12 most overrated jobs. (article)

[Mill]

12 Most Overrated Jobs | Power Your Future - Yahoo! Finance

Despite the public perception of some of these jobs as impressive and rewarding, some have less-than-stellar salaries and frankly lousy hiring prospects. Others come with so much on-the-job stress that the six-figure income barely seems worth it, particularly when the work involves the safety and well-being of others.

 

[MichaelB]

The list is:

Advertising Account Executive
Flight Attendant
Photojournalist
Real-Estate Agent
Stockbroker
Architect
Attorney
Commercial Airline Pilot
Psychiatrist
Physician
Surgeon
Senior Corporate Executive

The reasons these jobs are overrated are pretty ambiguous. Declining job prospects and stress are mentioned frequently.

 

[donheff]

I have always thought some of the top jobs would be a disappointment -- physician and dentist being good examples. For most of us finding work we like seems to be a major crap shoot. For a small percentage in areas like science, engineering and maybe law enforcement it does seem like kids realize early that a particular pursuit is their passion and are able to turn it into a career. For the rest of us "finding our passion" seems impossible. Too bad schools haven't found a way to help most of us with that.

 

[travelover]

A commercial air pilot career seems like it would be a real let down, as I believe most of the pilots got their start flying military jets. Somehow it can't be the same thrill to land a lumbering passenger jet as slamming down onto an aircraft carrier.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

I perceived my profession (medicine) to have been the classic example of two extremes balancing out: the bad parts were really frustrating, and the rewarding parts were indescribably rewarding. Over the years I learned that that schema was better for me than a career which always skirted the mediocre.

Like the old joke about having your head in the oven and your feet in ice water...

 

[Nords]

The list is:

Advertising Account Executive
Flight Attendant
Photojournalist
Real-Estate Agent
Stockbroker
Architect
Attorney
Commercial Airline Pilot
Psychiatrist
Physician
Surgeon
Senior Corporate Executive

The reasons these jobs are overrated are pretty ambiguous. Declining job prospects and stress are mentioned frequently.

You had a lot of patience to pick through that article's crappy formatting and extract the information. I looked at the effort and threw it in the "later" pile. So-- thanks!

A commercial air pilot career seems like it would be a real let down, as I believe most of the pilots got their start flying military jets. Somehow it can't be the same thrill to land a lumbering passenger jet as slamming down onto an aircraft carrier.

I read too much to remember where I read this, but over the last couple decades the bulk of military veterans have quit or retired the pilot's license. They're now less than half (perhaps much less than half) of the pilot community. Hopefully someone can find a link to back this up or prove me mistaken.

It'd be interesting to see a breakdown by service, community, & aircraft type. I don't think the F/A-18 pilots (I had to refrain from using the word "jocks", and I include the women fighter pilots in that stereotype) would have the same sense of accomplishment & fulfillment at the helm of a 767. OTOH someone flying a C-17 or a P-3 or a C-130 might think that a civilian aircraft could be a nice change of pace.

Or at least for the latter two aircraft they'd appreciate the novelty of flying an airframe younger than them...

 

[Leonidas]

A commercial air pilot career seems like it would be a real let down, as I believe most of the pilots got their start flying military jets. Somehow it can't be the same thrill to land a lumbering passenger jet as slamming down onto an aircraft carrier.

I read too much to remember where I read this, but over the last couple decades the bulk of military veterans have quit or retired the pilot's license. They're now less than half (perhaps much less than half) of the pilot community. Hopefully someone can find a link to back this up or prove me mistaken.

Probably from Philip Greenspun:

A popular misconception is that most U.S. airline pilots are former military pilots. This doesn't make sense when you think about the tens of thousands of airliners that are up in the sky 12+ hours each day and compare to the comparative handful of military planes, each of which might fly only one hour per day. The military does not train nearly enough pilots to supply the airlines and, in any case, a retired military officer may not want to take a low-paid job that requires being away from his or her family 15-20 nights per month. That said, a retired military pilot can typically skip the regional airline step and go straight to the first officer job at a major airline, upgrading to captain when and if seniority allows.

