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[Maxwell House]

Top 25 Jobs

1. Personal finance adviser
2. Medical scientist
3. Computer software engineer
4. Chiropractor
5. Environmental engineer
6. Biochemist and biophysicist
7. Sales manager
8. Epidemiologist
9. Computer system analyst
10 Athlete
11. Agent and business manager
12. Marketing manager
13. Producer and director
14. Actor
15. Lawyer
16. Advertising manager
17. Management analyst
18. Postsecondary education admin
19. Financial manager
20. Actuary
21. Airline pilot
22. Geoscientist
23. Market research analyst
24. Securities sales agent
25. Medical services manager

Descriptions and reasoning for the top 25 job rankings

I am an Actuary, which has been rated the #1 or #2 job by the Best Jobs Rating Almanac for the past few decades. I think Fast Company had a lower rating of my profession because they underestimated how much money Actuaries make. Of course, having to take brutal tests the first 4-9 years of your career is a big negative, so I can see it being ranked down to 20th for that reason quite easily.

Some of the top 25 jobs are pretty funny IMO. Actor? Athlete? Producer and Director? Shouldn't attainability of jobs be a factor? :lol

 

[number386]

#14 Actor


What they do: Being an actor involves acting on stage, on TV, or on the silver screen. Sometimes -- OK, many times -- you don't even have to be particularly good at it to be successful. Being an actor often requires being very good looking.

:lol

 

[xsarien]

I'm a hippie, so I simply say "Do what you love, and success will follow." There's nothing that will suck a soul drier than keeping a job just for the sake of the paycheck. If you hate it, if you can't wake up in the morning and genuinely like what you're doing, then you need to dust off the resume.

 

[videogamer]

2. Medical scientist

Do they mean any scientist who does research in the medical field or do they mean MD PhDs? I've known my fair share of of scientists who can't find a job, and they're being laid off from a department in the College of Medicine. As for the MD PhDs, their job better be good. All those years of school should be worth it.

 

[Phoenix]

I'm a hippie, so I simply say "Do what you love, and success will follow." There's nothing that will suck a soul dryer than keeping a job just for the sake of the paycheck. If you hate it, if you can't wake up in the morning and genuinely like what you're doing, then you need to dust off the resume.

I'm not a hippie, but will continuously and forever say the same thing. You can get paid doing damn near anything. Might as well be something you enjoy. Life is too short to waste being pissed off at work (where you spend much of your waking life).

 

[maharg]

Beyond the obvious problem of doing something you hate, these lists can be bad because if you base a decision on them, by the time you're actually in one of the higher earning brackets of that profession, the list is horribly out of date.

 

[McLesterolBeast]

I like that, on the education index, financial manager and athlete are only 1 percentage point apart from each other.

The list has zero value.

 

[Deleted member 1235]

Hey Maxwell,

Can you explain what exactly actuaries do? We have some at work at they are forever pissing me off with the enormous amount of space they constantly use on our server All I see is them staring at spreadsheets all the time. I've heard that is good money though

 

[Maxwell House]

Sure. It depends on what sort of company you are at. There are 4 main lines of work for actuaries:

Property and Casualty
Health and Welfare
Life
Pensions

In Pensions, Actuaries do retirement benefit calculations, retirement plan asset valuations, etc. Basically, they manage a companie's retirement plan.

In property and casualty, actuaries usually do ratemaking and reserving. Ratemaking is figuring out how much to charge for certain lines of insurance. Resering is figuring out how much a company needs in reserve to pay off future claims.

In Healthy, actuaries help in pricing of products, management of retiree medical benefits, etc.

In Life, they again price products (different types of insurance), calculate benefit reserves, etc.

Most actuaries work in the insurance industry or for consulting firms. Most of the work at most companies is done in Excel. Sometimes regression and analysis software like SAS is used (usually in P&C).

 

[xsarien]

Hey Maxwell,

Can you explain what exactly actuaries do? We have some at work at they are forever pissing me off with the enormous amount of space they constantly use on our server All I see is them staring at spreadsheets all the time. I've heard that is good money though

ac·tu·ar·y
n. pl. ac·tu·ar·ies

A statistician who computes insurance risks and premiums.

 

[SKluck]

Money is always in numbers.

 

[Azih]

I have the 3rd best job? Doesn't feel like it.

