The Times Daily/Jim Hannon/AP/File
Some residents are so desperate for alternative high-speed Internet access that they spray paint telephone junction boxes, like this one in Center Hill, Ala., with their message. That's good news for the explosive field of telecommunications network engineering.
Why are all the great jobs so boring?
It turns out the glamorous careers you might have wanted as an 8-year-old – pilot, gymnast, videogame designer, environmental scientist – are chump-change professions. You really should be finding the inner you in telecommunications network engineering.
That’s right. It has the best growth potential of all the professions, according to a ranking released last week by CNNMoney.com.
Sure, maybe it wasn’t much fun maintaining power grids and communication systems in the old days for the likes of AT&T and Time Warner Cable. But now the profession is exploding, CNNMoney reports, because telecommunications network engineers can do the same thing for a whole bunch of Wi-Fi, broadband, and other companies.
It’s closely followed by No. 2 systems engineering (which is, broadly speaking, doing the same thing for other companies without all the colored wires).
Does Little Suzy want to become a fashion designer? Tell her to ditch it for personal financial advising (No. 3), where she can tailor retirement plans to her heart’s content.
Does Johnny want to be a doctor? Set his bar higher with a position as veterinarian (No. 4), physical therapist (No. 8), or physician assistant (No. 9).
A career on Wall Street is out, obviously. Really, really out. But senior financial analyst (No. 5) and information-technology business analyst (No. 6) are in. Videogame designer is passé compared with software development director (No. 7) and computer/network security consultant (No. 10).
Your future is crackling with these exciting opportunities. OK, not-so-exciting opportunities. Things could be worse. You could be a journalist.
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This is really a stupid article. How do you know what jobs are boring, and to whom? Do you have any idea what is involved in telecommunications network engineering? Do you think it just involves sitting in a cubicle and pressing a couple of buttons? Why do you imply that being a vet, physical therapist, or Physician’s Assistant is so much worse than being a doctor? My daughter, for one, is completely excited about being a vet, because she loves dogs, and she has no interest in being a doctor. To me, almost every time a journalist generalizes about careers it ends up being pretty much worthless.
I understand that this was meant as a light-hearted look at the discrepancy between some “glamorous” professions and the ones that currently offer real growth. However, as a veterinarian I take umbrage will your characterization of the opportunities in the health professions (veterinary medicine, physical therapy or physician’s assistant). There is no reason to consider these careers as any less dynamic or fulfilling than being a “doctor” (which veterinarians are, by the way). In fact, there is a much greater diversity of opportunities in veterinary medicine than in human medicine. From companion animal care to production medicine consulting, from zoo medicine to benchtop research, from public health expert to race track vet, there are a limitless array of possibilities. I would suggest you stick to lampooning the real boring jobs (such as sitting behind a desk all day as a journalist!) and provide legitimate coverage of the growth potential that exist in other professions.
“Your future is crackling with these exciting opportunities. OK, not-so-exciting opportunities. Things could be worse. You could be a journalist.”
brilliant.
and yes, I am a journalist.
Veterinarian definitely didn’t belong in the list, but the rest certainly sounded mind-numbingly dull. Network engineer - ack! Have you ever seen how unhealthy some of those people look??
I stage managed dance companies for many years; I toured the world with sublime artists and musicians, engaged in the cultural life of world capitals; I made peanuts.
Now I use the same skills to stage manage corporate events - I do pretty well.
Once I complained to a colleague about having “sold out”. He, a wise man, held his hands out - one shoulder height, one down at his waist. He said “Fun….Money” then reversed the position of his hands and said “Money…Fun”.
It’s very hard to find a job that pays well AND gives psychic rewards at the same level. You have to pick which is most important to you.
From the outside though being a Physician’s Assistant does look pretty boring. You have to take on all the boring dirty cases that the real doctor doesn’t want and do just about everything a doctor can do, but you will never get the respect garnered by having an MD after your name.
OK, folks, don’t be so thin skinned. The author makes a good point with a great deal of truth: many professions that people dream about often have high unemployment, low average incomes, and poor job prospects while many unglamorous technical professions requiring many years of discipline and patience to master are populated by people making a good living and with very good job prospects. Let’s not get too concerned about inconsistencies of categorization (many people actually do dream of being veterinarians (although, as I recall, getting into vet school was even harder than getting into med school at one point) and being a physician, although possibly glamorous, requires many years of study and many hours devoted to learning about “boring” technical details and jargon).
As a medical student, i’d say i’m very happy that legions of people are becoming “boring” professions like PA’s and physical therapists. We need the help.
Systems Engineers work in many different industries - not just aerospace, communications or defense. The role of a systems engineer is one of those jobs that is hard to describe and have people identify with. In addition, most systems engineers don’t do a good job of describing their assignments or in fact may be limited by security or company proprietary rules from discussing their jobs. I have been a Systems Engineer for over 30 years and have found lots of challenges in my job assignments and also a few jobs that were boring. Many times my family did not know what I did and if I tried to tell them, they didn’t want to hear the details. Details are what systems engineering is all about. The details of integrating modern technology into products, buildings, airplanes and almost everything we use in daily life.
