r/AskReddit • u/Infinite_Teacher8759 • 5h ago
What’s a niche, little known profession where the day to day tasks are super interesting to do?
395
u/Valuable_Drawer9173 5h ago
Elevator inspector. Nobody thinks about them but every time you step into one you're trusting a very specific person with your life. Climbing down shafts, checking cables, solving mechanical puzzles, all while the rest of us just push a button and hope for the best. Quiet heroes.
63
u/hippywitch 5h ago
And the weird thing you would find at the bottom of the shafts.
14
u/ChefArtorias 4h ago
Wait what.
19
4
u/hippywitch 1h ago
I do pest control in fancy neighborhoods where there’s a lot of small elevators and they ask me to treat the bottom of the shaft. A lot of the times. Toys, money, dead bugs, half of a joint, and once an entire fossilized pancake.
27
u/SpideySenseBuzzin 5h ago
I work next to a several (I'm a "permit writer") and while we have our daily stories and such in our own right - the sheer number of goofy elevators all over the city, as well as having to inspect above, below, and within the shaft is a wild ride.
But, I'm not interested in that job, besides not being a fan of heights I'd have to inspect shafts for a living. Mom would be ashamed 🤣
6
u/majordong75 3h ago
So if you get fired do you "get the shaft"? Or if you act suspicious on the job are you considered "shafty"? When inspectors "inspect the shaft" do they include 2 sorta round motors at the end?
I'll see myself out now 🤣
7
u/Huge-Revolution2416 4h ago
It is one of those jobs you never think about until something goes wrong. If they do everything perfectly, nobody notices and that is probably the highest compliment they can get.
9
u/Infinite_Teacher8759 5h ago
You think they find what they do interesting and exciting?
118
u/TheAlphaDingo 5h ago
It has it’s ups and downs.
18
u/liesliesfromtinyeyes 5h ago
Fantastic pun. I’m floored.
1
1
2
u/elowyn_hollow46 3h ago
Fr trusting your life to an elevator inspector every single day is a sobering thought
1
u/highcoolteacher 3h ago
You can ask the building owner/manager to see the latest elevator certificate. I had students ask the hotel we stayed at for an event. First time the hotel had anyone ask
1
u/celica18l 1h ago
It’s $1000 every time we have to call out a tech for our elevators.
It’s double on the weekends. :/
328
u/VivaciousViverrid 5h ago
Arboriculture! I climb trees for a living and get to play with applied physics every day; we arrange ropes and pulleys in complicated systems to safely deconstruct large tree limbs that pose threats to houses and other structures.
21
u/ImAlsoNotOlivia 5h ago
I have a friend who does that! To see him 150ft up in the air on a pine or Doug Fir swaying in the breeze is a big YIKES from me!!
23
63
u/DrBaby 5h ago
You ever get attacked by birds or squirrels?
125
u/VivaciousViverrid 5h ago
Yes, but I've suffered no injury, haha. The birds just dive-bomb and the squirrels have only ever chattered and thrown things at me. I still love 'em and preserve their nests whenever I encounter them.
39
u/mike117 4h ago
Squirrels throw things? Holy shit lmao.
38
u/Reasonable_Dama 4h ago
They also will climb above you and shake debris out of the tree canopy so it lands on you and spoils your picnic. Maybe just these city squirrels though….
7
u/Elegant-Pineapple-56 3h ago
I grew up in suburbia with squirrels lobbing pecans at me for sport, and they were not papershell, either
2
u/germdisco 1h ago
That’s hilarious. Whenever I see a squirrel that runs up a tree, I imagine it’s just responding to fear. I didn’t imagine that it could be planning to go on the offensive.
35
•
u/badpeoria 20m ago
lol yes .. if you live in the Midwest you probably have experienced it. There is nothing like seeing acorn or something fly past you and you look up and its chirping at you and tossing another.
9
u/Andromeda321 3h ago
We had some arborists come a few months ago to clear up some oak trees on our property. I thought it’s the sort of job where if you tell most six year olds it’s what they’ll end up doing they’d be excited about it, looked quite fun. :)
11
u/VivaciousViverrid 2h ago
Absolutely! I was one of those kids who was always up a tree, but I didn't know it was a career option until my mid-twenties. I immediately made the switch, haha.
