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49 Obscure Jobs That Left People Asking “Wait, That’s A Real Job?”
When we were young, it seemed like there were an endless number of jobs someone could do. Then you had to start picking an education or certification, spending years of time and effort to be able to hopefully do just one. But the truth is, there are still all sorts of niche professions out there.
Someone asked “People with weird/obscure jobs, what is your job and how did you get the job?” and folks online shared their stories, from fake priests in Japan to folks who are tasked to go inside sealed tombs. So settle in as you scroll through, upvote the most fascinating examples and be sure to add your thoughts in the comments section down below.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
I recently started working in a carrot factory. I stand at a conveyor belt as carrots roll past me and pick out all of the mouldy ones. How did end up in this job you ask? I decided to do an arts degree and now have no career prospects.
In all seriousness though, I work with a lot of migrant workers who work extremely hard doing a job they are accused of “coming to this country and stealing”. They are lovely people who take a lot of care while dealing with the food products and they deserve all the respect in the world for continuing to work hard during the pandemic.
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#2
I work in a lab where I raise moths! I got it by telling my lab partner that I love bugs and he hooked me up.
#3
From 15-18 I worked at a glorious dog daycare in a huge air conditioned building. With so many dogs
I worked for them 21 years ago, and they're still thriving. I see employees around town wearing the shirts
Pay me to pet dogs? How could you say no.
#4
I am studying conservation and restoration of patrimony. I have entered to tombs with archeologists and I am the one who get the bones out, stabilize them and make them presentable for museums. Also I worked in a church, I had complete access to all the rooms, so there are like hidden halls and basements and it's usual to find skeletons or ancient things in there, the atmosphere is quite creepy, humid and dark.
whodunnitfan2013 1 hour ago
Sounds like the cathedrals I visited in Lima. At least one of them had catacombs beneath it.
#5
I don’t know if this is obscure, but my boyfriend is a high rise window cleaner. There are only 4 in our city. He loves his job! Sometimes when he is working, I will go to the city to the building he is cleaning and look up at him on the street. So cute.
#6
Concrete petrographer. I just started this month. I studied geology in college and now my job is to look at concrete using petrographic methods I learned at school and conduct ASTM tests to determine quality of concrete. Very interesting work because concrete is engineered rock and there’s A LOT more to it than you think.
David Paterson 36 minutes ago (edited)
There IS a LOT more to concrete than you think. I used to work alongside a person who did this job. Concrete flow, pumpability, strength, chemistry, salt resistance, water penetration, expansion and contraction, creep, long term behaviour.
#7
I was a puppeteer for many years and I actually got that job from an ad in the classifieds. It cracks me up that there is a scene in Being John Malkovich where he tries to find "puppeteer" in the classifieds and fails.
#8
I'll answer for a friend of mine, former college roommate.
He works for a company which makes coin and paper money sorting and counting machines. They pay him to stay home and be on call. He's a happy guy.
I don't know how he got the job, but he's extremely mechanically inclined and pretty inventive. (Though calculus tripped him up and he failed college.) When he was in high school, he mounted a model rocket like a hood ornament on his car, controlled by a button on the dash. Push the button and it fires the rocket.
#9
In the summer I guard and clean the toilet units (not the toilets) for festivals.
I got the job trying to find a cheap way to go to the big festivals and this organisation was looking for volunteers.
So all I have to do is stand in front of the units, make sure the ground stays clean, everyone had toilet paper and clear a block of units so the cleaning team can do their job.
Another part of the job is making sure no one dies or passes out in such an unit. You can't imagen how many drunk (often naked) people we need to get out of these units and escort them to the First Aid.
#10
I work in a clinical lab where I get to play with baby sweat for a bit of my day. We are testing for chloride level. Increased chloride in sweat is one of the diagnostic markers for cystic fibrosis.
I am a clinical laboratory scientist. Not all clinical labs perform this test but I am lucky enough to work at a lab where we do a couple interesting low volume tests.
Science Nerd 25 minutes ago
Unsung hero. There are many like you who are never recognized for their work.
#11
I spent a year on a team reclassifying the Duke University Library system from Dewey Decimal to Library of Congress. Had to learn like four different alphabets just to label them properly.
Edit: Holy mother. Didn't think anyone would care, but I can explain a couple of things.
1. Duke University has one of the largest research libraries in the world with millions of books. In addition to the main library, we went through engineering, biology, art and divinity. There was also another main library on East Campus. The whole operation took about 2 years I think. I was there from December 2006 to February 2008 when the project ended.