I saw a play in London’s West End last Saturday. I met one of the actors afterwards for a chat. He loves what he’s doing but doesn’t know where his next job might be. Does he have long-term financial security? No. Is he happy with his work and does he feel he’s contributing something important to society? Yes. We don’t work for a paycheck. We work in order to give, to contribute, to make a difference.
Nowadays, everything is computerized. According to the top ten list, those jobs are deskwork using computers, and people does not have so much communications with the others (I mean human beings). If you have opportunities to communicate with the others through negotiations, talking, business and so forth, you won’t be bored. However, you might have frustration and pressure. We have to choose boring jobs or high pressure jobs. There might not be a perfect job for everyone.
As a software engineering professional with a master’s degree and a focus on web development, I’ll add my voice to those of veterinarians and others who know that their chosen career is in no way boring.
It’s true that when I was younger I used to think that video game work would be fun, but as I discovered programming in college, I came to recognize that writing software is just gaming on a higher mental level. You have a goal in mind, you have an obscured path to the solution, and you have to use your own creativity to solve the puzzles and finish the project. Everything is a new challenge, and there are no cheat codes.
The fact that the invention of the internet allows you to use your puzzle solving abilities to connect real people and trigger real world transactions just adds to the allure and makes it more relevant than racking up imaginary points in an abstract world.
25-years as a broadcast journalist, and the reality is the ‘managers’ of many newsrooms aren’t old enough to have ever worked in a shop where ’standards’ and ‘ethics’ are held above all else. The last five years were about one-man-banding it, like 30-years ago in college. You know, –enterprise the story idea, shoot it, write it, edit it, send it up to the server, write the web script including html, add still photos and feed story to web, remember once again you didn’t have time for lunch and in your 12th hour you are on story #2 or #3 without overtime. Then the contract is up for renewal and they say, ‘Hey! –Despite those Emmys and that Pulitzer and all those Edward R. Murrow awards, we’re not going to renew you because we can get a kid out of college to work for half your salary.’
Network Engineering, huh? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…
I can see “LB”, YOU are not very Happy with journalist, or maybe to good at criteria, but We need all kind of professionals. No jobs are determined for certain people in particular! Do you get it”. Mail Handlers,UPS Drivers,cleaning,maintenance,security,lifting of heavy bags 70 or more pounds,gas pumping,cargo,deliveries,construction,assembly,machine operator,sales person…over 27 different types of jobs! yes, thats me! I’m proud I did not waste my time…I have a pension now. I would have like to have a MD,Astronaut,Lawyer,Engeneering, which I study for a year but, in my case I have PTSD and did’nt make. please believe me, apology is one of the tool a journalist find in the tools box!
I’m a Computer Science professor with a good bit of industrial software development experience. I have two comments:
1. Let’s give the author a break, folks. He was just trying to be funny, and in my opinion he succeeded. It is a little amusing that it’s the “nonglamorous” professions that are in high demand.
2. The sober title of the article might instead be: “Top 10 Growing Professions: Why does everyone *think* they’re boring?” This is a serious matter, since the impression 18-year-old freshmen have of a profession is a big determinant of what they choose to major in and eventually to practice. If we’re going to solve the very shortages the author is talking about, we’ll need to change people’s perceptions, especially at the age when career paths are chosen.
As many have pointed out, software development and many of the other “boring” professions are in fact very intellectually challenging and interesting. But, that’s not obvious unless you actually learn enough about these professions to understand them.
Of course, perhaps those of us in the high-demand professions would do better *not* to advertise how interesting they are — we’ll keep our wages high that way :).
Was fashion designer ever in history a top-ten job? is there really a difference b/w a video game designer and a software developer? What’s exciting about Wall St, other than the money (I have credit analyst/investment banker friends)?
This is repurposed content (i.e. stolen while sipping a latte and texting), a triumph of SEO over QA.
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Laurent Belsie
In his 28-year Monitor career, Laurent Belsie has built his expertise in traditional journalistic fashion: eclectically. He's fed hogs in Iowa, searched the Internet before there was a World Wide Web, and roamed Haiti in a helicopter with US Special Forces (and a Humvee dangling from a chain). After stints as personal-finance editor and assistant national news editor, he now runs the Monitor's newest Web section: "Rebuilding the Economy" and blogs about the economic changes now under way.
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Job losses continue to increase and drive up delinquencies and foreclosures, because mortgages are paid with paychecks, not percentage point increases in the GDP."
Mortgage Bankers Association chief economist Jay Brinkmann in a statement regarding the record 9.6 percent Americans who are behind on their mortgages.
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1. Eric Smith | 10.21.09
There is nothing “boring” about physician assistants, who are hard working, well-educated professionals taking care of patients in need, and who happen to be helping the undermanned legion of overworked doctors reach out to the underserved and growing Medicare population. I happen to be a physician assistant (PA) and there is nothing about my job that is “boring.” Next time you need some urgent help in an emergency room, treatment of your potentially life threatening medical condition, or someone to close you up after your surgery, be sure to ask that PA how “boring” it was helping people every day.