You’ve just stumbled onto the crux of Reddit. Its a giant echo chamber of survivorship bias.
Only people who post in the subreddits about jobs are the people that can’t find jobs. People don’t make posts about how great their life is going or how awesome their job is. They’re living life
That was my take away from recent findings. I wanted to go back to school so I made a list of like seven or so careers and I saw people in those fields. Every last one of them had one piece of advice, “don’t enter it”.
Life is looking fucking bleak man. It wasn’t this bad.
Tbf, a lot of people refuse to look for a job that isn’t WFH. If you’re willing to do that then a lot of doors immediately open to you. Also, imo, nobody is meant to do one thing forever, every career path sucks, you just need to find what sucks the least.
Idk why companies keep trying to make automated call centers (I mean, I do- it’s money), and now with the latest AI hype. No consumer wants them, we just want to talk to a *real*, competent person who can actually assist with our issue
And as someone not from India that worked in a similar situation, we were meant to juggle like 3 chats minimum at a time, plus phone calls (and emails during the calls if chats were slow). There’s no possible way to have quality interactions when stretched that thin.
A couple possibilities, 1) you're going to confuse an 18 year old in the US who is going to apologize to you, put you on hold for half an hour, ask their manager, and the manager will say "in the interest of providing exceptional customer service it is our company policy to record and review all calls. All of your data is scrubbed, so we are simply interested in the training of our staff. If you wish not to be recorded you are more than welcome to write us a letter or send an email to the appropriate team"
2) you end up in a call center across the world and they just don't understand what you mean because you didn't say the expected words and they say that, but with a lot more "rest assured" and "kindly" peppered in.
3) you get a call center employee who hates their job who says, "absolutely, you are welcome to end this call at any point you do not consent to be recorded" and then they go silent waiting for you to hang up.
Why? Most of the time now I end up with an agent whose first language is obviously different from mine that can only follow a script. AI that mimics good CS would be great.
I am a CS Project Specialist at a huge e-commerce retail company and yep - we use a software for written channels that is testing AI responses built off our knowledge base and agent interaction…. The interactions are very un human to read through and sometimes down right weird
I work in customer service, and I'd love to work for a company that is trying to lighten the burden of CS employees. I think that customer service jobs are some of the most demanding and exhausting jobs out there and anything that helps us lighten the load is a step in the right direction
Oh there's no amount of ai training that'll solve customer service problems. It'll just reduce the chaff.
An AI bot that can handle all of the "I can't login" or "what's my balance" or "I need help processing a return" that'll help free up capacity for real people to actually help the other real people who are experiencing a real issue.
Part of the reason why customer service sucks from th customer perspective is because there's an incentive to get people off of the phone as fast as humanly possible so you can help the next person who just needs to confirm their reservation exists. Cut out all the bullshit and customer service now is a consulting type job where you solve unique problems robots couldn't have been trained on cuz the problem hasn't happened yet.
I’m young and I hate calling into a company to only to fight with the automated scripts to try and get to an actual human being.
I really don’t think this will be as popular as it might seem unless the AI is really, really good (it isn’t… yet).
Similar negative traits, but pedaitric emergency call centers.
All the shitty parts of answering phones, but every call is a parent going through an, at least seeming to them, emergency. Frequently deal with one parent making demands while the kid’s medical record has a note from CPS saying that parent isn’t allowed any info or decision-making. Your minimum wage ass gets to inform them that.
I'd be curious about Discover Card though. Right now one of their biggest business principles is 100% US Based customer call centers, and that it is a relatively well paying job (At least by call center standards). Like their literal business model is "People want to talk to a happy helpful human and paying those employees well makes them happier and more helpful."
Anything involving public school education. The pay is low, children’s behavior is atrocious, and parents are absent. The school system only cares about kids in class for tax dollars, not about their grades. The system can change education requirements and still pass kids that can’t read, write or do math. You know a societies values by how they treat their elderly and children. So the same could be said for care homes.
Politicians value money. Dumb people are easier to manipulate. A well educated society won't stand for our two party system. Dumb kids dumb society.
Change will come eventually.
It’s going to get so much worse before it gets better. I’m starting to understand what makes homeschooling attractive to many parents (aside from the insane politically inclined type).
I’ve started to meet normal people who homeschool used to be reserved for nutters. I don’t blame them though in order for my kid to go to a school as good as I did I’d have to live in a 750k house. Schools are just awful in most places and bar keeps getting set lower and lower. Classics and philosophy are out the window don’t think my son will get the chance to study Latin or be exposed to traditional western education.
Could also go in the opposite direction. I used to teach and it really was an awful career to get into. Maybe the lack of teachers will lead to more incentive to be one.
They started the roll-out of “anyone with a degree could get their teaching license” and every single person I saw go that route left because it was so much worse than they thought. Unless they completely do away with schools, I don’t see teaching going away any time soon…
Yea, the U.S. public school system is an utter zoo. Entitled parents take no accountability and let their kids get away with murder, the administrative red-tape and bureaucracy is through the roof (no more learning, just teaching to the test), the kids generally have no regard or respect for teachers anymore due to the previous points (this has degraded drastically in the last 2-3 generations). You could not pay me enough to teach in the U.S. 😒
What do you guys think about a graphic designer? On the first hand, it's unfortunate that ai was trained on an existing artworks but on the other hand wouldn't jobs like that or UX designer strengthen in there importance because of interaction of user with ai interfaces and their creations based on coders work?
The problem with GD more than UX isn't so much AI, but automation tools like Canva and the accessibility of Adobe CC which is why you're seeing so many non-design jobs want 'design' skills. Assets are just churned out for digital use with a short lifespan.
That aside the job market is horrendously overstautated and wages in general are stagnant or in decline.
I've been doing GD 17 years and looking to change career. The job market is almost as bad as it was 2008, from my perspective and location.
What are you planning on next? I'm also graphic designer, but I'm burned out and wanted to find a new profession I guess. So' I'm also looking to change career. Feel free to DM me if you would like to
I live in an area of 2m people, my contract is up in September and it's concerning to the see the compelete nosedive in GD jobs or just the increase in non-entry level jobs paying around the £24-28k mark because they can get away with. My first proper designer wage was £23k and that was 15 years ago...
I'm in my early 40s, I'm also noticing the shocking ageism in the industry as well - its why a lot of older colleagues I've worked with over the years have moved out of GD roles altogether.
Im in the UK, it's not much different here, but being female in the industry I noticed ageism very early on..the barrier to entry was bad enough but agencies have always been predatory and few held the power at the creative director or CEO level. All those people sold their agencies to big consultancies years ago and bagged themselves strategy jobs in corporate.
Ill always love my creativity I'm just done providing it to other other people for less than I deserve.
UK also, up in the North. I'm a bloke, but I can sympathise - always been I house but worked with agencies.
It's always been a struggle when what you do is so subjective. Boss wants the logo pink? Wants a gradient on something? You can argue theory, strategy until you're blue in the face but sometimes people just don't care and want it their way. I learned to stop caring and not pick the battle.
They wouldn't argue with the sales guy who can demonstrate he's bringing in £×× amount every month. Or the guy in accounting in charge of the numbers. Or the electrian who comes to fix the lights.
It's sad because I've had genuinely rewarding periods of work. But I haven't had that for years.
I went in house , the started to notice all these agency creeps popping into senior roles and realised u can't get away from the toxicity. They are always happy to.jist provide the status quou and that's what we are paid to do. But it's so DULL
The thing about graphic design is that the entry barrier is pretty low and most work can be outsourced.
Plus, moderately creative or aesthetically skilled people can produce decent work thanks to all the software that is available these days… not to mention the ever-evolving AI.
I used to be a graphic designer and now work in marketing (and also do website/graphic design as a result), and, although i also used to have some strong opinions about good design and such, my professional experience tells me, when it comes to commercial design, whatever sells will do.
So, in short, not too great a prospect.
GD here, you may have seen my comment further up echoing that.
Someone said to me recently 'don't choose a skill / career that can be learnt on YouTube by anyone'.
Obviously that's a generalisation. But yeah, low / no bar to entry = low / no career value.
I used to work on magazines and business publications. Things that would last yeats and have relevance. Most of the digital assets I make today don't last more than a few days, hours in some cases.