2. The Dewey Decimal system works perfectly well for small American libraries that cater to an English speaking, Judeo Christian populace. The Library of Congress system is more egalitarian and perhaps more importantly, has unassigned sections for disciplines that have not yet been discovered. Large university libraries and other world class collections are better served by the LoC system.
3. I don't quite remember the number of people on our team, but it was about 15 of us doing the physical labor. We were a company that did contract work for libraries. We mostly labled books, scanned barcodes and reshelved.
4. The reason I learned those alphabets was because we had to meet production and the barcode sheets only used the Latin alphabet. Most of the time the barcodes on the book and the labels matched, but sometimes they didn't or were missing altogether and then you'd have to waste precious time figuring out what was going on. I'd scope ahead when we were about to hit a section in another writing system to make sure I was prepared.
Auntriarch 1 minute ago
Unassigned sections for disciplines not yet invented. In stark contrast to the chap who resigned from the Patent Office in the 1800s because everything had already been invented
#12
My dad told me of this one time he went to my mom's work Christmas party, (she was a banker). As the bankers talked shop and tried to sound impressive, the spouses grew bored and talked among themselves. The guy who drew the biggest crowd was this man who worked at a toilet factory and he did quality control. His job was to flush toilet paper and simulated p**p down the toilet. The people at the party, (especially the men) were riveted by his descriptions and peppered him with questions while all these upper management bankers looked on with irritation.
#13
I’m a House Manager for a family of four, basically I’m a female butler. I’ve worked for them for 14 years starting as the kids Nanny, they’re my second family pretty much!
I organise trades people, holidays, birthdays, daily meals, dinner parties, housekeeping, the list goes on..
It’s challenging at times but keeps me on my toes and I enjoy that.
#14
I used to digitize my local newspaper's old photo negatives for the local archives. I got to see the most amazing snapshots of everyday life, and how my hometown lived through and reacted to major world events, such as the world wars and the rise of technology and innovation.
It was a great job and I got to bring the pup to work.
#15
Mine isn't necessarily weird but how I fell into it was!
Around 10 years ago I was working in the IT industry, I decided to help my dad out one weekend sell hunting gear at a militaria expo (basically antique military gear and army disposal). One of the sellers had a 'vampire k*****g kit'. Knowing very little about antiques at the time I pulled out each piece, checking them over. The story checked out, did some research on my phone throughout the day and found out that it could be a fake in two ways. It could be a kit put together by someone out of antique pieces to make it seem real. And technically even if it was authentic it was a Victorian fake. With the fear of vampires in the late 19 century, con men put together vampire k*****g kits and sold them to rich businessmen visiting Europe.
What stood out to me though was the main reason I bought it. In the middle of the kit was a crucifix with an ivory inlay, that doubled as a god d**n percussion pistol!!!
Long story short I took a chance spent $1000 on it and got persecuted by my father for such a dumb move, I didn't have much in my savings at the same.
I took it to Ripley's Believe It Or Not in Australia and they flew someone out from the US to look at it which was pretty exciting. Within 5 minutes of looking at it they offered me a ridiculous sum of money for what I thought was a large investment to begin with.
While in ways I do regret selling the kit, it allowed me to start a career in the antiques trade. Five years later I moved to the UK to study a degree and now I specialise in rare obscure antiques that have allowed me to travel all around the world sourcing new weird objects!
#16
I cleaned grills for super rich people in Palm Beach. Even got to clean Michael Jordan’s at one point. And it was recommended to me from a friend who was in sobriety with me after I got clean.
Giraffe Sitter 1 hour ago
I just assumed the super rich had their grill replaced after every use.
#17
I'm a potter. Not sure if that fits the bill for weird. I used to be the manager for a museum art school, and began taking classes there years ago. Eventually transitioned into being a full time potter and pottery teacher.
#18
Not weird but pretty rare. I'm a professional winemaker. How I got it: I have a university degree in winemaking (Viticulture & Enology from University of California Davis), worked many harvests, now I run my own winery. It's my dream job and I made it happen!
#19
I’m an assistant curator in numismatics. Basically I manage our museum’s collection of ancient coins. It’s a small museum (which explains why I even have this job as I’m not a professional numismatist) but we have a pretty sizeable collection of mostly Roman coins. But we also have Greek, Hellenistic, Byzantine, Medieval European, Chinese, Islamic, and Crusader Kingdom coins.
I catalogue coins, appraise them, do any research that is required and help incorporate coins into our exhibits. I also do educational outreach so I hold workshops for our volunteers and the public. I work with professors in the history and archaeology departments of the university we’re attached to in order to help them incorporate numismatics into their curricula.
