In the same respect, while jobs such as those at Genentech might be some of the highest paying jobs, not all the companies have the highest paid employees—just the happiest, evidently.  Rather, the highest paying jobs are those that according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (at bls.gov) belong mostly to medical professionals, legal representatives, and science and technology professionals and specialists.  Here, for example, are the top, or highest paying jobs (based on median statistics):

MEDIAN GREATER THAN $145,600 YEARLY
Anesthesiologists
General Internists
Obstetricians and Gynecologists
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
Orthodontists
Prosthodontists
Psychiatrists
Surgeons
MEDIAN GREATER THAN $140,350 YEARLY
Chief Executive Officers
MEDIAN GREATER THAN $137,090 YEARLY
Family Practitioners
General Practitioners
MEDIAN GREATER THAN $135,730 YEARLY
General Pediatricians
MEDIAN GREATER THAN $129,250 YEARLY
Airline Pilots
Copilots
Flight Engineers
MEDIAN GREATER THAN $123,060 YEARLY
General Dentists
MEDIAN GREATER THAN $102, 030 YEARLY
Air Traffic Controllers
MEDIAN GREATER THAN $97,630 YEARLY
Engineering Managers
MEDIAN GREATER THAN $97,320 YEARLY
Astronomers
MEDIAN GREATER THAN $94,930 YEARLY
Lawyers
MEDIAN GREATER THAN $94,400 YEARLY
Podiatrists
MEDIAN GREATER THAN $93,070 YEARLY
Judges
Magistrate Judges
Magistrates
MEDIAN GREATER THAN $92,570 YEARLY
Computer Systems Managers
Information Systems Managers
MEDIAN GREATER THAN $88,660 YEARLY
Natural Sciences Managers
MEDIAN GREATER THAN $88,500 YEARLY
Petroleum Engineers
MEDIAN GREATER THAN $88,410 YEARLY
Optometrists
MEDIAN GREATER THAN $87,640 YEARLY
Marketing Managers
MEDIAN GREATER THAN $87,450 YEARLY 
Physicists

But considering that not all of us want to be or have the gifts to become lawyers or doctors, what about the next highest paying jobs—those that are creative, adventurous, or even dangerous in nature?

For example, firefighters, miners, underwater steel workers, and truck drivers have the highest risk jobs, so why don’t they have the highest paying jobs?

And at blogs such as Half-Baked, the discussion goes on regarding high-paying jobs that are high-risk jobs, as well…for the terminally ill, for instance, who have nothing to lose working in radiation concentrated areas, or as infiltrators/security for the nation.  In fact, the latter example is actually a job for the most well-adapted and most capable…and is probably rife with openings, unfortunately, in Iraq.