Foreign Airline Safety versus U.S. Major Airlines

 

[Gone4Good]

The list is:

Advertising Account Executive
Flight Attendant
Photojournalist
Real-Estate Agent
Stockbroker
Architect
Attorney
Commercial Airline Pilot
Psychiatrist
Physician
Surgeon
Senior Corporate Executive

The reasons these jobs are overrated are pretty ambiguous. Declining job prospects and stress are mentioned frequently.

To "Photojournalist" I'll add "Freelance writer" (especially for things like travel). Any "job" where your competition is willing to work for free is bound to be an "overrated" one from the perspective of someone actually trying to make a living.

 

[Koolau]

A commercial air pilot career seems like it would be a real let down, as I believe most of the pilots got their start flying military jets. Somehow it can't be the same thrill to land a lumbering passenger jet as slamming down onto an aircraft carrier.

Interesting observation, travelover. If "stress" is one of the contributing factors to making a j*b "overrated", then I submit that airline pilot MUST be a BETTER c@reer than than Naval Aviator. Landing on carriers is more stressful than air combat. Heart rates are always higher during carrier landings (especially at night) than when someone is shooting at you (from what I have read, seen on documentaries). I can attest to the "thrill" of putting a Cessna 150 down on a 1200 ft. runway (with 50 ft. trees on approach). I can also attest to the "thrill" off landing at night with no runway lights. I always figured that when flying, exciting = bad.

But back to OP, some of the "overrated" j*bs seem to be rated on very subjective things. Personally, I would dread being a physician because of the boredom and tediousness of working with patients with diffuse complaints that are 99% of the time unremarkable - but 1% of the time potentially life-threatening. How does one sustain the interest in finding that 1% when 99% of the time, the patient is just "getting old". My doc brings his lap top into the exam room, listens to me whine, makes notes and then tells me to come back in 3 months. If he thinks there just might be something going on, he'll send me to a specialist. Most times, he never so much as touches me. For $160K, some would say that's a pretty good gig. I'd pull my (remaining) hair out after 2 weeks. So, it's all very subjective. Naturally, YMMV.

 

[travelover]

Interesting observation, travelover........... .

I was exaggerating, of course, but flying a commercial airliner seems like it would be kind of like driving a bus compared a more nimble aircraft. But, it looks like the myth of commercial pilots being largely former military pilots has been debunked, anyway.

 

[Alan]

A commercial air pilot career seems like it would be a real let down, as I believe most of the pilots got their start flying military jets. Somehow it can't be the same thrill to land a lumbering passenger jet as slamming down onto an aircraft carrier.

I used to work with an ex Navy pilot who used to fly Tomcats. When I asked why he quit to become a chemical engineer he simply said, "One too many carrier landings".

 

[W2R]

I'm surprised the list did not include Oceanographer.

Popular delusions seem to be that most/all oceanographers spend a lot of time on ships helping out Cousteau and such, or swimming with killer whales at Sea World. In reality physical oceanographers, such as I was, often do not get to go to sea much at all and instead may have technicians to do that sort of data collection. One oceanographer that I worked with was subject to severe sea-sickness and I don't think he ever went to sea in his life. This didn't hamper his career at all. While the abstract idea of being a physical oceanographer evokes visions of exciting adventures at sea and getting a great tan, in reality it is more likely to involve cubicle dweeb-ness, pasty white skin from never seeing the sun, and late nights of computer modeling and/or data analysis.

I knew that going into it, luckily, and was mostly attracted to it by the signal processing aspects but anyway the differences between the public perception and reality of this career surprises some people.

Nobody goes into oceanography for the money (as the saying goes), so scarcity of any job at all in oceanography, much less a job with a decent salary, isn't likely to disappoint....

 

[ls99]

I'm surprised the list did not include Oceanographer.

Few of the list as far as I can tell requires(d) advanced degrees, ie. Phd, MD.

By the way, you forgot to mention that oceanographers, submarine geologists, marine biologists etc. had to learn to deal with jokers like yours truly, who could and on occasion did make their sea time unpleasant [-]truly miserable[/-]. Mostly with impunity.