 

[xsarien]

I have the 3rd best job? Doesn't feel like it.

I think they're talking in terms of money. I could be wrong, I try not to make it obvious that I surf at work.

But, yeah, being locked in a cubicle for hours upon hours a day while being treated like a slave* is one reason among many why I didn't mark down "computer science" as my major.


(*Well, that's what I hear. )

 

[Jotaro]

Great choices: either you go out on your own to work at a mom and pops PC store all your life, or you work in a field of profession with job safety and get two-way jobs and discriminatory rates against youth, or you go to College for years without knowing if your degree is gonna be worth the ink it's printed on after you mortaged your future to pay for your studies, or you try to get into a highly-saturated field where your job is barely gonna leave you any time for sleeping four hours and have a quick lunch and dinner. Or you hope to get lucky.

What a great generation I am in.

 

[Shawn]

that list is embarrassing. what kind of schmuck DOESN'T want to be an actor?

 

[Loki]

I like that, on the education index, financial manager and athlete are only 1 percentage point apart from each other.

The list has zero value.

Hey, don't feel bad-- "lawyer" (3 years of post-graduate education & training) is actually ahead of "medical scientist" (for MD/Ph.D's, 10-15 years of post-graduate education & training) on the education index. :lol But then I did some reading, and it seems that the educational index is what percentage of people in those professions hold a college degree. Viewed in that light, it makes sense, because there are some programs around the country that accept MD/Ph.D candidates into their programs after two years of college (i.e., without a bachelor's)-- you have to be in the top fraction of the top one percent of students in the nation, though.


Athletes and financial managers might be similar for the same reason: most professional athletes attend college and usually end up finishing their degrees in the off-seasons. Dunno how it works for financial managers. I know you can have post-graduate training (MBA etc.), but I have a few friends who work in that sector who never graduated college-- it was all about connections, experience, and dedication. So a college degree seems to be less of a prerequisite to "break into" the field in that sense than for something like law. Then again, perhaps "financial manager" is a specific job with specific requirements in terms of graduate and post-grad education, I dunno.


The point is that the "education index" values listed don't have anything to do with the length or rigor of education for each profession.

 

[Minotauro]

I have the 3rd best job? Doesn't feel like it.

Absolutely 100% agreed. I spend the better part of my day surfing the internet and devising escape strategies.

 

[Boogie]

I'm not a hippie, but will continuously and forever say the same thing. You can get paid doing damn near anything. Might as well be something you enjoy. Life is too short to waste being pissed off at work (where you spend much of your waking life).

I only wish I had the faintest idea what I want to do. :S

 

[Mike Works]

I was undecided as to a career up until I read this list. Now that I know the opportunity exists, I think I will become an athlete.

 

[Jotaro]

I was undecided as to a career up until I read this list. Now that I know the opportunity exists, I think I will become an athlete.

And you're canadian? It's a chimera, dude.

 

[Fresh Prince]

I have the 3rd best job? Doesn't feel like it.

IMO Computer software engineer != Programmer
I think they're probably talking about someone who is a manager or does 'design' bit etc.

 

[Azih]

My degree says Software Engineer dammit.

 

[mr.beers]

Absolutely 100% agreed. I spend the better part of my day surfing the internet and devising escape strategies.

:lol :lol :lol

office space

 

[gofreak]

My degree says Software Engineer dammit.

This is why - God help me - I'm doing a masters (in Software engineering). Not sure how much use it'll be to me, but at least I can be more upset if I end up being a code lackey.

 

[mrkgoo]

I'm not a hippie, but will continuously and forever say the same thing. You can get paid doing damn near anything. Might as well be something you enjoy. Life is too short to waste being pissed off at work (where you spend much of your waking life).

Though I wouldn't disagree, I still think there's validity in "working to live, not living to work" - so that you can work for something you don't necessarily love, but it gives you the lifestyle you enjoy. I find happiness in life outside of work.

 

[Maxwell House]

I honestly don't really enjoy my work that much. It isn't horrible but it is pretty boring. At least there isn't much stress.

I basically got into my field soley to make as much money as I could without too much study. Yeah, maybe I should have pursued something that really interested me but the thing that interests me the most is having free time. I hope that with my boring but lucrative career I can retire somewhat early in life.