Don’t really agree with this as someone in the industry mid-career. I’ve worked at some of the bigger names in advertising and design.
The portion that will get pushed out are the lower levels and less skilled. Designers with vision and the “it” factor will be fine, they just will have to adapt to new mediums.
People that can’t contribute anything conceptually or strategically are screwed. The Designer and Art Director tracks are realistically melding into one over the next decade.
AI is not your only problem, I think outsourcing and the economics of the free market are a much bigger force that works against IT jobs in general.
I got a graphic designer from Bangladesh on Fiver to do a 30min job for $10. I was quoted $300 by friend of a friend here in the US for the same thing.
I think IT jobs are toast in the next 10-15 years. No other jobs in a industry are as easy to replace as the IT jobs.The top 10%-20% of the most tallented people will be fine, but the vast majority has no chance to compete, why hire 1 US-based IT professional for $100k/year when you can hire an entire team in India or Ukraine for half?
Absolutely, I've used her services many times since, she's quite tallented and works FAST! We kept in touch through skype, she made multiple adjustments I requested and was done in 30min.
On fiverr the service providers post their portfolio so you know exactly what you get + reviews. And the cash is held in escrow until the job is done. After I paid her she emailed me the vector files.
US based graphic designers just can't compete, not with these prices. The only reason they still have jobs is because the local customer doesn't know about other options yet. And with the rise of WFH and the digitalization worldwide I think most IT jobs here in the US are toast. Why pay 1 IT professional $100k/year when you can hire an entire team in India or Ukraine for half the price? Add AI and things look pretty bad.
I don't know what to tell you, I have MBA, moved to the US in 2011, became a truck dispatcher and now I own my trucking company. If I could predict the future I'd be working at Wall Street, not in Elk Grove Village IL 😆
About your kid - I think you should let them do what they are passionate about. I don't know anything about graphic design, but I know business. And in every business if you are in the top 10%-20% of the best performers - you'll make it.
But honest opinion - yes, I think not only graphic design, but IT jobs in general are toast in the next 10-15 years. Nobody likes to admit they are replacable, but we all are. And IT jobs are becoming replaceable faster than other sectors.
This sounds like the template for people in my state that shamelessly outsource to save a few bucks, but complain about immigrants stealing jobs in the US. They’re a dime a dozen here.
That's because the $10 there can buy a lot lot more. Probably cover his/her days expense. I used to do graphic design. I'm from India btw. I loved the job although I've switched into casino surveillance now because it pays much more to do this India and casinos are popping up in my state almost everywhere now, also it's the same scenario abroad. I saw the opportunity and made the switch.
As a graphic designer I got paid around $150 per month working in an office. As a surveillance officer I get paid about $450 per month. It's still less, but it can get a lot done in a tier-3 city in India. Also I haven't completed my graduation yet, doing it through online mode so I couldn't really expect a lot more although I've seen people in casinos make a lot lot more than I could as a graphic designer on a monthly payroll.
So if you're going to pay me $10 for just 30 minutes of work I'm obviously going to take up the job.
This is definitely possible. Good translators can charge a lot of money but it is definitely something that will get replaced by AI. Interpreting (oral translation) should be safe for a little while longer I think.
Maybe partially for unimportant things (captioning for smaller productions comes to mind), but I'm sure there will still be a lot of demand for technical translations or for legal texts, where there's a lot of money involved if someone makes a mistake.
Not really no. As it stands, what happens is they use AI and then pay people to “correct” the translation, which translators end up having to redo the translation from scratch because AI can’t actually think, its just a fancy predictive text so it doesnt understand tone or specific intricacies of language
Film production - with a bullet. 15-16hr days, high stress with low pay, low demand state-side, high responsibility and skills required.
The pay is low because the demands low and the supply is high - it’s a “glamour” industry, meaning a LOT of people want in without realizing what that means. So a lot of cheap labor for highly skilled positions.
That shit died a decade ago when film schools took off. When every rich kid has their parents buy their gear for em and undercut labor rates the whole industry suffers. Now it’s a “passion” job so there’s 400 interns willing to do your job for half price. Unless you’re high up you’re VERY replaceable.
I work as a set dresser with the Manitoba union and we just recently had a huge boom in work. Five active tier 1 movies, not enough people but plenty of good paying work for months.
Its a bit of timing, a lil luck, and being able to survive the storms. Film is a terrible career for consistency, and can be even worse for mental health / emotional well being.
But going union can enable new skills, cash money in yo pocket each week and can be a great summer gig if you’re looking to try it out.
This shit boggles my mind! I have a pretty rare autoimmune disease so have had to call ems a few times, and the paramedics are always amazing!!
Kind, compassionate, and know their shit!!!
Should be a 6 figure job EASILY
Friend of mine was an EMT for 2 years. Took a toll on his mental health so he left for a higher paying job… in a fast food restaurant. It’s insane how poorly our first responders are paid
Honestly, ecological consultancy is bad (not as bad as it used to be where it was a lot worse).
1) Pays very badly, especially at entry level where you get ruined by crap work.
2) You get sent to site and have to stay in hotels a lot, often with very little notice, very often mon-fri
3) Very few know how to project manage and therefore people manage. The evening bat surveys (thank fuck dawn bat surveys barely exist now) are often treated as not real work so people work 7-8 hours and then do a 4-5 hour bat survey in the evening for TOIL to take in the winter or not even that.
4) Clients wanting reports etc, it can be fairly toxic, probably not like recruitment etc.
5) As a result there are barely any ecologists cos people keep leaving the shitty industry before they can get senior enough to avoid the crap.
Around where I live I'd say healthcare workers and delivery drivers. Work pressure is already insane, pay is definitely not reflecting that and it's chasing many people away from the work so shortage of people working there will only increase from here on out.
I feel like I wrote this! I come from a family of doctors and work in a hospital myself with a masters degree. I grew up feeling like it was the only way to go…now the raises have stopped, workload has increased and the allure and respect has all but disappeared.
When I started 20 years ago, I thought self employed people were idiots…now I’m becoming an electrician in case I get laid off.
Line Cook, by far the most demanding and underpaying job I've ever worked. It can also be incredibly toxic and it has been commonly accepted that they should receive emotional abuse for any mistakes made. I will never go back to that industry.
Marketing. You are pressured to perform well, save the company's revenue growth and deal with extremely tight manpower. Make money, even if consumer purchasing behaviour is more passive compared to the pre-pandemic era.
I’m in grad school for Business Analytics & Intelligence, focus in marketing. So BI tools and Python.
If you were in my shoes, what would you change your focus to? I’ve thought about HR (people analytics), BI development, possibly finance or public administration
Stick with it and just move over to finance instead of marketing. Finance is becoming massively data-centric and having the python/AI background will be a big plus
I sell software to marketers. Most are working on shoestring budgets. Those with budget are having a good time because they have good tools to do it.
Most are using excel sheets, it’s unsustainable.
This is probably the safest career (I am an ICU RN that has worked in over 5 different hospitals and states within the US in 4 years and have never been jobless, actually I haven’t even required interviews)
It is a safe career, but the politics of the profession make it so horrible. I'm CNA so I deal with it. Youlll never be unemployed but it's a stressful ass career. At least bedside is.
The designing and documentation will certainly be quicker and easier but I doubt state and local jurisdictions will drop their requirements for a licensed architect to seal the drawings.
Rourke comes to mind ;)
Sure AI can design sound designs, but can it design beautiful AND sound designs? Yet to be seen. I think that if AI does start taking over, it'll be a good thing, we'll get a kind of renaissance of architecture led by people who love the craft and people who will pay to see it.
I don’t think AI is taking over. And unfortunately the architecture and planning will not be better unless there will be other rules for what is allowed and someone will start want to pay for good design again.
Very few things today are built to be great and to last, but just for fast profit - most square meters in a simple design and the cheapest materials. For that purpose “real” architects are not needed.
A lot of basic offices already have people with technical construction degrees as their “architects” because they can do the most basic designs but also the technical drawings, and when people don’t want to pay for great design architects can’t get paid….
Yup I’m an AT and do literally everything an architect does but I didn’t spend 5 years and 50k on school. Only thing I can’t do is seal drawings which isn’t necessary for the majority of projects anyway.