Most got superb support, and data, simply by acting like human beings.

I'd say the most over-rated job is that of the US President. As many on the list discover a bit a late -it gets lonely at the top. Though unlikely that any other match the job of US President for ego gratification.

 

[W2R]

By the way, you forgot to mention that oceanographers, submarine geologists, marine biologists etc. had to learn to deal with jokers like yours truly, who could and on occasion did make their sea time unpleasant [-]truly miserable[/-].

I was never miserable at sea! Those were some of the best times of my life. I would have loved the chance to go out more, but I never got to go out any more than most others in my occupation, sadly enough. The techs get all the fun, I swear!

 

[ls99]

Ah, ladies always got the royal treatment.

 

[W2R]

Ah, ladies always got the royal treatment.

Got to berth in a private 2-man or 4-man room a few times, that I got all to myself due to no other females on the ship.... Times have changed since then I guess.

 

[ls99]

Got a private 4-man room, usually, with no other females on the ship....

Uh, that meant that a few guys were hot bunking. See what i mean?

 

[W2R]

Hee hee! Yes and I never heard the end of it, naturally.

You can see the sort of accomodations I got on a couple of different cruises in the first and last of these photos. Pretty nice, and with a PRIVATE head/bathroom with private shower..... eat your heart out!

But anyway, my point was that such opportunities are the exception, not the rule, for most oceanographers. Like the others I spent far more time crunching data than I did at sea. I knew that going in, but some don't and find it to be disappointing.

 

[Lsbcal]

I'll send the link to DS. He's studying advertising right now. I don't envy him his job search this spring, but we try to be upbeat with him.

 

[ls99]

Shoot, that looks almost better than the Captain's quarters on the RV Vema.

 

[ls99]

The RV Vema.

Actually this is an early photo, later a huge fresh water tank was added over the top of the bridge. It spanned the full width. Thus when full leaving port, rolled 30 degrees in dead calm waters. A true joyride at 202 feet from stem to stern. The photo does not show the "A" frame added at the stern for hauling air guns and hydrophone strings.

Would be remiss in not mentioning that the ship was Captained by Henry C. Kohler, of Nova Scotia, who was one of the last few licensed Oceangoing Sailing Masters.

 

[ls99]

The RV Vema.
In editing with adding the Captain's name, the previous post's the photo was deleted by the whatever.

 

[traineeinvestor]

I can certainly agree about the working hours and stresses of being a lawyer (to say nothing of the skewed income and difficulties in actually getting a job after law school). That said, Dodd-Frank (and some other "reforms") has already been renamed the "lawyers employment act, so lawyer may well move from the worst to the best list next year.

For comparison, a list of "best" jobs:News Headlines

dental hygenist
audiologist
historian
biologist
meteorologist
computer systems analyst
statistician
actuary (seriously)
mathematician
software engineer

Of course, I'd expect a survey of people on this forum to vote for "retirement" as the second best job and put "early retirement" at the top of the list.

 

[Nords]

To "Photojournalist" I'll add "Freelance writer" (especially for things like travel). Any "job" where your competition is willing to work for free is bound to be an "overrated" one from the perspective of someone actually trying to make a living.

When pronouncing the word "freelance", the emphasis is on the first syllable.

I used to work with an ex Navy pilot who used to fly Tomcats. When I asked why he quit to become a chemical engineer he simply said, "One too many carrier landings".

Or even worse, not landing on the carrier at all...

 

[Koolau]

I was never miserable at sea! Those were some of the best times of my life. I would have loved the chance to go out more, but I never got to go out any more than most others in my occupation, sadly enough. The techs get all the fun, I swear!

Many years back, I attended a school to learn the use of an analytical instrument. 2 of my classmates were oceanographers (possibly techs rather than degreed - don't recall). Anyway, their duty was to sail for several months at a time, alternating 12 hour shifts, 7 days a week, taking and analyzing water samples. One was male, one female. Though the thought of going to sea sounded interesting, the way they described their duty, it didn't sound like a j*b most would find appealing.