What do you think are good career choices in this day and time?

[CoorsLight126]

I have a decent career now with the State, however looking into something p/t or a possible business to start on the side. But seems like its definitely a different day and time, things that used to seem profitable have gone under. I'm considering trying to go back to school or do online schooling and get a degree in nutrition. More along the lines of like a metabolic Dr. or working at a clinic, something a little more involved than just personal training sessions. Thought about a lawn business or landscaping stuff, but kind of worried that services like that people will quit paying for to have done. I think government and medical is where its at right now. The reason I was thinking nutrition is because lets face it, everyone is getting fatter than ****!! If anybody would like to share their ideas or post what your trying to do feel free to chime in!!

 

[kain1012]

IT is going to boom again

Im focused on that

 

[airram479]

I have considered this myself--good thing someone started a thread on this. I have thought about something medical field. I knew this co-worker who quit to go be an x-ray tech after he got trained. I ran into him not to long ago and said he makes 20plus an hour. Don't know if that is true..i'm just saying. I don't know if i would have the patience to be a nurse.

 

[airram479]

IT is going to boom again

Im focused on that

I think it's hard to "boom" when everything is outsourced.

 

[T-AD]

I think it's hard to "boom" when everything is outsourced.

My opinion for best career choices right now:
-Oil speculator
-US Senator or Congressman
-Mortician

other than that... I have no idea.

 

[EasyEJL]

IT is going to boom again

Im focused on that

it never stopped booming

I think it's hard to "boom" when everything is outsourced.

The only reason anything is outsourced is there aren't enough qualified people. Simple to make 60-80k a year in the IT field, not too hard to make more than that. Bill Gates said that at current college graduation rates by 2020 3/4 of the IT staff will have to be outsourced, as demand continues to grow but graduation rates dont.

 

[Tomahawk88]

My opinion for best career choices right now:
-Oil speculator
-US Senator or Congressman
-Mortician

other than that... I have no idea.

My favorite one

 

[Torobestia]

The only reason anything is outsourced is there aren't enough qualified people. Simple to make 60-80k a year in the IT field, not too hard to make more than that. Bill Gates said that at current college graduation rates by 2020 3/4 of the IT staff will have to be outsourced, as demand continues to grow but graduation rates dont.

It's really true. An equally huge, if not larger, reason for companies outsourcing is precisely because Americans aren't qualified for these skilled and professional jobs. Hell, at my university alone, out of all of 80+ students in my upper level inorganic chemistry class, only 1 has experience in/is going to study synthetic chemistry? Lol, but also, yikes!

 

[Pezz]

I've been lucky and have found a good career in the industrial inspection fields. There will always be a need for chemical and petrochemical refineries. As such, there will always be needs for inspections.

 

[toughchick401]

Special ed teacher and soon to be Psych nurse, people don't want to do psych and there are some days I agree but for the most part sick $$$ esp with double OT

 

[Born Of Fire]

The medical field is an excellent choice, as well as Armed Service duty (if you have a college degree, that is). There will be another boom at one point, followed by another down-time; history has shown this trend to be accurate, and it should be considered a natural law of sorts. The key is to have an education, and be open to expand it if needed.

 

[Young Gotti]

casket salesman......ppl rn't going to stop dying, and it pays on commission

 

[AE14]

Special ed teacher and soon to be Psych nurse, people don't want to do psych and there are some days I agree but for the most part sick $$$ esp with double OT

Education itself is losing its safety, but special ed is always in need.

 

[T-AD]

Education itself is losing its safety, but special ed is always in need.

sigh... Oh, education... When I graduated HS in 97, everyone swore up and down that there was going to be a HUGE boom in the need for teachers by the time I graduated college. They swore that I'd have no problems finding a job. So, I went to school, got my Bach and Cert, headed out into the job market to get turned down time after time. High marks, great letters of recommendation, and if I actually would have gotten an interview, they'd have known first-hand that I was that stinkin' good. But... not how well you do, it's who you know. Lesson learned the HARD way.