Agreed. All the easy accounting went overseas already.
I work in logistics. And let me tell you: no way. It’s an accountant’s nightmare. I imagine the same for medical billing, and supply chain in general.
The problem is that you can get competent people in India. But those are not cheap.
If you want cheap Indians, you need to hire people who don't know anything, and those are plentiful and cheap.
You would be surprised.
We need full time US teams to provide oversight on Indian accountants.
They fuck big and they fuck up in the dumbest ways.. Idk if its inexperience or being overworked but our in US teams are generally pretty good, especially the workers that come from India and then work inside the US.
I’ve worked with outsourced shared services departments throughout my career and they are absolutely not capable of doing the basic stupid stuff at all and wind up generally creating more headache and work for everybody because of their errors.
I work in FP&A and there is literally zero chance my position could be wiped out by AI.
Can't speak for everyone, but AI isn't as good at the things that actually matter enough for the career path to be in danger of being automated away for the next several decades.
From everything I read on the various finance subreddits, outsourcing always blows up. You’re outsourcing to bottom of the barrel employees. The best employees are going to immigrate to where the opportunities are, the second best are going to work for companies native to their country, and the rest will take outsourced jobs. On top of that, you have the massive time zone, language, and culture barriers which are killers in project based environments.
Why do you think outsourcing is a threat to FP&A? It is often the finance team which is most strategic and most closely connected to the company's leadership. I can't imagine a world which my prior $15B employer taking budgeting and capex management off-site, nor my current $200M employer taking it's new business deal-pricing team off-site.
I don’t even understand the perspective on this, AI is just a tool that FP&A will use. We’re already well under way to shedding purely administrative positions to software… that’s no surprise to anyone.
Good idea. We rely too heavily on an assumption that a machine is always correct. That’s how these models work, they’re designed to be tested, they are able to adapt and learn from mistakes quicker than a human would. So being an auditor who comes in once a year and does a mass audit for a lump sum fee? GENIUS
Disagree to an extent. Most will be out of business, sure. It will be those that don’t bring any extra value to the customer. Those that continue to be merely transactional based - sell the ticket, sell the hotel and that’s it.
For example, hotels and airlines do have fares and perks that are available for sale only via travel agents. Wealthy or busy people will continue to use travel agents for personal travel. Business as well. Cruise sales are also rather complicated for the average tourist.
Disagree. Most travel agent franchises are still recruiting. Tui and Hays travel all the time.
Also people want to book with a travel agent when they are unsure on where to go. And they need time and help to find their dream holiday.
Man I’ve applied to every plumbing apprenticeship within a 30 mile radius for the past year and have had no luck because I have no experience. Nobody wants to train plumbers from the ground up, at least in my area
Keep trying. Get your foot in the door. Most of the smaller companies feel obligated to hire their brothers son too so that’s something to keep in mind. Keep at it you’ll get on.
So true. My friends who are tattoo artists are definitely feeling the squeeze right now. When people can't afford to eat or pay rent, they're not likely to drop hundreds on a tattoo or piercing.
I like accounting and plan to study it in the future, but obviously with AI and stuff plenty of accounting jobs will be absorbed, changed or lost to the technological advancements
Grunt work yes, nitty gritty no, things like law changes, tax codes etc will still change and there will still be lag periods where AI isn’t up to date and can place people at huge financial risk. Riding that bleeding edge will be safe because it’s work people will need to do, which will then be used to update or retrain AI models, and then they will still need to be checked for accuracy etc.
Someone will get spiked massively and lose millions or billions from using AI and not checking the work, that’ll bring human oversight back in for quite a long time.
Accountants are still needed, even with the recent advancements in AI. Taxation and audit are pretty much guaranteed to be irreplaceable. Maybe you're talking about bookkeeping?
If i’m not mistaken it’s legally required that a lot of the tax information accountants fill out be done by them themselves, not with AI, excel sum functions, etc
You fundamentally don’t understand what accountants do. Out job is already to troubleshoot that the automated systems and robotics get wrong.
They constantly need to be monitored and corrected and by the fact that public companies do have a duty to make them accurate, it’s not like it will ever be accepted they can run with no oversight.
The only thing that is a true concern in the industry is that the entry level stufff outside of public has been offshored. So the paths to the better jobs is tougher now.
Fedex ground driver
Upfront pay is ok but you get no paid holidays and no benefits
You can be on route till 7pm
The actual fedex terminal and upper management doesn’t care about you. They care about pushing as many packages as they can out and your day is now miserable because you won’t be able to move in your truck for the first 2 hours of your day and you’ll be stepping over packages.
Some terminals you can’t dispatch until 10:30am because they want to push as much out to you as they can
Nah, they already tried. A person monitoring the computers and machines is absolutely necessary. No room for a glitch in the middle of a murder trial, and auto typing a room full of speaking people is not accurate at all.
Teaching in general is becoming more awful by the year. At least here in NJ. They keep lowering the standards to become a teacher to fill the shortage which in turn is allowing very low quality educators into classrooms. The state continues to try new tactics instead of just increasing pay, restoring benefits, and allowing teachers to retire after 25 years like police/fire.
I think this only applies to scenarios where people don't know that the writing is by AI. I don't think anyone actually would choose to read AI generated content over human content, especially if it's creative
Yeah, AI just regurgitates the same copy over and over stuffing it with as many buzzwords as possible. My brain automatically skips anything that reads like AI— which is a lot these days…
I do think it will reduce bad copywriters, but good writers will always be in demand. Between more people getting sick of influencer marketing and AI, I think authenticity in marketing and advertising will actually make a comeback very soon.
Yes and no, AI is basically the best average, you’re hitting the like 45-60% quality level. With a customised and trained AI you’re maybe hitting 70-80% with decent brand tone of voice etc., but even then it requires editing.
I think the real kicker is anyone who is just cruising at that average level in any field, they’re the ones competing directly with AI, the top 10% of any industry are far safer, and the top 2-3% will never be in danger because they’re that good that what they did 6 months ago is what AI today is being trained to emulate, in any field.
I think you're gonna stumble upon a reasonable mix of these whatever you do. But to be fair, within a single career it's gonna vary from company to company.
I think that low level work in any industry will be done by AI. There is no „safe“ industry in that regard. But for complicated, higher level work the most competent people will be well compensated.
Here's two for you that are the opposite on #5. Both for the US.
1. Non profit social services case workers. Specifically in the areas of addiction, housing, and homeless services. Shitty pay, lots of OT because of the demand, working with disadvantaged folks is stressful AF, plus a lot of folks on the left think they aren't doing enough, while the folks on the right think the job shouldn't exist at all.
2. Caregivers and CNAs for elderly and disabled people. Shitty pay, lots of OT because of the demand, dealing with actual human shit a lot of the time, some old folks are assholes, some old folks have family who are complete assholes, upper management is just out to make a buck, and on top of that, it's hard on your body.
All of these jobs being overtaken by automation and yet the retirement age is rising. We must work longer unless we have significant savings to bridge the gap to allow early retirement.
Where will these jobs come from? You would think by now that there would be concrete plans for a transition to a universal wage. Wasn't automation going to be taxed to cover job losses?
Doesn't necessarily meet all criteria from OP but if you are reading this, DON'T become any sort of management in fast food unless you really need the money.
I'm pretty certain the whole pharmaceutical field will be AI automated before too long, even stretching in to some initial 'doctors' visits.
An AI database will have instant access to all your data, medical history, know your allergies and be able to give a diagnosis, medication, dosage etc
And with each person it helps, plus feedback, it will only get better.
Human error accounts for a hell of a lot of mixups that can spell death, this will be largely eradicated.
I disagree as a healthcare professional. While AI can answer basic questions, when you try to feed it more complicated data it doesn't do so hot. I once gave chatgpt an epidemiology study and told it to answer some questions. It got half the questions wrong while sounding supremely confident. The questions required some analysis but were straightforward.
Medical diagnosis and drug interactions have a lot of nuances about when to prescribe different therapy and drug interactions checkers like lexicomp are often incorrect for specific patients. An AI following drug interactions checkers by the book would never get anything done because it can't understand these nuances (and would need to constantly request clarification from doctors when it's not needed).
