Best Jobs of 2011

http://www.careercast.com/jobs-rated/10-best-jobs-2011

by Rickasaurus • 16 years ago

34 31 16 years ago

jdminhbg2• 16 years ago

It's nice to compare lists like this to the constant wailing and gnashing of teeth in places on the internet where software careers are discussed.

martythemaniak• 16 years ago

I went to school during right after the crash and during the height of the outsourcing fears (remember the 2004 election rhetoric?) and I'm pretty sure both of those contributed greatly to the profession's outlook. CS and CompEng enrollments have plummeted while the demand keeps on growing and growing. Definitely a great time to be competent software engineer.

sfphotoarts• 16 years ago

They forgot Steve.

sz• 16 years ago

I was surprised to see Mathematician as #2. That contradicts everything I've read about math careers on HN.

lmkg2• 16 years ago

This would make sense if they're counting Operations Research as a type of Mathematician. Those are the people who design the algorithms (not necessarily write the code) for air flight planning, supply-network chains, personnel scheduling, and most forms of resource allocation. Lots of applications in resource extraction, manufacturing, transportation, military, and infrastructure design.

This assumes that they're talking about "Mathematician" as a career, and not just what you can expect with a Math major. If you have a degree in math, you can get quite a high-paying job in a broad range of other industries (like programming and finance, also on the list) because people will just assume you're the smartest person they've ever met.

Natsu• 16 years ago

> If you have a degree in math, you can get quite a high-paying job in a broad range of other industries (like programming and finance, also on the list) because people will just assume you're the smartest person they've ever met.

I do get people who assume that, especially when they hear what a CMS degree consists of, but I have yet to work out the high-paying job bit.

At work, I mostly only get to do 2D Euclidean geometry, where people seem amazed that you can find mutually tangent circles to make windows look nice.

twodayslate• 16 years ago

Systems?

modoc• 16 years ago

How does a Historian have almost twice the stress of a software engineer?

jdminhbg2• 16 years ago

Trying to make book deadlines?

5teev• 16 years ago

Probably that old "publish or perish" thing.

jhpriestley• 16 years ago

They do not measure stress directly, but base it on a rather narrow rubric of objective factors such as physical demands and travel.

http://www.careercast.com/jobs-rated/2011-jobs-rated-methodo...

pedanticfreak• 16 years ago

Looking at the actual jobs that get pulled up by clicking on "historian," it looks like they are incorrectly identifying engineering jobs that use a product called "Historian" or talk about "historian data" from monitoring devices as actual jobs for historians.

I would think even a rudimentary spot check would have caught such a glaring error before they published the article.

Credibility fail.

fredoliveira• 16 years ago

I'm surprised at this mainly for the stress figures. I don't know if this is the case for everyone else, but I would assume some of those positions would have much higher figures for stress - namely software engineers and actuaries.

shortlived4• 16 years ago

Yeah that was very surprising especially since the stress number was the lowest for software engineers. I have way more stress than a dental hygienist.

BrandonM2• 16 years ago

So when you screw up you have the potential to fuck up someone's teeth, draw blood, or generally cause pain and discomfort to your client? Personally, I just edit and re-run the program.

lmkg2• 16 years ago

Remember that "Software Engineer" also includes a ton of people designing internal-use VB enterprise bloatware to specifications written by people who think Excel is a database. Not very inspiring work, but good pay and good job security, and well within the median programmer's capabilities. When averaged in with the small number of pressure-cooker startups and the slightly larger number of fast-paced tech-focused companies, it's surprising but not unreasonable.

yesno• 16 years ago

That would be Computer Systems Analyst. #5 on the list.

manifold• 16 years ago

The main form of stress for actuaries that they measure is deadlines. There might be a bit of travel if they are a consultant, but otherwise job security tends to be quite good, salaries reasonably high, there's a continuous intellectual challenge, peers tend to be friendly and clever(er than oneself) and so on.

mildweed• 16 years ago

Living in the midwest, I always hate looking at national average salaries. My cost of living is great, but its always an ego hit to see numbers like that.

Either that or I need to get a better paying software engineering job :/

bherms2• 16 years ago

I feel the same way... 24 yrs old in Indiana and only making $45k + benefits. Granted I never finished my degree (12c short)... :\

I'd like to see lists like this normalized by region taking into acct cost of living, etc. Also, I wonder if outliers are chopped off here -- ie: top google software engineers making several hundred thousand/yr.

klbarry• 16 years ago

Historian? That blows my mind, who, besides academics, hires historians? I understand studying history is vital to being a competent executive/decision maker, but no one hires solely on that.

Timmy_C• 16 years ago

I had a friend who did history research in Hollywood for movie companies. That is one example of a non-academic historian.

Heck, you could even say that some news reporters and non-fiction book authors are modern day historians.

bherms2• 16 years ago

The best job of 2011 is the one that makes you happy.

gacba• 16 years ago

Actually, I'm scared that the florists and cashiers will start applying for programming jobs again after attending a DeVry Insitute program or something similar. I remember suffering through this during the DotCom boom...it sucked.

Best Jobs of 2011

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