I could be wrong, but it doesn't happen often.... this translates to just about everywhere else nowadays, too. It's as if you have to know somebody to get in anywhere. Qualifications aren't enough. Had a good friend unemployed for over a year, engineering degree and a very nice guy, who couldn't even get a job flippin' burgers because he was "over-qualified". WTF does that even mean???

My #1 thought about my education and career choice is that I should have gone to WyoTech. They have a branch campus pretty near to me. With my eye for design, my creative capacity, and my love for really really cool stuff, I'm pretty sure I'd have made a heck of a builder. Oh, well...

 

[airram479]

it never stopped booming



The only reason anything is outsourced is there aren't enough qualified people. Simple to make 60-80k a year in the IT field, not too hard to make more than that. Bill Gates said that at current college graduation rates by 2020 3/4 of the IT staff will have to be outsourced, as demand continues to grow but graduation rates dont.

IT, maybe...I am speaking on manufacturing. There is nothing being made in this country anymore at the rate it used to be. The only job-security nowadays is being in a field that can't be outsourced.

 

[EasyEJL]

manufacturing died because unions made sure that an idiot pushing a broom got paid better than a doctor in most other countries, making us uncompetitive. Even protectionism wouldn't help our manufacturing situation as the rest of the world would end up banding against us if we tried raising taxes unfairly on imports. The only thing that could possibly bring any amount of manufacturing back to the US is the collapse of the dollar.

 

[airram479]

So besides Medical and IT...what other careers would be a worthy pursuit?

 

[CoorsLight126]

So besides Medical and IT...what other careers would be a worthy pursuit?

If I wasn't in the career field I'm in now and already established I'd seriously be looking into working for a railroad company. I believe trains are coming back in a huge way, and will be even bigger in the very near future. Think about it, with rising fuel prices and shipping, trains are putting many trucking companies out of business. I always thought it would be a cool job too, have a friend that drives trains, makes really good $$ too. Only problem is the hours are weird, they say its a single mans job. He might leave out at 2am, be gone for 3 days straight, then be home for 3-4 days not doing anything.

 

[T-Bone]

IT is going to boom again

Im focused on that

Doubtful.

 

[rxp1997]

The only reason anything is outsourced is there aren't enough qualified people. Simple to make 60-80k a year in the IT field, not too hard to make more than that. Bill Gates said that at current college graduation rates by 2020 3/4 of the IT staff will have to be outsourced, as demand continues to grow but graduation rates dont.

It's really true. An equally huge, if not larger, reason for companies outsourcing is precisely because Americans aren't qualified for these skilled and professional jobs. Hell, at my university alone, out of all of 80+ students in my upper level inorganic chemistry class, only 1 has experience in/is going to study synthetic chemistry? Lol, but also, yikes!

Sorry, but not true. Companies are outsourcing because they can get comparable skills at a much cheaper price. Company I was at for 10years just outsourced all of their IT support and app development, firing over 500 folks who were qualified. While the service provider is a US company, all support is staffed remotely in India.

 

[T-Bone]

Sorry, but not true. Companies are outsourcing because they can get comparable skills at a much cheaper price. Company I was at for 10years just outsourced all of their IT support and app development, firing over 500 folks who were qualified. While the service provider is a US company, all support is staffed remotely in India.

Exactly. IT is the worst possible field you could get into right now. You'd be better off selling oranges on the side of the highway.

 

[EasyEJL]

Sorry, but not true. Companies are outsourcing because they can get comparable skills at a much cheaper price. Company I was at for 10years just outsourced all of their IT support and app development, firing over 500 folks who were qualified. While the service provider is a US company, all support is staffed remotely in India.

Sorry but true. An individual company doing something doesn't equal the industry doing something. There are more application development positions open than recruiters can fill, and have been through the entire recession. I continue regularly getting calls from recruiters trying to push positions on me, or see if I know anyone interested in what they've got.

Sure support positions may be less available, but overall those are generally about as skilled as pushing a broom.

