects. Guitars seem common.
- Perfect quality deathfish look to sell for about $900-$1k. Fishing for deathfish looks like it could be pretty lucrative. Too bad they're only available from midnight to 2 am.
- Other than the deathfish, no real money to be made.
Author