Are you stuck in a dead-end
job that is slowly stealing your youth, sapping your
dignity, and stupefying your mind? Well, of course you are.
Do you wish you could change careers, start over, and do
something meaningful? Of course you do, but you probably
won't. But just in case you still harbor the illusion,
please feel free to slip over to CNNMoney.com's Jobs
section where they are spewing an article on the "new new
careers" and give you profiles of five of the "hottest you
can get into now." The problem is, they are lying. These
jobs either aren't hot, or you can't get into them now.
Here they are:
1. Disease Mapper
($40,000-$150,000)
This job involves making maps about where diseases might
spread. Obviously this field is full of crack geniuses.
Remember SARS? It was going to spread around the world and
kill everyone. Avian flu? Nope. Ebola? Nope. AIDS? Ok, that
one did spread everywhere. I hope the guys predicting those
things were around the 40G range, because they caused a lot
of crap for nothing. Anyway, so you get to be wrong all the
time. Big deal, most jobs (especially U.S. president) allow
this too. How many of these jobs can there be anyway? But
if the idea of staring at atlases all day, every day, using
different color highlighters on them, seems exciting,
please apply.
2. Robot Programmer
($40,000-$100,000)
This does sound cool, but trust me it's not. There is not a
single robot that you can program to destroy cities, take
over the world, or pick up hot chicks for you. These robots
sit in the same spot, doing the same thing every day. Kind
of like you. But in this case, you get to modify their
programs so that instead of creating a four centimeter by
five millimeter cut in a piece of sheet metal, the robot
creates a four and a half centimeter by five millimeter cut
in a piece of sheet metal. Kick-ass!
3. Information Engineer
($70,000-$120,000)
When the decision-makers need a piece of trivia, they'll
turn to you if you have this exciting job that involves
looking at computer screens every day all day looking up
soon to be forgotten bits of data for your overlords.
Vacation? No way! You need to be available every day;
you're critical! Excited yet? If not, keep reading.
4. Radiosurgeon
($200,000 - $800,000)
Of course, this is not a job you can just "get into now."
This job requires specialized training and substantial
capital, which are not the sorts of things you're likely to
have if you're reading an article like this. But it's
important for you to know that jobs like this exist so you
can understand who is buying the 1.8 million dollar homes
and 200,000 dollar sports cars. This job CNN threw in just
to make you feel bad.
5. Second Life
Lawyer
Apparently there is something online called Second Life,
which it sounds to me should be called Get a Life. It's so
boring, apparently, that someone had the idea to become a
lawyer in the game. And it is so insanely boring that other
people actually made contact with this person. There is no
income listed for this career, but I suppose money is not
important to someone who only has virtual expenses. The
main benefit, according to CNN? "Freedom to be talking to a
client while getting a beer out of your home fridge." Some
benefit. When I practiced, I always had the freedom to be
talking to a client while getting a beer out of my
office
fridge, which meant it was
billable and a write-off.
Conclusion
CNN should have proven to you by now that you have no hope.
The new new careers suck as much as the old old careers,
and if they have the redeeming quality of paying a lot, you
still can't get into the field. None of these jobs, you'll
note, boast adventure, an active lifestyle, or frequent
contact with hot chicks. Doesn't look good, does it? Look
at my list of five new new new
careers for
better options.
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