• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

How useful would your profession or skills be in a post-apocalyptic world?

Status
Not open for further replies.
T

Two Words

Member
Let's say some event occurs that destroys all governments in the world. Civilization is destroyed, but only because order is destroyed. This is not an apocalypse where previous technologies and structures are destroyed, just that now people are living in a world with no recognized system of law. The modern Wild West. Nothing like a virus or zombies or nuclear war, because that would just turn life into surviving day by day. How useful or in demand would your skills be? If you're in school with a selected major, how useful would your skills be?


I'm majoring in computer science and considering also majoring in Mathematics. I feel like both math and programming would be in. Some demand for a world starting over.
 
M

Mario

Sidhe / PikPok
I imagine people would still be lining up for new iPhones during the zombie apocalypse so I'd be good.
 
V

victreeb3l

Member
Probably zero. I think there would be more important things for humans to worry about than designing websites and apps.
 
T

Two Words

Member
Mario said:
I imagine people would still be lining up for new iPhones during the zombie apocalypse so I'd be good.
Click to expand...
No zombies. This is more of a "wild west" world. People are not in immediate danger of some new unnatural threat. Government has simply lost its power. It's possible that people are working to build a new government over time in this situation.
 
A

Ahasverus

Member
Kinda not as much. I think optimization might come in handy in some operations but I feel more comfortable are management and bussiness strategy, which would not be that much of a priority.
 
U

umop_3pisdn

Member
If we reverted back to superstitious thinking I could style myself as some kind of shaman, and then maybe get spears jabbed in me when I fail to bring on the rains too many times.
 
N

Nabbis

Member
I imagine that i would become a second rate physician since im studying to be a Dentist. Though i think that the same will hold true for actual MDs as well. I suppose that a Botanist would be a better doctor due to the greater chance of growing medicinal herbs.
 
R

Roo

Member
Unless people need me to design their post-apocalyptic web page and/or need any graphic design job I'm pretty much screwed.

I can take photographs for the future post-apocalyptic IDs :D
 
M

Mac the KNife

Member
All those years of desensitizing videogame violence would finally come in handy, that's for sure.

Two Words said:
I'm majoring in computer science and considering also majoring in Mathematics. I feel like both math and programming would be in. Some demand for a world starting over.
Click to expand...

Assuming you survived the "apocalypse" portion of the scenario, naturally.
 
V

viciouskillersquirrel

Member
I'd still have work. It'd be dangerous work in remote locations for terrible pay and conditions for the corporate masters who have stepped in to fill the vacuum left by the government, but I'd still have a job.

The thing I'd be most worried about would be the fact that no government means no workplace protection laws. That in turn means the utter exploitation of workers and the abandonment of safety as a guiding principle. I expect violent clashes over that stuff once people start to die as a result of managerial negligence.

EDIT - Electrical Engineer
 
C

CheDominik

Member
So a world without lawyers, eh?

The_409182_2545388.jpg
 
D

DarkFlow

Banned
I lived in the dirt in Iraq for 6 months, I think I would be fine. I would kill and rob you all.

Also LOL at programming being useful. I would be sure to kill you first! Easy picking.
 
F

fhqwhgads

Member
My skills of hating post apocalyptic settings would be in full bloom, I could pick out all the issues. How useful that is would be debatable.

"What's this, another rouge biker gang coming down the dusty highway, how lam-" *shot*
 
V

Valhelm

contribute something
If society gets established enough, I can set myself up as a praise poet for a powerful warlord and record the histories of his or her conquests.
 
I

ItIsOkBro

Member
i have a minor in psychology, i will help people adjust mentally.

i dont think my computer science skills would be useful, not much of an apocalypse if we still got computers i could program for.
 
P

pestul

Member
Degree in kinesiology.. I guess some of the stuff from anatomy/physiology/environmental could prove useful. Mostly garbage. Working in security I'm not sure how much of it would be relevant as well. Now my military experience would likely be useful.
 
D

dofry

That's "Dr." dofry to you.
I could remind the people with dementia that there has been a zombie outbreak and remind them not to get bitten every 15 minutes. Sooo, pretty useful eh...
 