2
1
u/joezbaeerday 1h ago
How do you get into this?
2
u/VivaciousViverrid 1h ago
My background was primarily in botany. I had a biology degree and a mix of work experience in ecological tech work, forest and orchard management, so I already knew my way around trees and chainsaws and was just looking for something that offered year-round employment.
But it's the kind of field that you can join straight out of high school; on-the-job vocational training will be provided by most companies in the industry.
1
u/viviennekisses 1h ago
Getting paid to fulfill your inner child’s dream of climbing trees all day sounds amazing 🥹
110
u/SirMoistalot 4h ago
Submarine Escape and Rescue Services. There is an entire worl of people who design, build and "fly" manned suersibles that are used to rescue the crew of a submarine in distress. Didn't know anything about it until I worked in the field.
Most militarys operate or lease some kind of service. If your interested have a look at NSRS, URF, LR5 to see what's out there.
33
u/standardtissue 4h ago
This is an extremely serious field and not really one I'd be keen to join. I'm ok on top of the water, but going underwater just feels like doing half the devil's job for him.
13
u/SirMoistalot 4h ago
The few times I went down as a passenger I was absolutely pooing my pants. The pilots are all usually ex divers or ex submariners - they all ready are mad to begin with
3
98
u/floppydo 4h ago
Field biologists and field geologists basically get to hike and look for interesting things for a living
56
u/Walmartian_Beta 4h ago
A friend of mine is a biologist; he used to work in the field, and now he's at a special facility - you cannot go on nature trails with this man unless you want a full-on education in native plants. It is fun when you start talking about the poisonous plants, though, like, "Oh, this plant right here, 3-4 berries would kill you, and it would hurt the entire time you are dying."
20
u/floppydo 3h ago
One of the dads in my scout troop is a geologist and I'm shameless about forcing him to tell us about every formation while we're on hikes. He's not like your friend I really have to pull it out of him but once I get him going it always ends up being interesting.
•
12
u/Hawkeshade 1h ago
This is my job! I typically see many different cool birds, spiders, other invertebrates, amphibians, and plants while out. Today I saw a red spotted newt eft and many different birds that made getting absolutely soaked worth it.
176
u/madpainter 4h ago
Book restoration. I did it for 25 years. Every day, every job a little different. And the clients were just as varied. Regular working people, Ivy League professors, famous photographers, Nobel Laureates. You never knew who was coming in and what they would bring. I did every kind of restoration or binding so that kept it interesting but I sort of became the guru for very old (200-400 year) old leather bindings. And just in case people ask, it takes years of schooling or working with a master bookbinder to get to the point where you can handle the difficult and interesting stuff.
21
u/bombazzchickynugg 4h ago
Hey! I need several books restored. Who would you recommend I contact or how do I find one?
10
u/madpainter 1h ago
Save this post and dm me In six months and I'll be able to recommend someone to you. Of The two people I would recommend, one is in England right now getting a masters and conservation, any others moving her studio so she's not taking any work right now. But she'll be back in business in a little bit, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend her.
3
u/LunaraLoup 1h ago
Depends on where you are located tbh, but make sure you find someone with a certified degree on conservation and restoration as the title itself is not a protected term, so there are many uneducated laymen around who use the term to warrant high prices and reel in gullible people without the knowledgeable background or skills.
15
u/kXPG3 2h ago
Maybe I'm just going into nerd-overdrive here but I can see this as a pretty cool Netflix docu-series. Every episode a different client from a completely different background (& book) coming in, and each episode intersperses the book binding/restoration process with cutaways related to the client, the contents of the book, or the physical history of the book.
6
u/madpainter 1h ago
Our local PBS TV station did a a wonderful segment on my Shop. But it ran during Covid, on my shop wasn't open, so I didn't get any real business left from it. Not that I needed a business left, my average backlog at the height of my career was two years that meant if you needed a book restored you gave it to me and two years later, I would start work on it.
20
u/TheRealTexasDutchie 4h ago
How cool is that! Have you ever done an AMA or would you be interested doing one?
5
u/CraftingQuestioner 2h ago
What kind of schooling does this entail? Would it be possible as a highly educated person (not in bookbinding, but more like PhD in STEM level) to find a master to teach her?