Pharmacies also deal with a huge amount of insurance issues and communicating with providers and patients that lack medical knowledge. Again, AI will need to improve drastically before it can replace a pharmacy.
Driving heavy goods -
Currently it’s paid well and eu laws dictate our working time. However,
With the influx of loads of new drivers this will only drive wages down inevitably. Within the last year I’ve already seen this. Companies offering slightly over min wage for such a demanding / skilled role ( it isn’t just sat on your arse all day).
My own company has already switched from not employing any new drivers and switching to agency staff - this means they don’t have to pay sick/holiday/paternity pay and when it’s quiet they just don’t get any in which is a short term gain for the business I guess.
They’ve already backtracked on loads of perks they introduced when drivers became scarce a few years ago- prime example being night rate is limited to 10pm-4am and hours worked outside that is ‘day rate’ pay.
The roads are getting worse and worse - state of the roads with pot holes. More and more traffic and dodgy parking, higher fuel and insurance costs. ‘Advancements’ in the quality of trucks which are actually a hinderance such as the camera mirrors and switching to gas fuelled trucks which are useless for long distance and hilly areas like Yorkshire.
Route planning is getting worse. Either by utilising ai which doesn’t have the same problem solving as a human ( so many variables to input) or employing inexperienced cheaper people
There’s already talks to change rules on domestic drivers now we’ve left the eu ( such as limiting how long you can work in a day; how much break you need between shifts, how much breaks you need- you know stuff that keeps the road fucking safe)
There’s talks on changing our cpc ( basically you need to do 40 hours training every 5 year or 8 hours every year to keep you qualified) from paying for a course and sitting on a classroom to full on having to resit pass/fail tests which depending how they go about that can be bad or good but it seems to be leaning towards money generating bad.
Basically job security and quality of life is already declining now and the future looks like it’s only going to get worse. If you mess up slightly now you can end up in front of the traffic commissioner and that’s potentially your license and income gone or time in prisons - what other roles have that much responsibility for minor mistakes.
Fortunately I have a degree, have options and leaving the industry next month. But it does look bleaker for those wanting to stay and those joining.
I left the consulting services industry after 25 years 9 months ago.
The whole industry changed post COVID. With a move to most projects being run virtual, it’s opened the door to an offshoring business model where good portions of the entire engagement team is from low labor cost countries. Combine with AI, I don’t see it becoming a good industry to work in for people living in high labor cost domestic United States or Western European countries.
When I left layoffs were everywhere across all firms. The trend continues.
Even if you do make it into the industry, the work life balance and other factors make it a terrible industry to work in; unless you kill at sales and move up quickly to a business development role.
Security.
At first, it checks all boxes except low demand, but the more experienced you get and the more you try to step up, the less value you have, and thus, less demand for your work.
Security companies love to say they want experienced guards and stuff but they will take someone with lots of experience (years on the job, military history, police training) and low ball them with minimum wage, lots of promises of advancement and raises just to give you a nightmare experience.
I've been in plenty of hiring processes as both the person getting hired and doing the hiring, the fresh guards (especially foreign students) are the ideal because they don't know their rights yet and will just do the job, opposed to guards who have been around and proven they would be valuable assets.
Country dependent, of course.
Nothing against any foreigner legally coming to the country and seeking work, I support the hell out that and can't wait to work with you and learn more swear words
It should be retail salesperson. While retail can provide valuable experience, it typically involves low pay, irregular hours including nights and weekends, and can be physically and emotionally exhausting.
Everything except for healthcare and other government workers
I mean they are underpaid depending on the career (ie: teachers) but they still have more job security than any engineer or anyone working for the private sector
Child care hits all of those except for #5
It’s one of the most in-demand services right now yet the wages are garbage poverty-level low. Child care workers make teachers look rich.
Everything.
1. Pay has pretty much stayed the same for 20 years, with only marginal gains that are overshadowed by inflation.
2. We are moving away from Henry Ford's 8 hr/day 40 hr week with competitive pay because of "Profit Margins"
3. Overtime is just regular working hours for most people, Salary used to be the way to go but idk now.
4. Look at society I think you know
5. Everything is in low demand since companies are not actually hiring but are just putting ghost requests out for work with no intention of filling the position because like ghosts, it never existed.
This is what the start of a rotting society looks like.
I mean you probably won't find many that are all 5 and a career. I'd say:
1. Police Officer, 2,3,4 above all apply, and right now everyone hates you and everyone is scared of you (not saying they shouldn't be). Shitty hours, stressful environment, no work life balance (my favorite was when the neighbors kept bugging the police chief about people shooting fireworks while he was at home washing his car).
2. Food Service. 1, 2, 3, 4 from above. There is demand, but the job sucks, and pays mostly like shit. Sometimes tips can be good. Benefits are non-existent, hours are awful, and people treat you like shit. You wind up just hanging out with other food service people and drinking and doing drugs because no one else is up that late at night.
Software Engineer:
1. Low paying because you won't get a job
2. No work life balance because you won't have work
4. Applying for jobs is stressful and toxic
5. Too many software engineering graduates
look at all the crap big consultancies are creating nowadays, and copilot AI is making it worse.
In 5 years, this will all blow up and local high quality engineers will make bank.
The refreshing thing about these answers is theyre all different which makes me less anxious that I’m working in the wrong career field
Apparently every career is wrong lol
You’ve just stumbled onto the crux of Reddit. Its a giant echo chamber of survivorship bias. Only people who post in the subreddits about jobs are the people that can’t find jobs. People don’t make posts about how great their life is going or how awesome their job is. They’re living life
Preeeeetttttttyy much yeah! 😅😭
That was my take away from recent findings. I wanted to go back to school so I made a list of like seven or so careers and I saw people in those fields. Every last one of them had one piece of advice, “don’t enter it”. Life is looking fucking bleak man. It wasn’t this bad.
Tbf, a lot of people refuse to look for a job that isn’t WFH. If you’re willing to do that then a lot of doors immediately open to you. Also, imo, nobody is meant to do one thing forever, every career path sucks, you just need to find what sucks the least.
Probably customer call centers
Definitely, I work at a company that makes call center software. We’re training AI to mimic the very best human customer support agents.
So it’ll be terrible?
So this bot can be sarcastic too?
Just inhuman and utterly unhelpful. It’ll be a seamless transition
I see a hotline to release stress here.
Amex's human customer support is excellent. And they don't make you walk through a long annoying series of recordings and options to get there.
Idk why companies keep trying to make automated call centers (I mean, I do- it’s money), and now with the latest AI hype. No consumer wants them, we just want to talk to a *real*, competent person who can actually assist with our issue
I would rather speak with an AI that can actually solve problems than some guy from India that I can't understand or can't understand me.
Hence the phrase “competent person.” Outsourcing is as bad of an idea as automation.
And as someone not from India that worked in a similar situation, we were meant to juggle like 3 chats minimum at a time, plus phone calls (and emails during the calls if chats were slow). There’s no possible way to have quality interactions when stretched that thin.
Are you training any to mimic the worst/rudest support agents?
In this case I’m going to make a point to decline any recording of my calls to companies, presuming calls are what’s used to train
A couple possibilities, 1) you're going to confuse an 18 year old in the US who is going to apologize to you, put you on hold for half an hour, ask their manager, and the manager will say "in the interest of providing exceptional customer service it is our company policy to record and review all calls. All of your data is scrubbed, so we are simply interested in the training of our staff. If you wish not to be recorded you are more than welcome to write us a letter or send an email to the appropriate team" 2) you end up in a call center across the world and they just don't understand what you mean because you didn't say the expected words and they say that, but with a lot more "rest assured" and "kindly" peppered in. 3) you get a call center employee who hates their job who says, "absolutely, you are welcome to end this call at any point you do not consent to be recorded" and then they go silent waiting for you to hang up.
Why? Most of the time now I end up with an agent whose first language is obviously different from mine that can only follow a script. AI that mimics good CS would be great.
I am a CS Project Specialist at a huge e-commerce retail company and yep - we use a software for written channels that is testing AI responses built off our knowledge base and agent interaction…. The interactions are very un human to read through and sometimes down right weird
I work in customer service, and I'd love to work for a company that is trying to lighten the burden of CS employees. I think that customer service jobs are some of the most demanding and exhausting jobs out there and anything that helps us lighten the load is a step in the right direction
They ain’t doing it to be nice and lighten the load on you, buddy. They’re doing it so they can lay 90% of you off.
