# Is there a profession that it's a great time to be right now? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 28, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597 "2019-10-28T15:12:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597/61 "2019-10-30T20:19:13Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Basic electrician stuff like putting in a light switch or outlet is easy. For some, perhaps. I would never attempt it. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597/62 "2019-10-31T18:04:25Z")
At the moment, the Aerospace industry seems to be growing rapidly. Lots of open faculty positions in Aerospace at major universities, and the private space sector is expected to grow vastly over the next decade or so. Also, in general, automation, AI and robotics are coming on strong, as they have been for a long while now. I tell people I’m suggesting my son learn software and robotics so “when the robots come for your job” he’ll be hired as a robot programmer :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597/63 "2019-10-31T18:32:50Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > The trades. Plumbing and wiring are not going to be outsourced to Bangladesh any time soon, automated out of existence, or become outdated by zooming technological ‘progress’. They pay well, and most are not a luxury product that demand for disappears in a downturn. Although you have to work with clients, at least you aren’t responsible for making them smarter, richer, healthy, or sane, which is a plus right there. Amen to that. I’ve been in steel for 30 years, things are still getting built & repaired/replaced. I’ve done seminars for the local high schools about the trades & apprenticeship opportunities for the youth that aren’t, for whatever reason, cut out for the college life. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597/64 "2019-10-31T19:20:49Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > His was mostly free. He was careful enough to choose a dad who had a plane and was a flight instructor. > > For beginners, [zero-to-hero](https://atpflightschool.com/airline-career-pilot-program/) programs generally run around 80K. Expensive, but the payoff is near that of med school, and it only takes a year to become an instructor. Pullinson instructed for about two years before being eligible for a regional pilot slot. Instructor pay isn’t great, around 20-25K, but it’s the best way to build flight time while getting paid. Right, especially since the government put in that onerous 1,500-hour requirement after the Colgan Air crash. Now you have to build a lot of time first. That may be a factor worsening the airline-pilot shortage. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2019, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597/65 "2019-11-02T19:36:44Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > Software engineering is pretty good (as always). I work out of my house, have interesting stuff to work on, and in general like my coworkers. Pays well too. > > I’m wondering how much demand plays into certain professions being better to work in? Software engineers have been in demand for years; companies have to compete for the good ones, which means pay goes up & good companies figure out ways to keep good employees via nice perks, good benefits, etc. From what I can see, that’s not true when a profession is not in demand. > > Shouldn’t be that way, but it is. What about the endless outsourcing to India, the PRC and eastern Europe? A friend of mine is CA is an experienced software engineer, but he says it is hard finding work, and he is always competing with Indians. And a lot of the work is really tedious, just producing device drivers or maintaining (and often debugging) old programs. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2019, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597/66 "2019-11-02T19:39:59Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I don’t know if nursing has ever been a great job, but I imagine this is as good a time to do it as any. More older people means more demand. And some of the cost pressure on the medical system pushes interesting work from doctors to nurse practitioners. Is there ANY country where nursing s well paid? Sure, there is a huge demand for nurses, also for people to work geriatric care, but the work is tough and the pay sux. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2019, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597/67 "2019-11-02T19:48:51Z")
> [@ski](#): > > Pilot, definitely. The airlines are sucking up so many pilots right now that there’s a demand for pilots at all levels, from pipeline patrol and skydiving to corporate jets. I saw an article recently that being an airline pilot is a really bad option. On the one hand there is a demand for pilots, but the rates are not exactly stellar and the jobs are usually at the discount airlines or in Asia, where you get the added bonus of a higher possibility of extreme weather conditions. The article went on to say that many pilots had a problem getting a job, and then ensuring enough work to maintain recency. Not what I had expected. It’s also a pretty dull job these days, what with all the automation. It is quite easy to do next to no flying apart from takeoff and landing. And that can be automated, too, but not yet for public consumption. The lifestyle is overrated, both for pilots and cabin crew. It tends to be a block of several days on, and then a shorter block off. In some cases it can mean almost constant jet lag. Work means sitting in the cockpit until you arrive at an airport and then go to a hotel. airports and hotels all tend to look pretty similar after a while. The romance of travel? Not any longer. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2019, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597/68 "2019-11-02T19:51:41Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > The trades. Plumbing and wiring are not going to be outsourced to Bangladesh any time soon, automated out of existence, or become outdated by zooming technological ‘progress’. They pay well, and most are not a luxury product that demand for disappears in a downturn. Although you have to work with clients, at least you aren’t responsible for making them smarter, richer, healthy, or sane, which is a plus right there. Agreed. There are jobs that cannot be outsourced. On the other hand, in Europe the established tradesmen moan like hell about being undercut on price by immigrants. Any job that can be done over the Internet and/or on a computer can and will be outsourced, or put out to the lowest bidder. I work in translation, and I have seen that happen. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597/69 "2019-11-02T21:00:20Z")