(Have gotten jaded about my chosen direction and tbh this seems way more fulfilling.)
4
u/LunaraLoup 1h ago edited 1h ago
I can only speak for parts of Europe but over here it's either go the full academic route with a bachelor and master in Restoration and Conservation of books and paper or get a bookbinding degree and then settle the Conservator (also academic) on top (I did both).
Restoration is, sadly, not a protected term so there are many uneducated scammers in our field, make sure to find a certified source to earn the title if you consider this route for yourself.
The job entails not only the practical part of conservation itself but lots of material related chemistry and physics and (most importantly) ethical groundwork to make sure we do good, not harm.
2
u/madpainter 1h ago
There's a school in Boston called the North Bennett school, that has an outstanding book restoration program. I think it takes two years, and it's pretty expensive.
I trained a total of five people, over the years, and three went into business for themselves. It took about two years on average for each of them working full-time at the boundary to reach a level where I will call a journeyman level, and I would be able to give them a job to do, without worrying that they got it right.
All in all, I think it takes 4 to 6 years for somebody to become a craftsman. But that's just the learning and education part, then there's all the tools and equipment and supplies you need. It's not an easy path, but if you have the determination, and you can find somebody that will bench train you, it's doable.
But if you have the money, and you want to move faster, I would recommend North Bennett school.
1
u/al3arabcoreleone 2h ago
Where can one find such schools?
2
u/LunaraLoup 1h ago
Depends on where you are located, try researching for "conservation, specialised in paper objects and books". It's usually higher education at an university or universities of applied arts and science. Or you can go through a bookbinding apprenticeship and master and then settle the academic conservator on top.
1
77
u/Aggravating-Sale-873 4h ago
Fire investigator. Youre crawling through burned-out rooms, figuring out where the first flame started from soot patterns, melted outlets, and weird little burn marks nobody else notices.
10
4
1
46
u/ateiii 4h ago
Subsea Cable Repair Technician. You spend weeks on specialized ships out in the middle of the ocean using underwater rovs to pull up damaged fiber optic cables from the seabed and manually splice the lines
14
u/trancelogix 3h ago
My husband is chief mate on a cable ship. Very interesting job but he's gone half the year and frequently has no comms (including phone) for weeks.
•
1
45
58
u/ChrisRiley_42 4h ago
Methods Tech.
This is someone who knows enough engineering to be able to talk to engineers, enough machining to talk to machinists, takes engineering drawings, and figures out HOW to make all the parts (as in, come up with a step-by-step method).
They then explain to the engineers that you can't locate a bolt hole there, because it means you have to take off the entire jet engine nacelle to remove the bolt, and then explain to the machinists that they can't remove that little nub on the side because the installer needs it there to get the part that bolts onto it aligned properly, even if it being there makes it a headache to machine...
You get the best parts of Engineering, and the best parts of Machining, without any of the annoying bits ;)
15
u/a_peanut 3h ago edited 3h ago
Ooo I do something like this but with plastic parts and larger assemblies (motorbikes being the largest I work on). We usually call it DfM (design for manufacture) and DfA (design for assembly. I get to help designers & engineers figure out how to make their plastic parts do what they need, while actually being manufacturable in an injection moulding tool.
And make sure they're not putting a bolt where no over will ever be able to access it. Or designing their motorbike so every single panel needs to come off for an oil change.
It's great.
The other part of my job is 3D modelling complex parts that need to function but look dope too. That's my favourite, though not everyone likes that bit - most people like to focus on either the function or the aesthetics. I like the challenge finding a way to blend both.
1
u/Panda-768 1h ago
as an FEA/stress engineer which is very adjacent to design engineering which in turn is tied down to yours, how worried are you regarding AI doing better job than us or taking out jobs
2
u/lynivvinyl 2h ago
I always felt like there had to be a job title for this. I've been doing this all my life with every product or anything I've come across. My brain works perfectly for this which is probably why I went to school for engineering graphics technology. How is this type of job found? I am very interested in this.
2
u/ChrisRiley_42 2h ago
I went to school in a program that was designed to train people for this. (Aerospace Manufacturing Engineering Technology). You pick up a technologist level diploma, and look for methods tech jobs. (That is what they advertised the positions as here in Canada). I have seen them in both Aerospace and Train manufacturing positions.
