What job would you have in 1954, 1904?

A spinoof from this thread.

Given your current skillset, how would be gainfully employed in the not too distant past?

I’m a geologist in the oil field. I could do my current job (more or less) in 1954, but it didn’t really exist back in 1904. I guess I could be a prospector in some insect infested swamp somewhere.

I’m a custom picture framer, and business owner. It’s not completely unimaginable that I’d be both those things in 1954, but a more likely scenario would be that I’d be the Mom of a Mom & Pop frame shop.

I’ve been framing for 30 years. Over that time there have been tremendous changes in the equipment used. In the 80s the mechanics of framing hadn’t changed much since 1954. The advances during that time were in the variety of materials offered. I’m confident that if I time traveled back I could make a respectable frame with the tools and equipment that would be typical in a 1954 frame shop.

I like to believe that my job would have looked like this in 1904. Heck, I wish it could be like that now.

As an aside, after I’d started on this career path I learned that my great-grandmother had worked in a picture framing shop in Utica, NY before she was married. (In the 1910s)

My job of forecasting losses for insurance companies has been around for hundreds of years. I could have been doing it at any time since the Middle Ages.

In 1904, to be sure, there wasn’t much science behind it; the Casualty Actuarial Society wasn’t founded until 1914. That made mathematical and probabilistic intuition all the more important.

By 1954 I could have taken exams and become a CAS member just like today. The only difference is that I would work with pencil, ledger paper, and typewriter instead of Word and Excel.

Taking reality into account, since I’m female I’d probably either be some sort of writer-for-hire if I could get the job (like writing or editing school textbooks or something) or a teacher. Since I have no desire for kids I probably wouldn’t get married, and the “spinster teacher” was, I believe, reasonably accepted.

In 1954 I might do what I do now–technical writer, writing manuals to explain how to use various bits of technology. Again, writing fiction on the side as a hobby and trying to get published. Might be a teacher here too.

Typesetter, lighting/audio technician in a theater, musician, typist. None of those are on my resume, but I’ve gotten jobs doing them. Some variation of all of them existed in 1904 and 1954.

1904 would be dodgy what with being a diabetic, though.

I would probably still be a college student in 1954,1904 and I would probably make my living as a science fiction writer or something to that extent.

I’m in accounting, with about half of billings coming from income tax. The other half is a mix of payroll, business bookkeeping assistance, state sales and excise taxes.

In 1954, the job would have been without the benefit of computers, but otherwise virtually identical in terms of the type of tasks and mix of billing.

In 1904, there would have been no federal income tax, and a lot fewer state taxes. I’m not sure how payroll laws worked in 1904; that part of the work might go away too. Still, at least 40% of my current billings is for work that has been pretty much the same since double-entry accounting was invented hundreds of years ago.

I work in nuclear submarine design/logistics. In 1954 the first nuclear submarine was launched, so there would have been plenty of similar work for me. But in 1904, there were obviously no nuclear submarines, but conventional submarines were becoming an important part of the Navy, so I suppose my equivalent position would be there.

I’m a video game designer with PlayStation. There were no video games in 1954 but there were plenty of board games and I do that for fun in my spare time, so fifty years ago I might have had similar job with a company like Avalon Hill or Parker Brothers.

But I got into video games because of my technical expertise as a computer programmer. So In 1954 maybe I’d be working for a film studio a director/producer having gotten in the industry back in the 30’s as a camera operator/electronics technician.

In 1904 I imagine something similar – working in a creative field because of my tech expertise. Maybe I’d be working for Edison on phonographs or move projectors.

In 1954: Newspaper rewrite man, if I could find a paper that would hire Jews.

In 1904: No idea. A disgrace to my family name, probably.

I’m a woman so my job in 1954 would be “housewife” and my job in 1904 would be “property”.

Land surveyance all the way back baby!

Seriously, even back to the days of the Romans, Egyptians and Sumerians, although I don’t think there was a lot of work on in the early medieval period.

However, the way the work was done would change beyond recognition

Hmm.

Revenue Agent in 1954.

Bank Examiner or “Revenuer” in 1904.

Reeve in 1004.

Quaestor in 04

As long as there has been civilization there has been some nosy guy to check the numbers.

Probably still going to college in '54

In 1904 I’d probably not be able to go to college and be looking for a job after graduating high school (I think I’d have been able to get that far). Considering my interests and skills I’d be looking at a position at a newspaper or a magazine.

1954: Secretary
1904: Wife/Mother

I’m a proposal writer (previous career: technical writer) with a master’s degree in writing and editing. I certainly wouldn’t have an M.A. in either of those years – probably not even a bachelor’s – and in 1954 I think it would have been quite difficult for a woman to get a writing job. Maybe I’d get lucky and pull a Peggy Olson, but I’m not counting on it. In 1904 I’d only be working if I were lower-class, and even then I’d probably aspire to marriage as the best way to improve my situation/have any kind of financial security.

I work in inventory management.

In 1954, without the current lean manufacturing/logistics, much more inventory would have to be kept on hand and everything would have to be accounted for via ledger. Much the same for 1904.

However, being a woman would likely place me in a secretarial position. Health conditions would place me either retired or dead. :eek:

I’m an art director / graphic designer, so I could have easily have been doing similar work in the past, albiet without my trusty iMac and MacBook Pro.

Or, since I have a degree in architecture, I could have been an architect in those days…doing some modernist stuff in '54 would have been fun!

In 1954 I was a pinsetter in a bowling alley, when it was actually necessary for a person to be in the pits picking up the knocked over pins and manually putting them in a rack, which could be pushed down to set each pin in place. Ten cents a line.

Since I haven’t had a job since I was a census enumerator in 1990, it is even more challenging for me to picture what I’d be doing if I had to work today. There might not be a single thing I have ever been paid to do, that one could still get paid to do, except maybe teach English as a Foreign Language. Maybe back to TV news reporting, but I doubt if I have the mewling stenographic ass-covering cowardice that that job requires today.

Many best -selling female writers in that era, and there were the many Woman’s magazines.

So yeah, Women’s Wear Daily instead of Time, but working none the less. Or for the newspapers.

Note Lois Lane= 1938.
Torchy Blane= (wiki)* During the pre-World War II period, ‘newspaper reporter’ was one of the few roles in American cinema that positively portrayed women as intelligent, competent, self-reliant, and career-oriented – virtually equal to men (in stark contrast to real-life society, at that time). *

1904? yeah, but Edith Nesbit was a prolific writer back then. Mary Shelley well before then. etc.

Teachers are teachers. Debate coaches are debate coaches. If it was good enough for Socrates and Plato, it’s good enough for me.