 

[T-Bone]

Well maybe coders still have a lifeline, but as far as support/tech hardware pc repair that field is practically gone.

 

[EasyEJL]

Well, just like with manufacturing those jobs were being paid more than was realistic for skill involved. Pretty well you can 100% script out the troubleshooting and support, so anyone who can read could do at least level 1 support. Plenty of people were making $15-20/hr doing that, which just wasn't realistic for barely more skill than to run a cash register at a grocery store.

 

[rxp1997]

Sorry but true. An individual company doing something doesn't equal the industry doing something. There are more application development positions open than recruiters can fill, and have been through the entire recession. I continue regularly getting calls from recruiters trying to push positions on me, or see if I know anyone interested in what they've got.

Sure support positions may be less available, but overall those are generally about as skilled as pushing a broom.

Not one company, every major company has considered it, is doing it, or will consider it... I was lucky enough to be offered a job by the "managed service provider", so I constantly hear about companies all over the US that are outsourcing their IT.

I had one of my IT admins leave when the outsourcing deal was announced, to work as an admin in a completely different industry; two months later they announced they were outsourcing too.

If you are getting that many calls, you are one of the lucky ones.

 

[T-Bone]

At any rate, I would stay away from IT as a whole. There are much better options out there. Sure there might be some people doing well in the field but that doesn't reflect the industry as a whole. I still say its the worst possible field you could go into right now. Maybe if it was the early 90's....

 

[EasyEJL]

I dunno, look at Dice.com or any job search engine, tons of IT openings, and has been for a long time.

 

[Sunder]

IT is going to boom again

Im focused on that

Best of luck to you on that. I would not make the same prediction though.

The only reason anything is outsourced is there aren't enough qualified people. Simple to make 60-80k a year in the IT field, not too hard to make more than that. Bill Gates said that at current college graduation rates by 2020 3/4 of the IT staff will have to be outsourced, as demand continues to grow but graduation rates dont.

The only reason? The company I worked for, for 12 years, has laid off close to half their employees (in my city) over the past couple years - including myself - was not due to not having enough qualified people. It was due to saving money. Why pay a "fair wage" to locals when you can pay a minimal amount by outsourcing? The quality may go down, but the bottom line goes down much faster.

I definitely want to move down the the States if it's simple to make 60-80k/year in the IT field. I was pulling in 40k/yr at HP as a programmer with a BSc degree and 12 yrs experience in Canada. They cut everybody's wages across the board the last couple years. My particular dept went from 8 ppl downto 1. The 1 that remained was freshly out of school and hired to replace us (aka - paid the absolute minimum).

Oh, and HP has been posting a profit. But the buzzword in the media is that we're in a recession, so that's what they are "preparing" for. Most of their new projects are outsourced now.

I've personally been out of work almost exactly 1 year now. My Cdn government has also been very supportive (sarcasm)...I have not seen a single employment insurance cheque yet. I've only paid into it for 23 years, but wow are they taking their time and finding any and every excuse to not pay me a cent. I've survived this 1st year on my acting wages (film) alone, but times are tough - couldn't afford a gym membership for several months. I have a subsidized one with YMCA now. Looks like I'm forced to sell my house now. It's a very cheap house (cheaper to own than to rent a small apartment), but it's the only way I can make money to pay the bills.

(It's interesting how much "less time" I've had to surf/participate on this forum this past year since being laid off vs when I was working. And by time, I mean mental energy I think).

/end of my frustrated rate. I guess that was an emotional trigger.

Something in the health field is where I'd consider it to be the safest if I had to start over.

 

[EasyEJL]

I dunno, here in Tampa, not exactly what you'd call a huge market (roughly 1 mil population including Tampa, St Petersburg, Clearwater and the surrounding areas) I just got hit again with a recruiter having 13 positions he's trying to fill in varied .net development and can't find people to do them. A few are willing to take telecommuters because they are having such a rough time filling positions.

 

[ambulldog]

nuclear power or utility worker. electricity isnt going anywhere. the pay is pretty standard throughout the industry so working at a plant in the sticks is a good deal. im in ny and our pay is probably higher than most other plants but not enough to make up the cost of living.