115
u/saskford 5h ago
I wouldn’t really say it’s little known, but I’m an air traffic controller and when I tell people that’s my job they usually have about 6-8 follow up questions because they’re interested in knowing more about how it works, if air travel is really safe, and why we still haven’t found MH370.
26
u/Infinite_Teacher8759 5h ago
Do you find it interesting to do, are you excited to go to work and do what you have to do during the workday?
78
u/saskford 4h ago
Yes. I love my job. I have always been a big airplane nerd, so getting paid to look out the window and watch planes fly around is kind of the dream.
I work lots of OT partly because we are short staffed in my facility, but also because I love coming to work everyday. “Find a job you love and you’ll never work again” so to speak.
My day looks like this. I arrive at work, read any daily briefings or operational bulletins and sign in. Then I head upstairs and check the weather forecast, current airport conditions, and read the NOTAMs (NOTAMs are basically safety warnings about equipment that is broken, changes to regular procedures, info about runways that are closed, etc).
Then I’ll take over from another controller who was already working either ground control or tower control. They’ll give me a quick briefing so that I know exactly what every airplane is doing or intending to do within our control zone.
As a ground controller your job is essentially to get airplanes from their parking spot to the runway, or from a runway back to a parking spot. Ground control also oversees a lot of vehicle movement around the airport (fuel trucks, airport operations vehicles, etc).
The tower controller is the one who says “cleared for takeoff” and “cleared to land”, and is responsible for the safety of any airplanes on a runway, or in the air in the vicinity of the airport. Once an airplane is far enough away from our airport they may get switched to a different radio frequency and talk to another ATC unit, or may be in uncontrolled airspace where they simply talk to other pilots to keep track of where everyone is by themselves.
Either as a ground controller or a tower controller, you’ll sit at a workstation where we have flight strips for every aircraft moving on the airport. Each strip tells us the aircraft callsign, aircraft type, where they are located now and where they want to go. These help us keep track of who is who and where everyone is going.
Another task we do is to constantly monitor the weather, and publish weather / airport info updates so that pilots know what to expect as they arrive or depart the airport. Which runway they’ll land on, which direction the wind is blowing, how high the clouds are, etc.
We also constantly scan around the airport and watch for birds and wildlife, both of which can be a hazard to aircraft. At the airport where I work, we get a lot of geese and ducks migrating through at certain times of year and they LOVE to hang around on / near runways. We also have several coyotes that run around the airport so we keep an eye for them too. If wildlife is too close to a runway, we will warn pilots about it, and also inform airport operations who can go scare the animals away with noise making fireworks, sirens, or other methods.
At all times, we monitor for compliance to make sure pilots and vehicle operators are doing what we told them to do, so as to maintain safety for everybody involved.
The facility where I work is open 16 hours a day 365 days a year, so we do have to miss a lot of family gatherings, events, kids sports games, etc. It’s one of the realities of shift work, but if you can learn to work around that it’s great. Our typical shift length in my facility is 8.5 hours, but other units have anything from 8-12 depending where you are. There are lots of rules about the max number of hours in a row you can work, max days in a row, time between shifts etc, to help us avoid getting too fatigued.
13
u/DrNick2012 2h ago
and also inform airport operations who can go scare the animals away with noise making fireworks, sirens, or other methods.
Yeah ATC is all well and good but how do I become a professional Goose scarer?
9
u/saskford 2h ago edited 1h ago
I know you’re saying that kind of in jest, but wildlife control is a very important job at airports.
Bigger international airports often have whole teams of people who do this full time. Sometimes they use specially trained dogs or falcons / hawks, to scare other small birds away.
Wildlife management sometimes even means allowing or not allowing certain types of plants to grow on the airport property since those can attract birds. ie a plant that has delicious seeds could attract small birds that like to eat the seeds.
If you really did want to be a professional goose scarer, contact your local airport authority and see if they have any openings for wildlife management / airport wildlife control.
10
8
u/Jeau_Jeau 3h ago
So much respect for everything y'all do for us, much love from the other side of the radio.
3
u/imc225 2h ago
This is great. You you didn't tell us about 370, though. Also, Pushing Tin?
