Canoe shaper. Salary: $41,000 or less 

There's a whole lot more to shaping a canoe than curving wood. You've been doing this your whole life, and for you, it's more about the craftsmanship than any of that fancy ol' city-folk engineering. You produce real works of art. And they work, too—most of the time.

Life Raft Designer. Salary: $64,000 

You'd have thought that civilization would have perfected the life raft by now. Nope. Turns out people need all sorts of special rafts designed for specific climates or to be stored in specific ways. You're getting pretty tired of the smell of rubber these days, but at least it's better than your last job as a life raft inflator.

Shipwright. Salary: $94,040 

You put in your time and earned yourself a cozy office and a massive computer that runs the most advanced engineering software known to man. You have a small but dedicated crew of engineers salivating for the chance to turn your epic ship designs into epic ships. Now if only you could get over your fear of water, maybe someday you could finally see what it's like aboard one of the ships you've designed over the years.

The Wright Stuff. Salary: $130,000 

If there was such a thing as a "celebrity" shipwright, you're that. Anytime a top cruise line needs a new flagship model, you're the first to take the call. You have a fleet of engineers at your disposal, and are known for producing some of the most ridiculously luxurious ships on the high seas. Who knows what's next for you? You're thinking reality show.

[CLASSIFIED]. Salary $194,300 

After twenty years of designing cargo ships, you were contacted by a man in a trench coat and sunglasses claiming to not (nudge nudge, wink wink) work for the Department of Defense. He wants you to design a stealth military-grade carrier, capable of hauling and deploying what he called "multiple military-airplane-shaped objects of approximately military airplane weight." You're not allowed to talk about your work outside of the office, but the pay's amazing.