B

bggrthnjsus

Member
i guess i'm a physician so i can do some of basic medical things but i'm a pathologist doing mostly cancer diagnostics which would be pretty useless in a post-apocalyptic world since it's hugely dependent on infrastructural things
 
B

BrokenEchelon

Banned
If any computers were left, I could do shit with them.

If not, I can do basic maintenance on a car. I can read maps, I know how to make fires, build a few types of shelter. I know how to tie many types of knots.

I can speak five languages. I'm tall so I can reach stuff/places, or see over whatever. I know how to canoe and kayak, how to fish...

I figure I would be ok/beneficial for a group to have.
 
B

Burger_Baron

Member
Pretty good actually, having had been on the scouts for 15 years and airsofting for 5, and doing regural hikes on the woods with my dog.

Also I usually think about this kind of stuff because it's fun and I have nothing but time on my work.
 
D

DarkFlow

Banned
BrokenEchelon said:
If any computers were left, I could do shit with them.

If not, I can do basic maintenance on a car. I can read maps, I know how to make fires, build a few types of shelter. I know how to tie many types of knots.

I can speak five languages. I'm tall so I can reach stuff/places, or see over whatever. I know how to canoe and kayak, how to fish...

I figure I would be ok/beneficial for a group to have.
Click to expand...

I would let you live when I get around to robbing you. You can become my Majordomo.
 
C

CarpeDeezNutz

Member
In this scenario are people civil or going after each other?

My profession would not be useful on my own but I would not seek out strangers.

I would most likely head out to the country with my family and defend against marauders. Raise livestock and grow crops. Hell, my grandfather rigged up an old honda to pump water from a well on his land.

The "zombies" are really gonna be all the people in this thread who are desperate for food, shelter, etc haha.
 
S

Sol..

I am Wayne Brady.
I have some electrical engineering skills. If i can find the materials I could generate some energy. I don't think those skills would help me with personal survival. However, I'd be a great fit for stable groups of people looking to improve quality of life.
 
L

luckygodzilla

Member
Well I'd imagine that for a brief time everyone and their grandmother would be out frantically snapping up survival guides from my Barnes and noble.
 
A

Admiral Woofington

Member
I'm gonna end up being a field engineer or simply an engineer who makes sure everything is chugging along efficiently to maximize profits.

So probably not immediately useful.
 
P

PfantzyPantz

Member
I could draw stuff- learn how to spray paint and make a bunch of Anarchy graffiti, that would net me a spot in a bandit group maybe.

Or I could draw fake maps and posters that would lead people into traps where I steal their stuff, though I would end up getting myself killed because I would go through a moral crisis.
 
K

Kingbrave

Member
I'd be the most needed type 1 diabetic in the country. As an added bonus they might see me have a seizure. How can that not be needed? I'd get tons of post apocalyptic stuff.
 
K

Keri

Member
If we're talking the "struggle to survive" phase, my profession is completely useless. If we're talking "post-struggle to survive and rebuild phase," then being a lawyer might be useful, as laws and a judicial system will need to be re-established. I'd probably lie and say I was just a paralegal though, so I don't get murdered for the first couple of years. Then, once murder is re-established as wrong, I'd be like, SURPRISE bitches, I know more stuff than I let on! WOOOO!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

  • Poll
We're not going to make it, are we?
2 3 4 5
203
8K
Donald mac Ronald replied
Post-apocalyptic science-fiction action RPG and PlayStation China Hero Project title 'AI LIMIT' will launch for PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam in 2025
NSFW Trailer 2
60
7K
pasterpl replied
XSEED: 'It's hard to see how Senran Kagura would prosper in the West in this day and age'
Game Dev
29
3K
Bring Back Scalebound replied
Memoirs of a PC NOOB! My journey into the PC world
2 3
110
4K
Topher replied
PlayStation Plus Game Catalog for October: Dead Island 2, Two Point Campus, Gris, Return to Monkey Island and more
News Platform 2
58
4K
Sanepar replied
Top Bottom