Edit: forgot to add how I got this job. Basically I came to university and decided to volunteer with the museum because I like history. I did tech support for the first year and then the director asked me if I would like to train in numismatics. I said sure. Five years later here I am managing the collection. Full time in the summer and part time during the academic year.
#20
For 4 years I was a fake priest in Japan. I first worked for a company making 90-100 US dollars for a fifteen minute ceremony. When I found out I could cut out the middleman, I started on my own and started making 200 a wedding. I remember one day I had six weddings back to back and made 1200 in a day. This was huge back when I was living in an English teacher salary in Japan. It was so much fun. The brides were more than often super hot and so were many of the guests. I felt like Jesus but kind of dirty. There was one time when the Japanese family was actually Christian and they freaked me out when they actually started singing along with our hymns. I had to remember not to make the catholic cross gesture cause I was dressed like a protestant. It really threw me off my game. One time I had to read a scripture in Dutch. I told the organizer that I don’t speak Dutch and they told me just to make it up, so I went full Swedish Chef and everyone loved it! It was definitely one of the coolest and easiest money jobs I have ever had. I also got huge discounts and free parking at the hotel I worked at along with free bento lunches each day I worked. 10/10 would do it again!
YakFactory 2 hours ago
So are the people you married, married or not? I don't think so. That could cause problems in the future.
#21
I used to be a hand model.
Apparently I have really really good looking hands. Although they look completely normal to me.
People were always asking me how I got into it so it was fun to b******t people I was “discovered” on the street, now I moisturise 15 times a day and sleep with my hands in plastic bags....
The money was great but I’d have to spend long days on set being careful not to wreck my manicure. (Which they paid for of course! Also paid for the time it took to get the manicure)
Mostly did tv commercials
Now I tell people at parties I’m a retired international hand model but gave up showbusiness for the much more worthwhile and rewarding career of teaching kids to read....
#22
I design water parks.
I went to college for Graphic Design and Advertising. In my last year I had to do an internship, so I took one at an aquatic engineering firm to help organize photos. 10 years later I am a project manager and create resort deck and water park programs.
#23
Working in college student affairs is kinda weird (what I do). Most go to school for a master's degree to enter the field, but it's a job or profession that no one talks or knows about until they stumble/fall into it towards the end of their undergraduate career. It's laughable how many in the field have this story:
* It was my senior year of undergrad, and I was just a couple months from graduating and work in X field with my degree.
* My on-campus job supervisor approached me and asked "you're really good at this, have you considered working in student affairs as a career?"
* I said "no, what's that?" They explain it's what they do, and what they got their master's in.
* I said "You can go to school for a master's and do what we do as a career?"
* They said yes, so I said, "son of a b***h, I'm in." Now I'm here.
#24
I'm an aide on the school bus.I handle bad behavior routes and special needs children. Basically a bus babysitter.
#25
I analyze satellite imagery for the government, but not quite in the way you may think. Instead of foreign target assessment, I look at US crops. When a farmer has a loss and files an insurance claim that is subsidized by the US government we need to ensure the claim is legitimate, and that tax dollars are not being wasted. We also do damage assessment after catastrophic weather events.
We use weather data, multi-spectral satellite imagery, aerial imagery, production data, site visits and so on. If there is enough evidence, we build a case then hand it off to the Office of the Inspector General and US Attorney's Office.
It is different from day to day, I get to learn about a lot of different crops and get out and about, see where our food comes from and meet a lot of good producers.
#26
My ex roommate worked as a security guard at turtle store. Why there was a store that sold turtles exclusively I do not know and why they needed a daytime security team I will also never understand.
He said he mostly sat back and watched an indoor turtle pond all day and there was only 2 other employees but they made tons of money selling turtle care supplies and turtles. They went out of business and he lost his job but it’s a hell of a story.
David Paterson 11 minutes ago
We have a phrase governing thefts "portable and attractive items". Turtles qualify.
#27
My jobs not weird. I’m a welder. But what I do isn’t very common. I build Virginia Class Subamarines.
#28
I used to cut pictures of weewees and hohas off packaging of adult toys. All day every day. I got the job by being able to pass a d**g test.
The interview
Boss: can you pass a d**g test
Me: yes
Boss: you sure? Because if you don’t pass I won’t hire you.
Me: I understand
Boss if I pay for your p**s test and you fail I’ll be mad.
Me: I haven’t smoked in like 3 months don’t worry.
