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19 Careers That Seem Great But Are Actually Horrible And Careers That Are Often Overlooked, As Shared In This Online Thread
Article created by: Ieva Pečiulytė
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? Perhaps you idolized doctors or veterinarians, and you swore some form of the medical field was in your future. Maybe you always wanted to be a photographer or visual artist? Or you decided to become a pilot after your first experience flying in an airplane? We all grow up with dreams for our futures, but once the time comes to choose a career path, there are a lot more factors to consider than what looks or sounds the most exciting. One Reddit user sparked an interesting conversation by asking for examples of careers that “seem promising but are actually traps that people consistently waste their education opportunities on” and others that are "often overlooked but unexpectedly lucrative". The post received thousands of replies featuring anything from jobs that require years of education for very little pay to underrated professions that provide surprisingly great benefits and wages. We’ve gathered a list of some of the most helpful responses, so you can have a better idea of what positions to avoid or search for if you're on the job hunt. Let us know in the comments if you have experience in any of these professions, and then if you’re interested in reading another Bored Panda piece featuring glamorized careers that turned into nightmares, check out this list next.
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#1
Teaching in university/college. You have to do a PhD minimum, and consistently churn out new research materials. You'd have invested over a decade getting all the degrees but jobs are scarce so you end up being a temporary faculty for a few more years, doing the same or more amount of work for a fraction of the pay. At least, this is how it is in my country.
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#2
Probably about any kind of artist, but in particular 3D (CG) artist. Tons of art schools popped up selling degrees to be a video game artist or a chance to be an animator at Disney or something. Ended up oversaturating the market with low quality portfolios that had no chance of ever getting into a major studio.
#3
Trap: veterinarian, debt of MD but fraction of the salary. Works if you don't have to pay for college and vet school, but not really logical if you do.
#5
A lot of non-profits rely on your desire to do meaningful work to get away with some pretty exploitative labor practices. I’m sure it depends though because that’s a really broad category.
#6
Nursing school has to literally lie to students about what being in the floor in a hospital is like so that they don't run away.
#7
The biggest scam is being a qualified librarian. For terrible pay, organizations want you to have a flipping Master's in Library Science. If the jobs paid more, it would make sense but it's absolutely ridiculous. Even worse because you can sneak your way into being a librarian other ways and still be paid what qualified people are paid (there are always exceptions).
#9
Any video game career. I wouldn't say any specialized degree is a waste, but it's completely unnecessary. Jobs are super competitive so breaking in w/out experience is hard, and there's more and more candidates every year. One company I worked for said they rejected five thousand resumes for a position they posted. If you are talented to get a job you're talented enough to make 2x more outside gaming. Stress, burnout, and divorce are super common.
#11
Carpentry seems to be good. I know two families where the dad is a carpenter. One is specialised in doing structural work like wooden beams for house roofs and so on, the other combined it with a love for art history and went into the restauration of antique furniture.
Both are their own boss, both are financially stable, own their own houses, provide their families, etc. When you have enough money saved up, you can also very effectively flip houses, because you can do so much of the work on your own.
#12
Theater. Unless you are already wealthy and know people in a big city that can get you a position in a company. Everyone wants in, much competition, low pay. Bad hours. Lots of travel and basically begging for work. I could say more about the things that have disappointed me. There has been some fun moment's and good people but I wish I would have gotten a degree in something useful. Putting Theatre design/production major on a application has never helped me.
#13
TRAP: Nursing
I was used, abused, overworked, and under paid. Everyone ends up burning out quickly, and the working environment becomes hostle. I almost never got a chance to take a lunch, and was consistently asked to stay overtime to cover for a total of 16 hours. My husband had to come pick me up several times, because I was in not shape to drive home after covering. Having to cover someone was a daily chore, because the nurses I worked with decided to come in to work from a day to day basis.
#14
Any city,state,county,federal job that is union. Get on the gravy train young and when the opportunity arises and it will, take the new job advancement. The pay rate usually has generous raises and good benefit plans. You can enjoy a good life while you’re working and A great retirement.
#15
Surprisingly lucrative: Travel Agent/Rewarding
So the internet has essentially allowed everyone and their mother to make up their own holiday. What the internet doesn't tell you is that the average person spends 3 WORKING DAYS planning/booking their holiday.
Rich folk don't want to waste their time on that. Smarter upper middle class families also realise the time saving.
So now I work from home putting together fancy holidays for people who have reached a stage in their life where their free time is much more important to them.
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Bonus: Free or heavily discounted holidays.
#16
Painting houses honestly. The market is constantly saturated with cheap workers so if you can get a reputation for quality work you can make a pretty penny.
#17
Trap: biotech and biotechnology. Long hours, low pay, most of the work is extremely dull and monotonous relative to what I thought “science” was, not much in the way of transferable skills.
#18
Trap: Physical Therapy.
In the US it's a doctorate program, so on top of requiring a 4-year undergrad degree you need to complete 3 more years of graduate education. High tuition, low salary for a doctorate, and most of the fillable positions are what we call patient mills. Essentially companies want to see as much patients as possible reducing 1-on-1 time and reducing quality of care.
#19
Over saturated id have to say on a serious note is most definitely Real Estate
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