# Are there any noncompetitive jobs at all anywhere nowadays?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-noncompetitive-jobs-at-all-anywhere-nowadays/622909>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 24, 2012, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-noncompetitive-jobs-at-all-anywhere-nowadays/622909 "2012-05-24T02:14:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-noncompetitive-jobs-at-all-anywhere-nowadays/622909/44 "2013-10-21T11:02:12Z")

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I worked, in service, well into my fifties, (as have many of my friends). In nice bars and hot restaurants, doing snooty catering, and making good money. You can tell yourself, it’s your age, or it’s your degree, but the truth is closer to the hard fact that people who really want some other type of job, make terrible servers. Their effects on the rest of the staff are almost never positive, to be honest. Managers know this and can recognize who’s unlikely to be a good fit with their staff.

Also, if you think service is non competitive you’ve pretty clearly, no idea what you’re on about. Servers routinely compete, encouraged by management, for the best shifts. Some places you have to work a lot of shitty shifts before you get a shot at Friday night, and some good money.

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**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-noncompetitive-jobs-at-all-anywhere-nowadays/622909/45 "2013-10-21T14:47:23Z")

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> [@pullin](#):
>
> Depending on the OP’s definition of “noncompetitive”, you could include most transportation/shipping jobs which have a union. You have to be good enough to pass the requirements for (whatever) certification, but once you’ve done it you needn’t try to outdo your co-workers. You only need to meet the minimum productivity required to keep your job, and advance with seniority…

I’m a software developer and this is the exact opposite of what you see every day. The “minimum productivity required” is not defined. People are constantly trying to get their action items done quicker to impress management so that when budget cuts come, they will not be the ones selected for layoff. Yes, there are “deadlines”, but they don’t really mean anything except “This is the date we think you’ll be done given the estimates, but if the estimates are wrong, we expect you to do as best you can.” Missing a deadline is not “poor performance” unless management feels that you missed it because of laziness or incompetence, not that you missed it because of an error in the original estimate.

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**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-noncompetitive-jobs-at-all-anywhere-nowadays/622909/46 "2013-10-21T14:48:22Z")

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Telemarketing?

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