#29
So not job, but company/industry. (I was their first marketing person)
I worked at a company that specialized in Phased Array Ultrasonic non-destructive testing.
The technicians made a s**t ton of money and got to work in crazy places like Nuclear power plants in Canada and offshore oil rigs in Norway. They even worked on some of the NASA launching pads.
David Paterson 4 minutes ago
I didn't know this existed. It's very useful. Years ago I tried to invent it. It works sort of like a baby ultrasound, but with control over the beam angle that will allow it to see inside steel tanks as if they were transparent.
#30
Im diver. When i was 13 i started diving and in the army, i did it, too. So i love my job now as an underwater worker.
#31
I used to do artificial insimination, and embryo transfer on cattle. I got it by being drunk at a party. Coolest job I ever had.
Janissary35680 19 minutes ago
I've you've never seen this done, it's pretty gross, fascinating, and amusing all at once. The guy in the pic is putting on that glove for a reason but it's the wrong glove for this job. The glove needs to extend ALL the way up the arm and to be of a much more robust material than that.😄
#32
Official court stenographer. I type everything everyone says in court. I was told about it in high school and thought it sounded cool so I went for it. Took 5 1/2 years in college, but I’m nationally certified to type 260 WPM and regularly push above 300 WPM in court.
Science Nerd 20 minutes ago
Who speaks at 300 wpm? Most people have problems processing anything above ~150 wpm.
#33
I make whiskey. Not super weird but I'd say on the rarer side of jobs. And it took a load of time, luck, skill and perseverance to get where I am.
#34
I work as a handyman at a hotel. We do everything from maintenance to build mobile bars in funny shapes.
We basically just do what the manager wants us to do, so we get funny projects like installing LED and 24-7 music into old broken jukebox machines.
I was just lucky a former person quit, so I could take the position.
#35
I work in QC (Quality Control) for media.
In one company they occasionally paid me to watch adult material to make sure it was in sync and in good quality for video on demand distribution.
In another company I spent years watching movies before release in secure theater-like rooms, to make sure the files are ready for distribution (subtitles and audio in sync, no picture corruptions, stuff like that). I always got to watch the biggest movies of the year in a giant screen weeks before they were released (sometimes months!).
I got the job by going to film school.
#36
Stagehand. At least i was pre covid. But anyway, i set up everything from huge concerts and broadway shows to small private events and interviews. Its a wonderful job and i love the people i work with.
#37
I mix fire retardant for fighting wildfires. A lot of people know that airplanes drop retardant on fires but don't think about the millions of dollars of infrastructure that is behind that operation. Everyone who works at my base started by working at the local ski resort. It's a good way to earn enough money in the summer to coast all winter so we keep the jobs among fellow ski bums.
Iampenny 50 minutes ago
The real MVP. A few years ago, we were in Montengro and watched the planes sent out to fight wildfires taking off and landing, it was fascinating to watch, but it made us feel sad thinking about all the animals that were losing their lives and habitats (no people were affected in the fires and the fires were under control pretty fast.)
#38
I dry rice for farmers in south central Louisiana. Kinda took a huge stumble onto it.
#39
Super small Organic farmer. Was born into. It’s been going for 3 generations counting my cousin’s children.
#40
I manage a Motel and Marina in a vacation town in Wisconsin. We're directly on a large lake and we're popular because golf around here is good and we offer a free boat slip to any guests with boats. So fishermen and boaters can keep their boats on the water throughout their stay. It's not very common to have a motel that does this.
I got the job because my parents live in the area and they sent me a photo of the job listing. It said the manager gets to live for free on the lake in an expensive town in a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment. I have 2 Associates Degrees in IT but I did it out of practicality and not passion. I have an appointment to take my Drone Part 107 Test and I want to start my own drone business. Shameless plug [futureflightfilms.com](https://futureflightfilms.com)
I also get to take our rental pontoons out when I have some free time. Work is CRAZY in the Summer but in the off-season it's so slow and I have a lot of down-time which is nice. My boss is great and doesn't helicopter. The pay isn't amazing at $25k/year but since I don't have to pay rent, mortgage, or utilities I do pretty well and during the virus I had the job security and steady pay so I was very fortunate.
Edit: mobile format for my website s***s rn. I don’t have my part 107 yet so I haven’t put the final touches on the site or updated the photos in a minute.