I am a systems analyst specializing in logistics and operations. They don’t teach it directly in schools, it requires a broad range of knowledge plus a certain personality to deal with everyone from Fortune 10 CEO’s to the lowest level employees in ways that they can all understand. You also have to be able to fix or work around very large problems quickly. Once you have that, you can (literally) write your own job description and you get to work independently. Corporate or national security clearances help a great deal. Most of the time, it is easy if you know what you are doing until its not so you have to be able to work under extreme pressure sometimes. I have been really successful at training more junior systems analysts over the years as long as I get to pick the person. It is one of the best jobs that exist and right at the top of the fastest growing. Just don’t try to explain to anyone what you do over Thanksgiving because you will just get blank stares. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2019, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597/70 "2019-11-02T23:22:43Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > The trades. Plumbing and wiring are not going to be outsourced to Bangladesh any time soon, automated out of existence, or become outdated by zooming technological ‘progress’. They pay well, and most are not a luxury product that demand for disappears in a downturn. Although you have to work with clients, at least you aren’t responsible for making them smarter, richer, healthy, or sane, which is a plus right there. Trades like plumber, electrician and carpenter are tied to the housing market which very much does experience downturns. Bad economy means fewer homes being built means fewer tradesmen building them. > [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > What about the endless outsourcing to India, the PRC and eastern Europe? A friend of mine is CA is an experienced software engineer, but he says it is hard finding work, and he is always competing with Indians. And a lot of the work is really tedious, just producing device drivers or maintaining (and often debugging) old programs. I think it depends. Good jobs like being a product engineer for Google or Netflix are exciting and lucrative (I imagine), but also highly competitive. Then you have companies like WiPro, Tata, Cognizant and others that just outsource armies of developers of questionable competency. Basically the tech equivalent of turn of Chinese railroad workers. To a certain extent, being a developer or other technical resource is the “product”. The “real” jobs (as in with actual career paths) seem to be in sales and account management. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597/71 "2019-11-03T03:15:20Z")
I think it was Mike Rowe (of “Dirty Jobs”) who said whatever way it seems they are telling you to go, go the other way. Meaning whatever jobs they are pushing (like STEM) will be overwhelmed soon with people going into that field. I mean look at lawyers and how that field is overcrowded. So this makes me nervous when my son is looking at a school or program and they report how their enrollment has doubled or such and I wonder if its such a good career path down the road. Now I dont have evidence or cites but I heard there are schools in places like India who pump out graduates specifically for American jobs. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597/72 "2019-11-03T05:33:21Z")
I’d agree with cyber security and data analytics. Cyber security is good because as soon as you improve security someone steps up to break it, so it is kind of like how one lawyer in a town starves but when there are two lawyers they all do great. Data analytics is good because we are just beginning to collect data. Just wait until there is demand to analyze where people look when they walk through a store. More phones, higher bandwidth, more data. Someone mentioned quantum computing. Not unless you are planning on getting a PhD in Physics. And maybe not even then. And I’d worry about auto mechanics. Electric cars are going to be more reliable than ICE cars, and have better diagnostics. It will be a job, but there won’t be as many. Just about every car I’ve bought in the last 40 years has needed fewer visits to the mechanic than the one before. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597/73 "2019-11-03T06:08:22Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > So this makes me nervous when my son is looking at a school or program and they report how their enrollment has doubled or such and I wonder if its such a good career path down the road. > > Now I dont have evidence or cites but I heard there are schools in places like India who pump out graduates specifically for American jobs. Yes and yes. Indian outsourcing as a general rule is a complete disaster. They teach really specific skills and often cheat doing it which doesn’t work well in very fast moving technology (I have advised everyone to stay far away from it but they cannot seem to resist the $14 an hour total rate for virtual slaves that absolutely cannot and will not do anything off script - smart Indians stateside tell me the same thing). In case you can’t tell, I HATE Indian outsourcing unless it is carefully screened because they simply don’t understand what they are doing. They have ruined too many holidays for me. My conversion rate is 1 good American to 7 average Indians and even that isn’t guaranteed because you can only hope that at least one knows what they are talking about Colleges, universities and schools of all types tend to produce too many people going into one skill or another because of the programs they set up. Guess what, most of them are glutted because new graduates have absolutely no idea the range of jobs out there. Ask any child what they want to be when they grow up and they will only give you a few answers and still have a very distorted view of what the job really is. Most adults are no better. Guess what, only a few lawyers are rich - most are barely employed at all and make poor money on top of student loans. Architect? - there are very few of those as well unless you want to pick up a few thousand or so here or there on freelance home designs. Doctor? - They graduate with huge workloads, incredibly poor pay and then get to supervise nurses who do most of the actual patient care. Teacher - (not as bad as thought for the benefits and workload but your heart has to be really into it and administration stifles your best efforts). OTOH, my ex-wife is the best cheese expert in the world and makes many six figures by making or breaking cheeses by bringing a few into the U.S. There is no degree program at that level. My fiancee is a very good priest that saves dying churches and always succeeds. She makes six figures as do I as a systems analyst. Jobs mainly depend on supply and demand so you are correct. All you have to do is find that one thing you are really good at and focus on it. Generalists make great cocktail party guests but are useless in the job market. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597/74 "2019-11-03T06:16:44Z")