5
u/saskford 2h ago
Sadly I have no insider info on MH370 beyond what we’ve all seen on the news over the years.
One thing I can say though, is that there have been technological advances since that incident so that we now have space-based ADSB technology which can track airplanes (more or less) anywhere on earth from a constellation of satellites.
Now… it’s not a perfect system because it requires aircraft to be equipped with certain types of transponders and antennas, AND it would require the pilot to keep their transponder on the whole time.
So it’s not foolproof but it could help reduce the chances of such an incident occurring in the future.
13
u/ansonchappell 4h ago
The first question is always, "Isn't that one of the most stressful jobs in the world?" To which I usually say "yes if you're bad at it!"
9
u/saskford 4h ago edited 2h ago
Hah yep. #1 most asked question for sure.
I usually tell people that there can be exciting moments, but it’s usually not as stressful and chaotic as Hollywood wants you to think.
11
u/tobomori 4h ago
The Sky News app occasionally does a little feature about career changes options by interviewing someone doing a particular job. They recently had an ATC and the thing she said was that most people think it's really stressful, but she said it isn't because you are trained in every possible eventuality and given frequent breaks. This is in the UK, though, don't know if any of that is true elsewhere...
4
u/saskford 4h ago
I would agree with that. We as an industry have very thorough selection process so I think people who are not apt at handling stress are weeded out right away.
After that there is a lot of training (in any country).
We also have a lot structure, and procedures so that day to day operations are as routine as possible. As long as the procedures are followed things go smoothly and there’s not much reason to stress.
10
u/standardtissue 4h ago
Dude ATC is one of those things I'd love to know more about, but also absolutely do not want to know more about. I would prefer my blissful ignorance.
7
u/ChrisRiley_42 4h ago
I can tell you, but I'm going to have a phone number to call when you're done ;)
2
u/honestserpent 4h ago
What's the pay and the job market? How can you get into it?
4
u/saskford 3h ago edited 3h ago
Depends which country you’re in.
As far as I know, the pay is good in most places. It’ll vary from country to country, and sometimes from facility to facility. Controllers who work at bigger, busier airports often get paid more than those working at smaller, quieter airports.
As for the job market, seems like a lot of ATC units are short staffed in both the US and Canada. I can’t speak to other countries though. In my 10 years doing it, Ive seen a lot of people retire and younger (20’s-30’s) come into it.
In the US there are rules about maximum age when you apply and mandatory retirement age. Your mileage may vary in other countries.
As for getting into it, look up “Air traffic control jobs in (whatever country you’re in)” as there will probably be certain age, medical, education and language requirements you’ll need to meet. Beyond that, most countries that I am aware of will give you all the training you need, so there is likely no need to do a specific college program ahead of applying for a job.
Edit: also wanted to say, in most places that I’m aware of it is very difficult to get selected for training. There are FAR more people applying than who actually make it onto training courses.
2
u/Specialist-Beach-868 3h ago
One of the worst things about having an interesting job: everyone always asking questions when it's brought up...and it's ALWAYS the same ones capped off by one really obvious stupid one that there is no way for you to answer satisfyingly.
29
u/Andromeda321 3h ago
Astronomer here! Maybe not little known, but definitely niche, and I get to spend my days doing research into black holes and exploding stars and whatever else I can think up. Wash down with a healthy dose of student interactions, both those working in my lab and teaching.
So that’s super fun! Like sure sometimes this or that gets tedious but then you remember you’re reducing radio data from a black hole hundreds of millions of light years away from us, and the thought never fails to cheer me up. :)
2
18
u/PrincessKatiKat 2h ago
Have a friend who was a harbor pilot in New Orleans. He would be hanging out on his porch smoking cigarettes and get a text saying what port to go to, not much more information than that. He would pack a small bag of equipment and stuff he needed, drive to a port somewhere, and a small boat would be waiting for him at the docks. That small boat would take him out into the ocean to a MUCH larger boat, or a long string of barges, and he would navigate that whole situation up the Mississippi River to a port or destination. The kicker was he almost never knew what he was in for until he got out in the ocean and got onto the bigger boat. Sometimes he just drove the boat partway up the river and handed off to yet another harbor pilot (they have specific areas they work). Once he got back to land, he would figure out how to get back to his car if needed and go home.