#41
I'm a chyron operator. I trigger motion graphics on live tv. I was an art student and also was in stage crew in high school. These things got me jobs backstage in theater, which got me a job in TV doing normal stuff like cameraman and stuff like that. Since I was an art major I asked if I could do graphics and they let me on the weekends, and my specialty eventually turned to the chyron which ingests the graphics that artists make and plays them back through the switcher that controls the news broadcast. It's not technically an art position but at my job specifically I could make the graphics in after effects and photoshop during the day (if I have a computer free) and in the afternoon I play the chyron. Usually you are one or the other, because chyron operators don't need art skills, it's just another tech job like audio operator or camera operator or stage manager or whatever. These kinds of jobs are getting rarer because they are being automated. But since I'm also an artist I get to keep my job because if someone leaves I can take their job.
#42
I have been an online Community Manager for over 20 years.
I started in video games and moved into technology companies. I've worked on everything from Star Wars to telecommunications networking equipment and software that help companies move data fast.
It started as a hobby. I was a web developer so very fluent with the web. Started a fan site and grew up it large. Moved on to volunteer for another game company who eventually hired me full time.
TL;DR: turned a hobby into a career.
#43
A friend's sister is a customer service rep for a company that recovers lost/stolen medical equipment on airplanes. as for how she got the job, we have no clue and she majored in museum studies in college.
#44
Not my job, but the product. I sell [toilets] (https://propelair.seedrs.com/) to companies that want to be sustainable.
Washrooms are the place in a building where most of the water is used, and within the washroom, it's the toilet that wastes the most water. We should all be preserving as much water as we can. So, my company does it with toilets.
It's not something anybody really thinks of but there is a lot of wordplay and fun to be had. My fav line is "saving the world...one flush at a time".
David Paterson 14 minutes ago
The toilet I'm currently using uses minimal water. Except that every couple of times I have to flush it twice.
#45
My job is to find old, sometimes obscure and sometimes b-c titles of "abandoned" video games. Then buy the rights and revive the IP. Now venturing into cartoons, comic books and toy lines.
#46
Not terribly weird, but definitely unique. I own a handmade business and I make cool things out of felted sheeps wool. It started so I could have extra cash to pay off my nursing school loans. Then I quit my nursing job. Now I am a top 1% seller on Etsy and get to sit around and craft fun and colorful items that I ship all around the world.
#47
In college, I was a n**e model for life drawing classes. My mother worked in the university art department and told me they had an opening for models. I posed clothed at first, then bit the bullet and posed n**e when the instructor couldn’t find anyone else to take the job. He was extremely professional and maintained a comfortable, non-s****l atmosphere in the studio. I never became what you’d call an exhibitionist, but it certainly helped me become more comfortable with my body. It was always fascinating to circle the studio on a break and see how the students would draw different poses from different angles. I did it for two years at minimum wage, but it was one of the best jobs I’ve ever had.
#48
I do closed captioning for in real time phone calls. You’ve probably been captioned before and didn’t know it.
Edit: clarification I caption verbally into a computer program. I don’t use sign language (though would love to learn).
#49
Cameraman for Live PD. Went to film school to make movies then slowly worked through Ice Road Truckers, Ax Men, Boston’s Finest, and Nightwatch. Found out I have a perfect blend of art and athleticism that can be hard to find.
What do you think ?
Lost Panda 1 hour ago
I do interpretation. I originally worked in IT at a factory stateside, then the parent company found out I knew Japanese. They came to me with "Our IT dept doesn't have an English speaker, would you like a job?" Not strange, but to get the job while living in the boondocks was funny.
Mike Crow 2 hours ago (edited)
My job now is to paint pictures that make people angry at me. Well I don’t know if it’s actually a job as I rarely get paid but I do make a lot of people mad at me, even sometimes my life is threatened.
highwaycrossingfrog 16 minutes ago
I'm a boom operator in film and TV. I'm responsible for positioning the microphones on set, the main one being waving a stick with a mic on the end over the actors' heads. I went to film school and got a diploma in sound recording. Yes you've probably seen stuff I worked on.
Lost Panda 1 hour ago
I do interpretation. I originally worked in IT at a factory stateside, then the parent company found out I knew Japanese. They came to me with "Our IT dept doesn't have an English speaker, would you like a job?" Not strange, but to get the job while living in the boondocks was funny.
Mike Crow 2 hours ago (edited)
My job now is to paint pictures that make people angry at me. Well I don’t know if it’s actually a job as I rarely get paid but I do make a lot of people mad at me, even sometimes my life is threatened.
highwaycrossingfrog 16 minutes ago
I'm a boom operator in film and TV. I'm responsible for positioning the microphones on set, the main one being waving a stick with a mic on the end over the actors' heads. I went to film school and got a diploma in sound recording. Yes you've probably seen stuff I worked on.
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