 

[Minotauro]

My degree says Software Engineer dammit.

So does my job title. Regardless, I'm a programmer. The two are basically used interchangeably.

 

[McLesterolBeast]

Hey, don't feel bad-- "lawyer" (3 years of post-graduate education & training) is actually ahead of "medical scientist" (for MD/Ph.D's, 10-15 years of post-graduate education & training) on the education index. But then I did some reading, and it seems that the educational index is what percentage of people in those professions hold a college degree. Viewed in that light, it makes sense, because there are some programs around the country that accept MD/Ph.D candidates into their programs after two years of college (i.e., without a bachelor's)-- you have to be in the top fraction of the top one percent of students in the nation, though.

There're quite a few universities that don't value the extra year towards finishing the degree much at all, supposing your LSAT's and GPA are at par with those holding the degree.
I'd guess that finance manager fares so poorly because of the loose definition they use. If all that is required is that you manage finances (in one way or another), that opens the door to book keepers and similar occupations that don't require any education. With athlete, the sample is likely entirely made up of those who use sports as their primary source of income. In most sports, the scouting done through colleges (and in some cases, playing on a college team is virtually mandatory).

So does my job title. Regardless, I'm a programmer. The two are basically used interchangeably.

In the US they're used interchangable, but there is a distinction made in canada (at least at my school). CS is part of the faculty of math, and soft eng of the ENG faculty. The latter is far more selective and difficult.

 

[Iceman]

Medical Scientist is a broad category. The web site only mentions that "The job normally requires a doctorate."

I'm number 2! I'm number 2! I'm number 2!!

 

[Manabanana]

When I went to the county hosptial looking for a job, I talked to the HR receptionist for a bit before she pulled out the notebook of listings. She said there weren't any kitchen positions open, but I could have a look and see if I wanted to do anything else. They really needed a nuclear medicine technician, so I said I could do that, too. Second best job out there and I didn't take it ;(

 

[kumanoki]

OK, fellas, you know where to go....

http://www.itt-tech.edu/

"Find work in fields like Accounting, Animal Care, Child Care, Computer Repair, Custodial Arts, Food Service Management, Medical Assistance, Package Delivery, Sales Assistant, Truck Driving, or get your DEGREE!" :lol

 

[Loki]

When I went to the county hosptial looking for a job, I talked to the HR receptionist for a bit before she pulled out the notebook of listings. She said there weren't any kitchen positions open, but I could have a look and see if I wanted to do anything else. They really needed a nuclear medicine technician, so I said I could do that, too. Second best job out there and I didn't take it ;(

Silly goose-- a technician is not a medical scientist. :lol If you called Iceman a technician, I think he'd shoot you.


Techs usually undergo some limited (1-2 year) vocational training course that focuses in on the specific (usually diagnostic) procedures they'll be assisting with and the technology they'll be using. That said, even those are hot jobs right now, despite not being on the list-- they're in demand, and pay well for the training investment. You should've taken it.

 

[nathkenn]

I'm not a hippie, but will continuously and forever say the same thing. You can get paid doing damn near anything. Might as well be something you enjoy. Life is too short to waste being pissed off at work (where you spend much of your waking life).

Exactly, I love my freakin' job

 

[Manabanana]

Silly goose-- a technician is not a medical scientist. :lol If you called Iceman a technician, I think he'd shoot you.


Techs usually undergo some limited (1-2 year) vocational training course that focuses in on the specific (usually diagnostic) procedures they'll be assisting with and the technology they'll be using. That said, even those are hot jobs right now, despite not being on the list-- they're in demand, and pay well for the training investment. You should've taken it.

1-2 years of school total for that position? If that's the case, I might just do it.

 

[Loki]

1-2 years of school total for that position? If that's the case, I might just do it.

Don't quote me, I'm just going by what I've gathered from various sources. You should look into it, though.


I have a radiologist in my family (as in, a doctor who then specialized in radiology), and he says that he's always amused that when people ask what he does and he tells them that he's a "radiologist", they seldom realize that he had to go to med school for that lol. They think he's a radiological technician. He rarely corrects them-- humble dude.

