ER Orderly. Salary: $17,000 

Your hours are all over the place. You have a graveyard shift most weekends and haven't seen your family in months because of it. Beyond that, you also have to clean up the grossest messes around. Seriously, what was that kid doing with a leaf blower at the manure farm?

Mental Health Care Orderly. Salary: $20,000 

Like every other orderly, you help patients bathe, eat, and get dressed. It's usually fine. But every so often there are some conditions that prevent you from doing this so easily. It's not fun to bathe someone who needs to be physically restrained. And the pay is so not worth it.

Hospital Orderly. Salary: $23,000 

Your patients are constantly changing, which is fun because you love meeting new people. You helped move that thirteen-year-old from her room to get an X-ray and she told you all about her fascination with archaeology. A man came in for heart surgery and he told you all about his previous career in show-biz while you gave him a bath. Plus, you get to spend a lot of time learning from the doctors and nurses in residence, which is great because you hope to become one soon.

Orderly at Private Nursing Home. Salary: $30,000 

You passed an exam to be on the state registry and it paid off. You may not be rich, but you do okay. You spend most of your time wheeling people around, feeding them, and trying to keep them entertained because, believe it or not, nursing homes are a bit bleak. But your patients are interesting and you have lots of time to get to know them and their families well (source).

Certified Medication Assistant. Salary $37,000 

You figured you might as well earn some more credentials, and now you're making more money than you ever thought possible as an orderly. Plus, your responsibilities are way cooler now. You don't just clean up after people anymore; you can actually give medications out. It may not be much, but you're one step closer to being on the nurse end of the nursing assistant relationship (source).