 

[T-Bone]

I would second healthcare. All I ever see is is ads for nurses.

 

[deputyjason]

Not a cop!

8 years ago I rode in on the tail end of the post 9-11-01 financial gravy train. The Government had tons of grants and lots of agencies were hiring and upgrading their equipment.

Now, my agency, which is in the 6th largest county in the state, has 41 guys laid off and threatening another 20% in December. Our unions are being attacked in Flordia, Wisconsin, and here in Ohio.

Be a fireman, everyone loves a fireman.

 

[Born Of Fire]

Be a fireman, everyone loves a fireman.

LOL!

 

[Conagher]

sigh... Oh, education... When I graduated HS in 97, everyone swore up and down that there was going to be a HUGE boom in the need for teachers by the time I graduated college. They swore that I'd have no problems finding a job. So, I went to school, got my Bach and Cert, headed out into the job market to get turned down time after time. High marks, great letters of recommendation, and if I actually would have gotten an interview, they'd have known first-hand that I was that stinkin' good. But... not how well you do, it's who you know. Lesson learned the HARD way.

I could be wrong, but it doesn't happen often.... this translates to just about everywhere else nowadays, too. It's as if you have to know somebody to get in anywhere. Qualifications aren't enough. Had a good friend unemployed for over a year, engineering degree and a very nice guy, who couldn't even get a job flippin' burgers because he was "over-qualified". WTF does that even mean???

My #1 thought about my education and career choice is that I should have gone to WyoTech. They have a branch campus pretty near to me. With my eye for design, my creative capacity, and my love for really really cool stuff, I'm pretty sure I'd have made a heck of a builder. Oh, well...

Have to agree.These days your level of education and work ethic has almost nothing to do with landing a good job.It is all about connections.

 

[CRUNCH]

The medical field working with the elderly. The population is getting older and the old folks have a lot of aches and pains. Maybe a PT or PTA with an emphasis in geriatrics. Even an exercise science degree with a focus on the elderly.

 

[Red Dog]

Like many have said, nursing and elderly care is undoubtedly in demand.

However, many butts ye shall wipe and stinks ye shall endure.

 

[gus.medrano]

Psychology

People always have/will have issues...granted not everyone believes in talking about feelings

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk

 

[prld2gr8ns]

Psychology

People always have/will have issues...granted not everyone believes in talking about feelings

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk

This will perhaps always be around, but I don't see it booming at any rate. Lot's of people have difficulty finding jobs with a bs or ms in Psych. If you obtain a Psych D or PhD in the field then it ripens the prospects a little. But the pay does not often correlate with the years needed in school(roughly 4 post B.S). The laws governing Psychologist rights to write prescription may aid the field somewhat. I know NM and Louisiana already allow Psych D's to write, but medical boards and medical Psychiatrist across the country are not going to jump on that same boat anytime soon.

The health field is definitely were it will be, at least for the next few years. PT, PA, Nurses are always going to go up in demand based on the elderly population. Pharmacy, not so sold on. Technology is really taking away from the drug dispensing market and estimation are that in the next 5-10 years it will allow 1 Pharmacist to do the work of 10. Take that for what it's worth.

 

[StangBanger]

IT is gold.... whats missing about it in this thread is WHAT in IT.

IT in general is outsourced = TECH SUPPORT.

Forget tech support, thats not what to focus on in IT.

Cloud computing is the money maker and the inevitable future of IT.

Skills for this include PROGRAMMING web based applications. Anything related to a data-center/co-location facility is also strong.

I am an IT Director and my position and most all positions in IT will either be eliminated or have to change dynamically for the new model. Gone will be on-site network administrators/systems admins. Those skills will be living in the data-centers only soon since onsite equipment will only be workstations some switches and a router... aka the helpdesk guy's job is safe. The mid level IT guy is dead meat.