 

[Celicar]

4. Chiropractor?!? Give me a fuckin break. This list is moot. MOOT I TELL YA!!

 

[marko]

Exactly, I love my freakin' job

While that is great to aspire to "love your job", I think it is rare to find a person that actually does love their job ( and if you are one of those people, good job). Many times it really just is not possible for a person to get a job they love (job doesn't pay enough, person not qualified). Obviously you don't want to be in a job you hate, but really liking/tolerating a job is not a bad thing.

 

[AstroLad]

Hey, don't feel bad-- "lawyer" (3 years of post-graduate education & training) is actually ahead of "medical scientist" (for MD/Ph.D's, 10-15 years of post-graduate education & training) on the education index. :lol But then I did some reading, and it seems that the educational index is what percentage of people in those professions hold a college degree. Viewed in that light, it makes sense, because there are some programs around the country that accept MD/Ph.D candidates into their programs after two years of college (i.e., without a bachelor's)-- you have to be in the top fraction of the top one percent of students in the nation, though.


Athletes and financial managers might be similar for the same reason: most professional athletes attend college and usually end up finishing their degrees in the off-seasons. Dunno how it works for financial managers. I know you can have post-graduate training (MBA etc.), but I have a few friends who work in that sector who never graduated college-- it was all about connections, experience, and dedication. So a college degree seems to be less of a prerequisite to "break into" the field in that sense than for something like law. Then again, perhaps "financial manager" is a specific job with specific requirements in terms of graduate and post-grad education, I dunno.


The point is that the "education index" values listed don't have anything to do with the length or rigor of education for each profession.

Hey what medical school are you going to?

 

[fart]

haha, software engineering

 

[Celicar]

Well I like my job a lot as of now, but I've only been there for 3 weeks. The funny thing is I work for a fortune 100 company and we dick around much of the day. I don't know how we remain so profitable. The management sucks, but that is a good thing.

 

[Loki]

Hey what medical school are you going to?

Short answer: whichever one takes me.


I don't exactly have a stellar academic record, and even though I'll have 3 years of about a 3.9 GPA when I finally apply (end of next year), my cumulative GPA will still only be ~3.25 (which is far lower than what is commonly accepted); I'll still need to score in the top 2-3% on the MCAT to even hope of securing an interview, much less an acceptance. It'll be a crapshoot, regardless, and it's very stressful to know that no matter what I do, my mistakes in the past may come back to bite me in the ass. : /


I'm not doing an MD/Ph.D, though, obviously lol-- I'm way too old for that (I need to get on with my life at some point, and medical school plus residency alone scares me-- forget about tacking on another 3-4 years for your thesis in the middle of med school :lol), and besides, my academic history would bar me from even being considered. Those are the most competitive and selective of programs to be accepted to in the nation, since it means that you get free medical school (not $150-200K+ in debt like everyone else ) and a $20-30K/year research stipend during your thesis years (I believe). To give you an idea, my college currently only has 4 or 5 MD/Ph.D candidates out of a student body of over 15,000. My friend Jason is one of them; in addition to a stellar HS record (ranked first in his HS plus national awards), numerous volunteering and research activities etc., he's doing a quintuple major (bachelors of science in biology, chemistry, physics, math, and psychology-- some of the courses overlap, but still...) that will take 6 years to complete, along with minors in English and philosophy. Most MD/Ph.D candidates have a triple major at a minimum along with all the extracurriculars, plus they need to score in the top 1-3% on the MCAT. And maintain a 3.9+ GPA with that course load. It's just really, really tough; I have nothing but respect for those people.


My personal goals have gradually been defined downwards as time has passed and my failures have mounted. Besides, I'm not particularly fond of laboratory science (I don't hate it, but you really need a passion for it to pursue academic medicine, or research science in general), despite thoroughly enjoying science in general (i.e., learning about it), so I would have leaned towards becoming a "mere" clinician anyway. The human element was one of the factors that initially drew me to medicine, too-- I'd rather see a happy face on a patient than examine frozen sections all day in a path lab.


EDIT: By the way, in no way did I mean to disparage lawyers or their training in my post, just so you know (and I'm sure you realized that); I was just amazed initially that a profession with 3 or so years of post-graduate training could be ranked higher on an "educational index" than one that requires 10-15 years post-grad. It was odd. But then I read up on what they meant by those numbers and it made sense.

 

[Iceman]

Man, Nuc Med Techs make mad bucks. They are one of the most in demand hospital positions in the nation.