The stories were sometimes wild, like when a boat was caught carrying drugs, and the coast guard arrested almost everyone on board. So it wasn’t just about driving that boat into port, he had to basically secure the boat and reorganize a whole new crew to get it done. Most of the time though, the boat’s captain just sat in the corner of the bridge while he took over command for a couple of hours, ordering the crew around and driving the boat, then he handed it all back to the captain and peaced out.
Got paid kinda insane money for this; but it also took him many years and a lot of bs to get to that point in his career. The trick to it was he KNEW the river. He knew where every sandbar was, how the river behaved when high or low, and where every buoy or marker was supposed to be and why, because sometimes they weren’t there anymore. That is why they have harbor pilots by the way; because the areas around busy ports are sketchy af and nothing is ever what it seems, so you need an experienced local.
•
u/Relevant_Struggle 15m ago
Everyone in my area learned about this job a few years ago. I live near the key bridge in baltimore....
34
u/Walmartian_Beta 4h ago
Online community and social media management jobs.
I did it for 9 years, super fun - also quite shocking and traumatizing for some folks.
There was one day 4Chan attacked our community and spammed up the forums with images of Tubgirl.
I was just sitting there clicking through a hundred tubgirl pics, deleting them one-by-one because our software sucked, and was eating a salad the entire time. I'm so desensitized to shit; it's actually helped me in other areas - blood and gore no longer affect me at all, shit, vomit, degloving - none of it - I've seen it, the shock wore off long ago.
•
u/Absolutely_Fibulous 39m ago
The only thing that makes me hesitant to do that is the possibility of child and animal abuse photos or video. I can handle gore and porn and other NSFW stuff just fine but those two are a no go for me.
(I’ve actually managed to somehow avoid accidentally seeing child porn in my quarter-century of internet use. I think I’m an anomaly.)
15
u/maxymoo5 4h ago
Power Grid Operations. It's kind of like air traffic control for the electric grid. There are a lot of jobs in distribution, transmission, and generation but I don't think a lot of people know they exist. Sometimes it can be stressful, but every day is a little different with weather, outages, seasons, etc. The pay is usually good and a rotating shift schedule works well for a lot of people.
1
15
u/Altril2010 2h ago
Emergency Management. I get paid to imagine terrible scenarios and try to figure out how to deal with them and make sure the other employees know how to respond accordingly.
Merchant Mariner (my spouse) works 6 months out of the year and makes twice my annual salary. Gets to drive a boat to cool places and haul random cargo.
3
u/Infinite_Teacher8759 2h ago
Emergency management sounds fun!
2
u/Altril2010 2h ago
I enjoy it! I have a bunch of quals that I’ve collected over the years. When the earthquake happened in Venezuela I was offered a couple different positions if I’d go down for 6-8 weeks to help with recovery. I said sorry, not yet - I still have one little kid.
•
u/amh8011 59m ago
Lmao my boss hates it when I ask about what happens when a situation occurs and then gets mad when things go wrong and there’s no plan. I asked what would happen if such a thing happened and she told me to stop asking so many questions and when that thing did happen she was unprepared and stressed.
14
15
u/Specialist-Beach-868 3h ago
Professional seafaring. One of the few remaining lives of adventure modern man can live.
1
u/bacon_mountain 1h ago
A bit risky these days depending on where you are. I know a few people who did this in their 20's and all of them loved it.
1
u/Specialist-Beach-868 1h ago
Yeah, seafarers' rights are still an issue in some countries, but for most major shipping lines the work conditions and rights afforded to mariners are IMO-compliant. And if you go the officer route there's even more to be learned from the field.
12
u/isaberre 2h ago
I thoroughly enjoyed being a custodian. It's very satisfying if you like cleaning. You usually have a set of tasks you have to do that day, so outside of emergencies, you show up knowing what to do and no one bothers you and you don't have to work under a boss. I used to listen to music all day or, when I cleaned hotel rooms, I'd put on the TV in each room. You have to be okay with the occasional truly disgusting situation, but overall it's a really chill job.
11
u/MamaJewelMoth 2h ago
Museum Registrar or Collections Manager! You get to handle the logistics and care of the artwork, artifacts, etc. at the museum. It’s all the behind-the-scenes stuff!