 

[Irish Cannon]

Engineering
Accounting/Finance

...Alcoa is hiring a crapload of people right now in both of those fields. Tons of government positions (which, being a libertarian, I tend to shy away from) including FBI and DOD. Government civilian contractors. Etc.

 

[Ari Gold]

These jobs all just sound way too risky. I'm not going to quit my day job as a bikini model.

 

[R1balla]

even though nursing is in demand, it isnt as high as a demand as it once was. in houston, most hospitals are only taking nurses with a bachelors degree as opposed to an ADN. now sure some are accepting ADN, but not all. its getting harder and harder for RNs to get a job...but still easier than most lol

 

[CoorsLight126]

Not a cop!

8 years ago I rode in on the tail end of the post 9-11-01 financial gravy train. The Government had tons of grants and lots of agencies were hiring and upgrading their equipment.

Now, my agency, which is in the 6th largest county in the state, has 41 guys laid off and threatening another 20% in December. Our unions are being attacked in Flordia, Wisconsin, and here in Ohio.

Be a fireman, everyone loves a fireman.

The best part about being a fireman is you could be absolutely flat broke and bang the hottest MILFS on the planet. Its just that easy. Good thing I got married, my pecker would have rotted off by now

 

[Koontzy]

I am in the wood insdustry and would not recommend it one bit, However I would recommend Nursing

 

[wontstop985]

World's data will grow by 50X in next decade, IDC study predicts

IT execs will likely have trouble finding enough people with the skills and experience to manage it, analysts say


Shttp://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9217988/World_s_data_will_grow_by_50X_in_next_decade_IDC_study_predictso IT is not a bad choice as mentioned above. Data management, data mining, security, data interpretation (statistics), etc

 

[EasyEJL]

World's data will grow by 50X in next decade, IDC study predicts

IT execs will likely have trouble finding enough people with the skills and experience to manage it, analysts say


So IT is not a bad choice as mentioned above. Data management, data mining, security, data interpretation (statistics), etc

Yep, but its the educated, skilled, specialized jobs that will grow, not basic phone or even network support.

 

[onedaytoday]

yea.... IT people make 70-80k a year over here.... across the water.... they probably get paid 30k.... and thats more than enough to keep them happy.... but i for one am tired of talkin to someone who learned to speak english yesterday.... i usually just say **** it... ill figure it out myself.....

 

[CROWLER]

I have a decent career now with the State, however looking into something p/t or a possible business to start on the side. But seems like its definitely a different day and time, things that used to seem profitable have gone under. I'm considering trying to go back to school or do online schooling and get a degree in nutrition. More along the lines of like a metabolic Dr. or working at a clinic, something a little more involved than just personal training sessions. Thought about a lawn business or landscaping stuff, but kind of worried that services like that people will quit paying for to have done. I think government and medical is where its at right now. The reason I was thinking nutrition is because lets face it, everyone is getting fatter than ****!! If anybody would like to share their ideas or post what your trying to do feel free to chime in!!

If you are looking to start your own business I have a few suggestions.

Choose a niche sort of market which you can get a toe hold in. Something which huge corporations such as Cocacola, Microsoft etc would not be interested in competing with you.

Something you have experience with. It may not be obvious to you right away so go back over your life and think about what areas you have had interest in.

Before going to far select something which you can inexpensively get in front of your target market.

Ok so you have figured out the niche, you have figures out you have some experience in that area and you have a way to reach your target market for free or close to free. So now see what those people purchase and put a twist on something. Nothing HUGE HUGE different but something slightly different which other companies are not doing.

That is a rough start but hopefully it gives you a place to start.

 

[Swole215]

manufacturing died because unions made sure that an idiot pushing a broom got paid better than a doctor in most other countries, making us uncompetitive. Even protectionism wouldn't help our manufacturing situation as the rest of the world would end up banding against us if we tried raising taxes unfairly on imports. The only thing that could possibly bring any amount of manufacturing back to the US is the collapse of the dollar.

100% agreed here, which is why it was smart for Boeing to open up its plant in a non-union state hahaha owned.