PhD = Scientist. NOT a tech. A tech has the equivalent of a bachelor's at best.

I will say, I make less than any tech right now.. even when I get a post doc.. but when I'm through I'll be demanding no less than 85K a year (read, no faculty position for me).


man... that's still a ways off though.

(one day at a time...)

 

[WasabiKing]

I like that, on the education index, financial manager and athlete are only 1 percentage point apart from each other.

The list has zero value.

Lists always spark debate and get people to talk about them. Fast Company was spawned in the dot com era. Do the math.

Anyway, just some thoughts on my end:

1. Financial advisors are always hiring, but you're essentially a salesperson that will get paid without lifting a finger at times. For every move someone makes, like adding money to an IRA, Mutual Fund, etc..., you get a percentage. All you need is any degree and eventually, a Series 7 license.

7. Sales Manager - well, no shit. But sales isn't really for just anyone, it's hire-to-fire, and if you can't hit goals, you're out. Rollercoaster lifestyle.

12. Marketing manager - yeah buddy! Almost there for me... But marketing is coming under fire because you're part of a department that really doesn't make money, but you sure know how to spend it. If you can justify your means (through number crunching and results) than you will do well.

16. Advertising manager - Yes, this is a great job when your campaigns go well, but when your clients are pissed, your ass is on the line. Even if some intern screwed up, and your client approved the creative, it's still on you. Only for the detail oriented

23. Market research analyst - I guess, but how often do these people get to do cool projects like analyze the habits of GAFfers like me.

 

[teh_pwn]

A lot of jobs are highly dependent on your employer.

Someone mentioned #3 being locked up in a cubical. I'm a #3 (well a co-op student right now), and I have a full windowed office (so does everyone else), huge amounts of space, and a lot of flexibility.

#3 can be a variety of majors. I'm a computer engineer. Our BS degree just introduces us to programming and hardware. The real education begins at work, and you have to be flexible.

 

[gofreak]

In the US they're used interchangable, but there is a distinction made in canada (at least at my school). CS is part of the faculty of math, and soft eng of the ENG faculty. The latter is far more selective and difficult.

A strong distinction is made in Europe too. In fact, the CS stream of my degree is close to being removed completely. It's now either Information Systems (more businessy), or Software Engineering (which really is Software Engineering - the amount of design work compared to coding that we do is unbelievable).

And I'd agree that the employer you have dictates a lot regarding how good a job is, regardless of your field.

 

[Tamanon]

Keep in mind, in order to be a succesful Financial Advisor these days you have to be at least a bit slimy. It is sales after all. Can you feel good selling an annuity product to a 75 year old woman? If so, get your series 6 and 7!

I hate our AEs(Citigroup's version of the advisor), but they're a necessary evil, else I wouldn't have a job

 

[madara]

4. Chiropractor?!? Give me a fuckin break. This list is moot. MOOT I TELL YA!!

Exactly! That kind of ass lists is this, goes just income dont it? I brother graduated year ago top his class and Chiropractor field is terrible, way too many out there, like flooded.

 

[BlackSalad]

Exactly! That kind of ass lists is this, goes just income dont it? I brother graduated year ago top his class and Chiropractor field is terrible, way too many out there, like flooded.

same with lawyers and med students. in <10 years everyone will be pre-law and pre-med I swear!

 

[Loki]

same with lawyers and med students. in <10 years everyone will be pre-law and pre-med I swear!

Actually, the number of applicants to medical school has declined considerably (on the order of about 10-15,000 less per year than what the "average" was for the entire pre-1995 era). Law school I'm not so sure about, but I do know that so-called "third-tier" law schools are sprouting up all over the place, so perhaps the number of applicants has gone up. Maybe, maybe not.


Btw, there's no such thing as "pre-law" at most universities in the US. Some have a specific law major, but most don't, and no law school requires that you take certain classes while in undergrad-- perhaps the very best schools do, but most don't (incidentally, there's also no such thing as a "pre-med" major-- you can choose whatever major you like, but most choose a science for obvious reasons; it's just that you're on a pre-med "track", meaning that you have to take roughly 2-3 years worth of prerequisite courses while in college to even apply to med school). For law schools, you're allowed to major in whatever interests you, though majors such as philosophy, poli sci, and business are favored for obvious reasons. As far as I know.