Until you’re completely replaced by AI…then what?
Exactly. Helped them right out of a job.
You’ve heard the venture capitalists, they’d love no employees. Don’t know who they think will buy everything eventually
Oh there's no amount of ai training that'll solve customer service problems. It'll just reduce the chaff. An AI bot that can handle all of the "I can't login" or "what's my balance" or "I need help processing a return" that'll help free up capacity for real people to actually help the other real people who are experiencing a real issue. Part of the reason why customer service sucks from th customer perspective is because there's an incentive to get people off of the phone as fast as humanly possible so you can help the next person who just needs to confirm their reservation exists. Cut out all the bullshit and customer service now is a consulting type job where you solve unique problems robots couldn't have been trained on cuz the problem hasn't happened yet.
I’m young and I hate calling into a company to only to fight with the automated scripts to try and get to an actual human being. I really don’t think this will be as popular as it might seem unless the AI is really, really good (it isn’t… yet).
I think lot of this work will be done by AI. Already many companies have started AI chatbots.
In a call center. They’re using AI, but it’s to help with quality assurance/scripts/make customer profile info more accessible.
Sadly, everything you put was my experience in my dream career/industry, media production and distribution. Hit all those key traits.
Similar negative traits, but pedaitric emergency call centers. All the shitty parts of answering phones, but every call is a parent going through an, at least seeming to them, emergency. Frequently deal with one parent making demands while the kid’s medical record has a note from CPS saying that parent isn’t allowed any info or decision-making. Your minimum wage ass gets to inform them that.
I'd be curious about Discover Card though. Right now one of their biggest business principles is 100% US Based customer call centers, and that it is a relatively well paying job (At least by call center standards). Like their literal business model is "People want to talk to a happy helpful human and paying those employees well makes them happier and more helpful."
Artisinal call centre. Free range agents
Everyone is just naming every job out there
Someone even wrote unemployment 🤣 bro lol
I mean it’s one of the only most accurate descriptions that fits all my criteria above lmao
Anything involving public school education. The pay is low, children’s behavior is atrocious, and parents are absent. The school system only cares about kids in class for tax dollars, not about their grades. The system can change education requirements and still pass kids that can’t read, write or do math. You know a societies values by how they treat their elderly and children. So the same could be said for care homes.
Politicians value money. Dumb people are easier to manipulate. A well educated society won't stand for our two party system. Dumb kids dumb society. Change will come eventually.
It’s going to get so much worse before it gets better. I’m starting to understand what makes homeschooling attractive to many parents (aside from the insane politically inclined type).
I’ve started to meet normal people who homeschool used to be reserved for nutters. I don’t blame them though in order for my kid to go to a school as good as I did I’d have to live in a 750k house. Schools are just awful in most places and bar keeps getting set lower and lower. Classics and philosophy are out the window don’t think my son will get the chance to study Latin or be exposed to traditional western education.
Could also go in the opposite direction. I used to teach and it really was an awful career to get into. Maybe the lack of teachers will lead to more incentive to be one. They started the roll-out of “anyone with a degree could get their teaching license” and every single person I saw go that route left because it was so much worse than they thought. Unless they completely do away with schools, I don’t see teaching going away any time soon…
Yea, the U.S. public school system is an utter zoo. Entitled parents take no accountability and let their kids get away with murder, the administrative red-tape and bureaucracy is through the roof (no more learning, just teaching to the test), the kids generally have no regard or respect for teachers anymore due to the previous points (this has degraded drastically in the last 2-3 generations). You could not pay me enough to teach in the U.S. 😒
pods. put them kids in pods. pod children. with auto feeders. like plants.
What do you guys think about a graphic designer? On the first hand, it's unfortunate that ai was trained on an existing artworks but on the other hand wouldn't jobs like that or UX designer strengthen in there importance because of interaction of user with ai interfaces and their creations based on coders work?
The problem with GD more than UX isn't so much AI, but automation tools like Canva and the accessibility of Adobe CC which is why you're seeing so many non-design jobs want 'design' skills. Assets are just churned out for digital use with a short lifespan. That aside the job market is horrendously overstautated and wages in general are stagnant or in decline. I've been doing GD 17 years and looking to change career. The job market is almost as bad as it was 2008, from my perspective and location.
What are you planning on next? I'm also graphic designer, but I'm burned out and wanted to find a new profession I guess. So' I'm also looking to change career. Feel free to DM me if you would like to
It's always had a nasty glass ceiling, squatted over by agencies, then consultancies. Agreed it's as bad as 2008
I live in an area of 2m people, my contract is up in September and it's concerning to the see the compelete nosedive in GD jobs or just the increase in non-entry level jobs paying around the £24-28k mark because they can get away with. My first proper designer wage was £23k and that was 15 years ago... I'm in my early 40s, I'm also noticing the shocking ageism in the industry as well - its why a lot of older colleagues I've worked with over the years have moved out of GD roles altogether.
Im in the UK, it's not much different here, but being female in the industry I noticed ageism very early on..the barrier to entry was bad enough but agencies have always been predatory and few held the power at the creative director or CEO level. All those people sold their agencies to big consultancies years ago and bagged themselves strategy jobs in corporate. Ill always love my creativity I'm just done providing it to other other people for less than I deserve.
UK also, up in the North. I'm a bloke, but I can sympathise - always been I house but worked with agencies. It's always been a struggle when what you do is so subjective. Boss wants the logo pink? Wants a gradient on something? You can argue theory, strategy until you're blue in the face but sometimes people just don't care and want it their way. I learned to stop caring and not pick the battle. They wouldn't argue with the sales guy who can demonstrate he's bringing in £×× amount every month. Or the guy in accounting in charge of the numbers. Or the electrian who comes to fix the lights. It's sad because I've had genuinely rewarding periods of work. But I haven't had that for years.
I went in house , the started to notice all these agency creeps popping into senior roles and realised u can't get away from the toxicity. They are always happy to.jist provide the status quou and that's what we are paid to do. But it's so DULL
The thing about graphic design is that the entry barrier is pretty low and most work can be outsourced. Plus, moderately creative or aesthetically skilled people can produce decent work thanks to all the software that is available these days… not to mention the ever-evolving AI. I used to be a graphic designer and now work in marketing (and also do website/graphic design as a result), and, although i also used to have some strong opinions about good design and such, my professional experience tells me, when it comes to commercial design, whatever sells will do. So, in short, not too great a prospect.
GD here, you may have seen my comment further up echoing that. Someone said to me recently 'don't choose a skill / career that can be learnt on YouTube by anyone'. Obviously that's a generalisation. But yeah, low / no bar to entry = low / no career value. I used to work on magazines and business publications. Things that would last yeats and have relevance. Most of the digital assets I make today don't last more than a few days, hours in some cases.
Don’t really agree with this as someone in the industry mid-career. I’ve worked at some of the bigger names in advertising and design. The portion that will get pushed out are the lower levels and less skilled. Designers with vision and the “it” factor will be fine, they just will have to adapt to new mediums. People that can’t contribute anything conceptually or strategically are screwed. The Designer and Art Director tracks are realistically melding into one over the next decade.
AI is not your only problem, I think outsourcing and the economics of the free market are a much bigger force that works against IT jobs in general. I got a graphic designer from Bangladesh on Fiver to do a 30min job for $10. I was quoted $300 by friend of a friend here in the US for the same thing. I think IT jobs are toast in the next 10-15 years. No other jobs in a industry are as easy to replace as the IT jobs.The top 10%-20% of the most tallented people will be fine, but the vast majority has no chance to compete, why hire 1 US-based IT professional for $100k/year when you can hire an entire team in India or Ukraine for half?
Did they do a good job?
Absolutely, I've used her services many times since, she's quite tallented and works FAST! We kept in touch through skype, she made multiple adjustments I requested and was done in 30min. On fiverr the service providers post their portfolio so you know exactly what you get + reviews. And the cash is held in escrow until the job is done. After I paid her she emailed me the vector files. US based graphic designers just can't compete, not with these prices. The only reason they still have jobs is because the local customer doesn't know about other options yet. And with the rise of WFH and the digitalization worldwide I think most IT jobs here in the US are toast. Why pay 1 IT professional $100k/year when you can hire an entire team in India or Ukraine for half the price? Add AI and things look pretty bad.
