Alternative Careers, Part Deux

Hmm, something just came into my mind today, about an alternative career path to pursue. Some friends have commented that my previous post on alternative career paths seemed fairly depressing as it mainly involved living in an impoverished state. So, here goes another alternative list, one that involves being in a fairly comfortable state.

Music Teacher
It just occurred to me that I will be able to earn a comfortable living teaching music. This may come as a surprise to some people, but anyone who has learned music will know that music teachers actually make quite a bit of money, if they go full-time, private. My music teachers used to make 5 figure salaries easily. In fact, one of my former students, is now making more than 5k a month teaching music. Considering the fact that she didn't do well in school, she's actually making quite a comfortable living.

So, if I open a school and go full-time as a music teacher, I should be able to make a fairly decent living. I could always stick to teaching the higher grades and diploma students, while farming out the lower grades to other people. I could also take in partners for other instruments. If I really wanted to, I could treat it as any other business and do it big. Give Yamaha/Technics a run for it's money!

Intellectual Property Lawyer
I am particularly passionate about intellectual property law. For someone who isn't an IP lawyer, I do know quite a bit about it. This stems from the fact that I have always respected intellectual property, but just not quite in the conventional way. For example, I've always bought original music, even back in Malaysia. Considering the fact that I do contribute my chip designs as open source hardware, this is certainly something that is dear to me.

It is also useful to have a technical PhD, when considering a career in IP law. At the very least, I would be able to understand the technical bits better than a random IP lawyer. I could possibly specialise in my technical area. I would have to find out how to get myself certified to practice though. I doubt that I'd need a legal degree. However, I do believe that there will be some form of professional certification that I'd need to earn. I'd also need to attach myself to a reputable law-firm.