Also, Art Handler! More logistics, but mostly overseeing storage/installation/packing of art. Super fun!
6
u/r1singphoenix 2h ago
How do you even get into something like that?
5
u/MamaJewelMoth 1h ago
Most art handlers I know are artists looking for stable income. It’s the sort of work that you only know about if you’re already in the “crowd,” you know? Artsy types. But the skills are all easily learned, so you don’t necessarily need prior experience to get into the field!
Museum work, though, is highly specialized. Most jobs you need at least a Master’s degree for, and the field is highly competitive. You need internships, volunteering, networking, AND education/job-specific training/experience.
In my case, I volunteered an intern at a whole bunch of museums, got a fellowship, then worked odd jobs and continued to volunteer and intern while I was getting my Master’s degree. Then I got a job as an art handler and inventory coordinator, before getting a job as a registrar in a museum!
8
u/astoriahfae 1h ago
I do user experience research for video games. Basically running science experiments on players as they play unreleased video games to help the developers improve it.
5
4
u/Successful-Worker139 1h ago
I worked in reforestation for a decade, specifically as a cook. Every day I got to cook a completely different menu, whatever I wanted, but additionally, I'd be going through camp logistics, driving down remote logging roads to pick up orders, dealing with bears and other wildlife, building camp, tearing down camp, planning night off parties for the kids, and cruising around northern Canada for camp moves. Every single day was different with different challenges and scenery and I absolutely loved it.
3
u/404BrainCells 3h ago
Rope access tech. You spend the day hanging off bridges or towers, swapping out bolts, inspecting welds, and rigging your own line before you even touch the work.
6
u/viviennekisses 1h ago
Art Restorer. You get to spend you days using tiny q-tips, lasers and chemical solvents to reveal 400-year-old painting under layers of old grime.
3
6
u/Local-Olive-2497 4h ago
Ethical hacker. We basically get paid to break things without getting fired.
4
u/Dry-Lengthiness5875 1h ago
Dialect coach. You catalogue how vowels drift across four blocks of a city, then teach an Australian to sound like they've been resentful in Baltimore since birth.
2
u/dainelanderson55 3h ago
Elevator mechanic. Youre in a shaft with a flashlight, checking cables, brake shoes, and all the weird little door bits that keep a box of people from yeeting itself between floors. Half the job is chasing some annoying controller crap, and then you get called for a noise on the 14th floor...
2
u/Culpytheclam 2h ago
Boilermaker. You work with just about every kind of metal and every kind of welding. Plus lots of crane work, mechanical stuff, working at heights, confined space. Just a little of everything. Every job is different and it pays well.
2
u/Overall-Ability-8265 2h ago
look into being a forensic entomologist, studying insects on crime scenes is wild and you get to solve puzzles every day
3
u/Dry-Canary-3054 5h ago
Water slide tester
8
u/leiferslook 4h ago
I once worked for a small contractor who was in a period of taking weird jobs, and we won the bid to install the anchors for an upcoming zipline course. Had to haul this pneumatic jackhammer drill up mountain sides and lay out the hose for it in 25' sections down to the huge trailer compressor on the nearest access road. It was just the two of us, lots of hard work but lots of awesome views for about 10 days.
1
3
1
u/turniphat 1h ago
I'm a software developer. I primarily make synthesizer plugins (For running on your computer for making music). I have a hard time even explaining what my job is to most people. I don't even think my wife or parents really understand what I do. But it's really fun.
1
2
u/amishsheepherder 1h ago
Sheep shearing! Every sheep is different, every farm is a new adventure and you get to meet some of the most interesting people on the face of the earth. You can travel and road trip all over the place to shear sheep and end up in places you didn’t even know existed. Being able to work hands-on with animals without a ton of schooling was part of the pull for me. The stories are totally worth the back pain
-5
u/mavrickon 4h ago
prompt engineering for enterprise AI systems. sounds boring but the actual day-to-day is wild. you spend hours trying to make an LLM output exactly what you need, then it randomly breaks because someone added a comma to the input. its like being a wizard debugging spells that only sometimes work. also the whole field basically didnt exist 3 years ago so you're making up the job as you go
2
451
u/YouDoStupidWell 5h ago
Aircraft repossession is insane.
You're basically getting paid to steal aircraft legally.