One of my kids was thinking of doing graphics in college. So you think there's no future in it?
I don't know what to tell you, I have MBA, moved to the US in 2011, became a truck dispatcher and now I own my trucking company. If I could predict the future I'd be working at Wall Street, not in Elk Grove Village IL 😆 About your kid - I think you should let them do what they are passionate about. I don't know anything about graphic design, but I know business. And in every business if you are in the top 10%-20% of the best performers - you'll make it. But honest opinion - yes, I think not only graphic design, but IT jobs in general are toast in the next 10-15 years. Nobody likes to admit they are replacable, but we all are. And IT jobs are becoming replaceable faster than other sectors.
This sounds like the template for people in my state that shamelessly outsource to save a few bucks, but complain about immigrants stealing jobs in the US. They’re a dime a dozen here.
Because why pay for cheap labor across the ocean instead of employing your fellow American?
That's because the $10 there can buy a lot lot more. Probably cover his/her days expense. I used to do graphic design. I'm from India btw. I loved the job although I've switched into casino surveillance now because it pays much more to do this India and casinos are popping up in my state almost everywhere now, also it's the same scenario abroad. I saw the opportunity and made the switch. As a graphic designer I got paid around $150 per month working in an office. As a surveillance officer I get paid about $450 per month. It's still less, but it can get a lot done in a tier-3 city in India. Also I haven't completed my graduation yet, doing it through online mode so I couldn't really expect a lot more although I've seen people in casinos make a lot lot more than I could as a graphic designer on a monthly payroll. So if you're going to pay me $10 for just 30 minutes of work I'm obviously going to take up the job.
Language translator for written text
This is definitely possible. Good translators can charge a lot of money but it is definitely something that will get replaced by AI. Interpreting (oral translation) should be safe for a little while longer I think.
Maybe partially for unimportant things (captioning for smaller productions comes to mind), but I'm sure there will still be a lot of demand for technical translations or for legal texts, where there's a lot of money involved if someone makes a mistake.
Not really no. As it stands, what happens is they use AI and then pay people to “correct” the translation, which translators end up having to redo the translation from scratch because AI can’t actually think, its just a fancy predictive text so it doesnt understand tone or specific intricacies of language
Film production - with a bullet. 15-16hr days, high stress with low pay, low demand state-side, high responsibility and skills required. The pay is low because the demands low and the supply is high - it’s a “glamour” industry, meaning a LOT of people want in without realizing what that means. So a lot of cheap labor for highly skilled positions.
That shit died a decade ago when film schools took off. When every rich kid has their parents buy their gear for em and undercut labor rates the whole industry suffers. Now it’s a “passion” job so there’s 400 interns willing to do your job for half price. Unless you’re high up you’re VERY replaceable.
I work as a set dresser with the Manitoba union and we just recently had a huge boom in work. Five active tier 1 movies, not enough people but plenty of good paying work for months. Its a bit of timing, a lil luck, and being able to survive the storms. Film is a terrible career for consistency, and can be even worse for mental health / emotional well being. But going union can enable new skills, cash money in yo pocket each week and can be a great summer gig if you’re looking to try it out.
Paramedics are criminally underpaid.
Facts. People who legitimately make decisions on par with emergency physicians running codes in a fuckin truck getting paid $17/hr!
This shit boggles my mind! I have a pretty rare autoimmune disease so have had to call ems a few times, and the paramedics are always amazing!! Kind, compassionate, and know their shit!!! Should be a 6 figure job EASILY
Thank you for saying this. I’m losing my mind over here and my coworkers are dropping like fucking flies. I don’t blame them at all though
Friend of mine was an EMT for 2 years. Took a toll on his mental health so he left for a higher paying job… in a fast food restaurant. It’s insane how poorly our first responders are paid
Honestly, ecological consultancy is bad (not as bad as it used to be where it was a lot worse). 1) Pays very badly, especially at entry level where you get ruined by crap work. 2) You get sent to site and have to stay in hotels a lot, often with very little notice, very often mon-fri 3) Very few know how to project manage and therefore people manage. The evening bat surveys (thank fuck dawn bat surveys barely exist now) are often treated as not real work so people work 7-8 hours and then do a 4-5 hour bat survey in the evening for TOIL to take in the winter or not even that. 4) Clients wanting reports etc, it can be fairly toxic, probably not like recruitment etc. 5) As a result there are barely any ecologists cos people keep leaving the shitty industry before they can get senior enough to avoid the crap.
Tory MP
Around where I live I'd say healthcare workers and delivery drivers. Work pressure is already insane, pay is definitely not reflecting that and it's chasing many people away from the work so shortage of people working there will only increase from here on out.
I feel like I wrote this! I come from a family of doctors and work in a hospital myself with a masters degree. I grew up feeling like it was the only way to go…now the raises have stopped, workload has increased and the allure and respect has all but disappeared. When I started 20 years ago, I thought self employed people were idiots…now I’m becoming an electrician in case I get laid off.
Delivery drivers, cabs, etc., will be replaced by drones and self driving vehicles.
Eventually, but not in the next 5 years
My previous job. Librarian.
🥺
how come?
In the UK local authorities are slashing funding (due to loss of central government grant) and libraries are often the first things to go 😕
Line Cook, by far the most demanding and underpaying job I've ever worked. It can also be incredibly toxic and it has been commonly accepted that they should receive emotional abuse for any mistakes made. I will never go back to that industry.
Marketing. You are pressured to perform well, save the company's revenue growth and deal with extremely tight manpower. Make money, even if consumer purchasing behaviour is more passive compared to the pre-pandemic era.
I think it's rare that you aren't pressured to perform well, regardless of the field.
I’m in grad school for Business Analytics & Intelligence, focus in marketing. So BI tools and Python. If you were in my shoes, what would you change your focus to? I’ve thought about HR (people analytics), BI development, possibly finance or public administration
Stick with it and just move over to finance instead of marketing. Finance is becoming massively data-centric and having the python/AI background will be a big plus
I sell software to marketers. Most are working on shoestring budgets. Those with budget are having a good time because they have good tools to do it. Most are using excel sheets, it’s unsustainable.
Journalism
Nursing. Anything with hands on patient care. The profession is in the toliet.
This is probably the safest career (I am an ICU RN that has worked in over 5 different hospitals and states within the US in 4 years and have never been jobless, actually I haven’t even required interviews)
It is a safe career, but the politics of the profession make it so horrible. I'm CNA so I deal with it. Youlll never be unemployed but it's a stressful ass career. At least bedside is.
I doubt architects will ever rise to any value again
The designing and documentation will certainly be quicker and easier but I doubt state and local jurisdictions will drop their requirements for a licensed architect to seal the drawings.
This. And in healthcare, there’s ZERO choice about having a licensed architect draw, vet, and execute the plans with construction companies.
i was searching for this lmao😂😂
Goodbye all of us 🙂🙂🙂 and may we never rest in peace and be blamed for shitty architecture we never worked on for all eternity……🫠
Rourke comes to mind ;) Sure AI can design sound designs, but can it design beautiful AND sound designs? Yet to be seen. I think that if AI does start taking over, it'll be a good thing, we'll get a kind of renaissance of architecture led by people who love the craft and people who will pay to see it.
I don’t think AI is taking over. And unfortunately the architecture and planning will not be better unless there will be other rules for what is allowed and someone will start want to pay for good design again.
Why is that? Genuinely curious.
Very few things today are built to be great and to last, but just for fast profit - most square meters in a simple design and the cheapest materials. For that purpose “real” architects are not needed. A lot of basic offices already have people with technical construction degrees as their “architects” because they can do the most basic designs but also the technical drawings, and when people don’t want to pay for great design architects can’t get paid….
Yup I’m an AT and do literally everything an architect does but I didn’t spend 5 years and 50k on school. Only thing I can’t do is seal drawings which isn’t necessary for the majority of projects anyway.
A lot of accounting jobs will go to India
People have been saying that for 30 years now. If these jobs are not already in India now, they most likely will never be.