If you want a concrete recommendation for someone that is mechanically included and handy, get an HVAC certificate and go to work immediately. Congratulations, you are already in the middle class without costing much time or money. Hell, my dumbass cousin makes a really good living moving extremely expensive furniture for celebrities and very rich people. He is charming, strong and has a great work ethic but still can’t spell worth a damn. This is adulthood, figure it out. Follow the demand before anyone else does. Nobody needs another expert on 17th century French poetry. The first one was enough. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597/75 "2019-11-03T15:50:03Z")
Can a person trust the statistics of expected jobs in a field in the future? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597/76 "2019-11-03T19:08:05Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Generalists make great cocktail party guests but are useless in the job market. Being a great party guest is how I find a lot of my jobs. > [@Urbanredneck](#): > > I think it was Mike Rowe (of “Dirty Jobs”) who said whatever way it seems they are telling you to go, go the other way. Meaning whatever jobs they are pushing (like STEM) will be overwhelmed soon with people going into that field. Yeah…but then again, Mike Rowe interviews people who clean shit for a living. And no offense to those people, but that isn’t the kind of work I want to do for a living. I want to do work that I at least find somewhat interesting and lucrative, not eke out a living working at the worst jobs on the planet. STEM degrees are good degrees for whatever you want to get into because they teach you practical, measurable skills. My degree was in civil engineering, but even though I didn’t practice in the field very long, the skills I learned in project management, advanced math, computer programming, not to mentions none-core electives like economics, political science and other classes were transferable to other careers. Many of which did not exist when I was in college. I don’t know what profession is a “great time to be in right now”. At least, not in the sense of 80s Wall Street guy, 90s dot-com tech worker or pre-2007 mortgage broker. In the sense that nearly any moron can land a job in those fields and make a coke-fueled fortune overnight. Then again, a lot of those professions are at best the product of speculative bubbles and at worst borderline (if not actual) rackets. I don’t even think there are a lot of professions where you can say “go into X because they are hiring scores of people”. Sure, data science or big data has a strong demand right now (the field I’m in). But any geek can’t just walk off the street to go toil in the local data mine. I know some people like what Shagnasty described who managed to carve out interesting, if esoteric, careers based on some niche they found. But I think that takes a fair amount of passion for some particular subject matter, talent, entrepreneurship, high risk tolerance and a bit of luck. Or rich, generous parents. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597/77 "2019-11-03T19:12:59Z")
> [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > Is there ANY country where nursing s well paid? Sure, there is a huge demand for nurses, also for people to work geriatric care, but the work is tough and the pay sux. The work is very tough, but the pay for a degree-holding RN doesn’t [exactly suck](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/registered-nurses.htm#tab-5), as much as it isn’t always lavish depending on where you live. Nurse practitioners which typically requires a graduate degree these days [do a bit better](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes291171.htm). In my area you absolutely will make six figures working as an RN for the local large HMO. My surgical nurse sister-in-law very moderately out-earns my computer programmer brother. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597/78 "2019-11-03T19:37:04Z")
If you can teach a course intended to help students pass a certification exam (e.g., cybersecurity, engineering technology, etc.), you can make some decent money. I’m familiar with a company that does two-day pre-certification classes at a cost of $995/student. They usually get 20 to 40 students registered for each class and they do 6 to 8 classes a month at various locations in the US. Do the math. The students are highly-motivated to enroll and the profit margin is excellent, even after allowing for commissions and materials. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597/79 "2019-11-03T20:09:58Z")
Data storage. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597/80 "2019-11-03T21:12:40Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > The trades. Plumbing and wiring are not going to be outsourced to Bangladesh any time soon, automated out of existence, or become outdated by zooming technological ‘progress’. They pay well, and most are not a luxury product that demand for disappears in a downturn. Although you have to work with clients, at least you aren’t responsible for making them smarter, richer, healthy, or sane, which is a plus right there. I read a statistic not long ago that said a Journeymen Electrician’s average age is 57. I am certain that the plumbers, carpenters, pipe fitters, drywallers, insulators ect. is also in that range. These are jobs that are not going anywhere. Rather than a college degree and crippling student loans, these jobs provide a four year apprenticeship of on the job training making a good wage while you learn your trade. I am an electrician specializing in fire alarm installation, service and repair. I have made a good, steady living at this for forty years. We could put three or four qualified guys to work tomorrow morning if they were available. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-profession-that-its-a-great-time-to-be-right-now/842597.md?page=5)