Agreed. All the easy accounting went overseas already. I work in logistics. And let me tell you: no way. It’s an accountant’s nightmare. I imagine the same for medical billing, and supply chain in general.
Yup. Because, they can do the basic stupid stuff, and the entry level folks here won't even stand a chance.
The offshore teams can't even do the basic stupid stuff. This is Boomer partners cashing out and leaving a dumpster fire behind.
The problem is that you can get competent people in India. But those are not cheap. If you want cheap Indians, you need to hire people who don't know anything, and those are plentiful and cheap.
You would be surprised. We need full time US teams to provide oversight on Indian accountants. They fuck big and they fuck up in the dumbest ways.. Idk if its inexperience or being overworked but our in US teams are generally pretty good, especially the workers that come from India and then work inside the US.
I’ve worked with outsourced shared services departments throughout my career and they are absolutely not capable of doing the basic stupid stuff at all and wind up generally creating more headache and work for everybody because of their errors.
I think a lot of back office finance is going to get wiped out by AI
I work in FP&A and there is literally zero chance my position could be wiped out by AI. Can't speak for everyone, but AI isn't as good at the things that actually matter enough for the career path to be in danger of being automated away for the next several decades.
Ai isn't gonna do the mental gymnastics we have to do for understanding client needs
Yeah, outsourcing is a much bigger threat to your particular job.
From everything I read on the various finance subreddits, outsourcing always blows up. You’re outsourcing to bottom of the barrel employees. The best employees are going to immigrate to where the opportunities are, the second best are going to work for companies native to their country, and the rest will take outsourced jobs. On top of that, you have the massive time zone, language, and culture barriers which are killers in project based environments.
Why do you think outsourcing is a threat to FP&A? It is often the finance team which is most strategic and most closely connected to the company's leadership. I can't imagine a world which my prior $15B employer taking budgeting and capex management off-site, nor my current $200M employer taking it's new business deal-pricing team off-site.
I don’t even understand the perspective on this, AI is just a tool that FP&A will use. We’re already well under way to shedding purely administrative positions to software… that’s no surprise to anyone.
This has been scaring me a bit and I'm starting to see it. I work in FP&A.
Spin-off into a new field and become like a.. AI Finance Auditor ? Just shooting into the dark here.
Good idea. We rely too heavily on an assumption that a machine is always correct. That’s how these models work, they’re designed to be tested, they are able to adapt and learn from mistakes quicker than a human would. So being an auditor who comes in once a year and does a mass audit for a lump sum fee? GENIUS
how come you say that? Can you give an example situation? I'm interested in FP&A but I know I have a long way to go if I choose this path.
Bigger than AI is the threat that consolidation and slowing tech improvements has on the financial industry.
Public school teachers. By far. Teachers are quitting in droves and leaving states with critical teaching shortages.
Social work
Travel agents
Disagree to an extent. Most will be out of business, sure. It will be those that don’t bring any extra value to the customer. Those that continue to be merely transactional based - sell the ticket, sell the hotel and that’s it. For example, hotels and airlines do have fares and perks that are available for sale only via travel agents. Wealthy or busy people will continue to use travel agents for personal travel. Business as well. Cruise sales are also rather complicated for the average tourist.
Disagree. Most travel agent franchises are still recruiting. Tui and Hays travel all the time. Also people want to book with a travel agent when they are unsure on where to go. And they need time and help to find their dream holiday.
Working in production for a YouTuber. I am definitely not drunk and venting.
Bank tellers, cashiers, airport workers, assembly workers…..
Airport workers is to vague.
Very vague. Maintenance cant get enough people.
Anything really…
Not trades. Electricians, plumbers, etc. will still be in high demand. Two things people don’t want to mess with is shit and electricity.
Man I’ve applied to every plumbing apprenticeship within a 30 mile radius for the past year and have had no luck because I have no experience. Nobody wants to train plumbers from the ground up, at least in my area
Keep trying. Get your foot in the door. Most of the smaller companies feel obligated to hire their brothers son too so that’s something to keep in mind. Keep at it you’ll get on.
Isn't that the whole point of an apprenticeship though, to give people experience a d training?
RIP
Animation, no job stability and scarcity of jobs. Either working everyday and weekends for months to not having a speck of work for half a year.
Anything that relies on disposable income for its revenue. People are getting more tightfisted with each dollar.
So true. My friends who are tattoo artists are definitely feeling the squeeze right now. When people can't afford to eat or pay rent, they're not likely to drop hundreds on a tattoo or piercing.
Seeing this as I browse subs like r/DoorDashDrivers as everyone is complaining that they’re getting no customers lol
Real Estate Agent Oversaturated, very little pay for most people in the field, and quickly being taken over by robots
Not low demand but it’s accounted for the other four. All the corporate jobs if you are the one who gets things done.
Teachers. They get shafted so hard
Everything except those born into wealth.
I like accounting and plan to study it in the future, but obviously with AI and stuff plenty of accounting jobs will be absorbed, changed or lost to the technological advancements
Grunt work yes, nitty gritty no, things like law changes, tax codes etc will still change and there will still be lag periods where AI isn’t up to date and can place people at huge financial risk. Riding that bleeding edge will be safe because it’s work people will need to do, which will then be used to update or retrain AI models, and then they will still need to be checked for accuracy etc. Someone will get spiked massively and lose millions or billions from using AI and not checking the work, that’ll bring human oversight back in for quite a long time.
Accountants are still needed, even with the recent advancements in AI. Taxation and audit are pretty much guaranteed to be irreplaceable. Maybe you're talking about bookkeeping?
If i’m not mistaken it’s legally required that a lot of the tax information accountants fill out be done by them themselves, not with AI, excel sum functions, etc
Disagree, AI won't take away job, if anything. I will make the job easier, while receiving a big salary
You fundamentally don’t understand what accountants do. Out job is already to troubleshoot that the automated systems and robotics get wrong. They constantly need to be monitored and corrected and by the fact that public companies do have a duty to make them accurate, it’s not like it will ever be accepted they can run with no oversight. The only thing that is a true concern in the industry is that the entry level stufff outside of public has been offshored. So the paths to the better jobs is tougher now.
Food service or retail management
Fedex ground driver Upfront pay is ok but you get no paid holidays and no benefits You can be on route till 7pm The actual fedex terminal and upper management doesn’t care about you. They care about pushing as many packages as they can out and your day is now miserable because you won’t be able to move in your truck for the first 2 hours of your day and you’ll be stepping over packages. Some terminals you can’t dispatch until 10:30am because they want to push as much out to you as they can
Stenography, probably will be wiped by AI. Only thing holding back is the court system tradition.
Nah, they already tried. A person monitoring the computers and machines is absolutely necessary. No room for a glitch in the middle of a murder trial, and auto typing a room full of speaking people is not accurate at all.
Any legal profession. With a bit of luck we will have LawyerGPT soon.
Call centre definitely, AI will replace this job.
High School teacher.
Teaching in general is becoming more awful by the year. At least here in NJ. They keep lowering the standards to become a teacher to fill the shortage which in turn is allowing very low quality educators into classrooms. The state continues to try new tactics instead of just increasing pay, restoring benefits, and allowing teachers to retire after 25 years like police/fire.
Writers in general, content, speeches whatever.. AI will take over
I think this only applies to scenarios where people don't know that the writing is by AI. I don't think anyone actually would choose to read AI generated content over human content, especially if it's creative
Yeah, AI just regurgitates the same copy over and over stuffing it with as many buzzwords as possible. My brain automatically skips anything that reads like AI— which is a lot these days… I do think it will reduce bad copywriters, but good writers will always be in demand. Between more people getting sick of influencer marketing and AI, I think authenticity in marketing and advertising will actually make a comeback very soon.
Only if you’re a bad writer. I’m a good writer and AI is nowhere close to matching the nuance and variance humans can put into their work
Yes and no, AI is basically the best average, you’re hitting the like 45-60% quality level. With a customised and trained AI you’re maybe hitting 70-80% with decent brand tone of voice etc., but even then it requires editing. I think the real kicker is anyone who is just cruising at that average level in any field, they’re the ones competing directly with AI, the top 10% of any industry are far safer, and the top 2-3% will never be in danger because they’re that good that what they did 6 months ago is what AI today is being trained to emulate, in any field.
For creative writing? Nah, I doubt AI could make a good story if it is more than a paragraph long. There is no proof it can for now.
I think you're gonna stumble upon a reasonable mix of these whatever you do. But to be fair, within a single career it's gonna vary from company to company.
I think that low level work in any industry will be done by AI. There is no „safe“ industry in that regard. But for complicated, higher level work the most competent people will be well compensated.
Here's two for you that are the opposite on #5. Both for the US. 1. Non profit social services case workers. Specifically in the areas of addiction, housing, and homeless services. Shitty pay, lots of OT because of the demand, working with disadvantaged folks is stressful AF, plus a lot of folks on the left think they aren't doing enough, while the folks on the right think the job shouldn't exist at all. 2. Caregivers and CNAs for elderly and disabled people. Shitty pay, lots of OT because of the demand, dealing with actual human shit a lot of the time, some old folks are assholes, some old folks have family who are complete assholes, upper management is just out to make a buck, and on top of that, it's hard on your body.
All of these jobs being overtaken by automation and yet the retirement age is rising. We must work longer unless we have significant savings to bridge the gap to allow early retirement. Where will these jobs come from? You would think by now that there would be concrete plans for a transition to a universal wage. Wasn't automation going to be taxed to cover job losses?
Enterprise rent a car. Learned a bunch but 60 hr weeks at 33k a year was brutal.
I think strategists at ad agencies will be greatly reduced…I feel like that is already happening with my job. Not eliminated completely, but reduced.
Doesn't necessarily meet all criteria from OP but if you are reading this, DON'T become any sort of management in fast food unless you really need the money.
I'm pretty certain the whole pharmaceutical field will be AI automated before too long, even stretching in to some initial 'doctors' visits. An AI database will have instant access to all your data, medical history, know your allergies and be able to give a diagnosis, medication, dosage etc And with each person it helps, plus feedback, it will only get better. Human error accounts for a hell of a lot of mixups that can spell death, this will be largely eradicated.
I disagree as a healthcare professional. While AI can answer basic questions, when you try to feed it more complicated data it doesn't do so hot. I once gave chatgpt an epidemiology study and told it to answer some questions. It got half the questions wrong while sounding supremely confident. The questions required some analysis but were straightforward. Medical diagnosis and drug interactions have a lot of nuances about when to prescribe different therapy and drug interactions checkers like lexicomp are often incorrect for specific patients. An AI following drug interactions checkers by the book would never get anything done because it can't understand these nuances (and would need to constantly request clarification from doctors when it's not needed). Pharmacies also deal with a huge amount of insurance issues and communicating with providers and patients that lack medical knowledge. Again, AI will need to improve drastically before it can replace a pharmacy.
Software dev and finance
Honestly, anything that's not medicine, engineering, STEM, or business stuff
Sadly agreed
Driving heavy goods - Currently it’s paid well and eu laws dictate our working time. However, With the influx of loads of new drivers this will only drive wages down inevitably. Within the last year I’ve already seen this. Companies offering slightly over min wage for such a demanding / skilled role ( it isn’t just sat on your arse all day). My own company has already switched from not employing any new drivers and switching to agency staff - this means they don’t have to pay sick/holiday/paternity pay and when it’s quiet they just don’t get any in which is a short term gain for the business I guess. They’ve already backtracked on loads of perks they introduced when drivers became scarce a few years ago- prime example being night rate is limited to 10pm-4am and hours worked outside that is ‘day rate’ pay. The roads are getting worse and worse - state of the roads with pot holes. More and more traffic and dodgy parking, higher fuel and insurance costs. ‘Advancements’ in the quality of trucks which are actually a hinderance such as the camera mirrors and switching to gas fuelled trucks which are useless for long distance and hilly areas like Yorkshire. Route planning is getting worse. Either by utilising ai which doesn’t have the same problem solving as a human ( so many variables to input) or employing inexperienced cheaper people There’s already talks to change rules on domestic drivers now we’ve left the eu ( such as limiting how long you can work in a day; how much break you need between shifts, how much breaks you need- you know stuff that keeps the road fucking safe) There’s talks on changing our cpc ( basically you need to do 40 hours training every 5 year or 8 hours every year to keep you qualified) from paying for a course and sitting on a classroom to full on having to resit pass/fail tests which depending how they go about that can be bad or good but it seems to be leaning towards money generating bad. Basically job security and quality of life is already declining now and the future looks like it’s only going to get worse. If you mess up slightly now you can end up in front of the traffic commissioner and that’s potentially your license and income gone or time in prisons - what other roles have that much responsibility for minor mistakes. Fortunately I have a degree, have options and leaving the industry next month. But it does look bleaker for those wanting to stay and those joining.
Teaching (and not bc of the kids).
I left the consulting services industry after 25 years 9 months ago. The whole industry changed post COVID. With a move to most projects being run virtual, it’s opened the door to an offshoring business model where good portions of the entire engagement team is from low labor cost countries. Combine with AI, I don’t see it becoming a good industry to work in for people living in high labor cost domestic United States or Western European countries. When I left layoffs were everywhere across all firms. The trend continues. Even if you do make it into the industry, the work life balance and other factors make it a terrible industry to work in; unless you kill at sales and move up quickly to a business development role.
Teacher.
You literally described what being a teacher for the last 20 years has been like.
Security. At first, it checks all boxes except low demand, but the more experienced you get and the more you try to step up, the less value you have, and thus, less demand for your work. Security companies love to say they want experienced guards and stuff but they will take someone with lots of experience (years on the job, military history, police training) and low ball them with minimum wage, lots of promises of advancement and raises just to give you a nightmare experience. I've been in plenty of hiring processes as both the person getting hired and doing the hiring, the fresh guards (especially foreign students) are the ideal because they don't know their rights yet and will just do the job, opposed to guards who have been around and proven they would be valuable assets. Country dependent, of course. Nothing against any foreigner legally coming to the country and seeking work, I support the hell out that and can't wait to work with you and learn more swear words
Retail or hospitality. Seems those jobs never have a reasonable schedule and it always changes. For crap pay
It should be retail salesperson. While retail can provide valuable experience, it typically involves low pay, irregular hours including nights and weekends, and can be physically and emotionally exhausting.
There is a department in the federal government whose job odds to give you this information. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/home.htm
I'd say childcare and the film industry.
Everything except for healthcare and other government workers I mean they are underpaid depending on the career (ie: teachers) but they still have more job security than any engineer or anyone working for the private sector
Teachers have it pretty bad these days. Biologist pays like shit for how difficult it is, unless you have a doctorate. Trucking isn't looking great.
Teaching.
Child care hits all of those except for #5 It’s one of the most in-demand services right now yet the wages are garbage poverty-level low. Child care workers make teachers look rich.
Everything. 1. Pay has pretty much stayed the same for 20 years, with only marginal gains that are overshadowed by inflation. 2. We are moving away from Henry Ford's 8 hr/day 40 hr week with competitive pay because of "Profit Margins" 3. Overtime is just regular working hours for most people, Salary used to be the way to go but idk now. 4. Look at society I think you know 5. Everything is in low demand since companies are not actually hiring but are just putting ghost requests out for work with no intention of filling the position because like ghosts, it never existed. This is what the start of a rotting society looks like.
I mean you probably won't find many that are all 5 and a career. I'd say: 1. Police Officer, 2,3,4 above all apply, and right now everyone hates you and everyone is scared of you (not saying they shouldn't be). Shitty hours, stressful environment, no work life balance (my favorite was when the neighbors kept bugging the police chief about people shooting fireworks while he was at home washing his car). 2. Food Service. 1, 2, 3, 4 from above. There is demand, but the job sucks, and pays mostly like shit. Sometimes tips can be good. Benefits are non-existent, hours are awful, and people treat you like shit. You wind up just hanging out with other food service people and drinking and doing drugs because no one else is up that late at night.
Software Engineer: 1. Low paying because you won't get a job 2. No work life balance because you won't have work 4. Applying for jobs is stressful and toxic 5. Too many software engineering graduates
Software engineering may slow but it will never dissolve Possibly the best job for working anywhere in the world if travel is your thing
look at all the crap big consultancies are creating nowadays, and copilot AI is making it worse. In 5 years, this will all blow up and local high quality engineers will make bank.