Forbes 25 best and worst jobs 17

[sms]

Forbes listed their 25 best paying jobs (in the US), and I was interested to note that two engineering positions made the list:

Engineering managers at a mean salary of $110,000 USD
Petroleum engineers at a mean salary of $101,000 USD

Here is the link to the article..

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/103105/the-best-and-worst-paying-jobs-in-america

-The future's so bright I gotta wear shades!

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[EddyC]

The folks working minimum wage jobs in the USA are probably receiving some sort of governmental assistance (welfare, medicaid, food stamps, rent control, etc). What the employers don't provide, the government (i.e. taxpayers) provides. Good deal, right?

 

[Tomfh]

StructuralEIT,

So you are arguing that there should be no controls whatsoever upon wages and working conditions?

 

[Lion06]

Not saying no controls whatsoever, but I do think the government should have as little influence as reasonable. Would you propose companies that are posting a loss be required to increase their "lower end" employees pay just because you think they should make more?
What about the small company down the street that has 8 employees, has zero net profit and the owner makes less than some of his employees some months just to make payroll? Should he be required to increase their pay to make you feel better? Come on!!
You are paid based on what skills and expertise you bring to a company. How much would you consider "enough"? Wait, the next guy doesn't think that is enough. How much does he consider "enough"? Wait, the guy in line after him doesn't think that is enough! Where does it end? How about with this? YOU GET PAID BASED ON WHAT YOU ARE WORTH TO A COMPANY AND HOW EASY YOU ARE TO REPLACE!!! If a high school kid can do your job, how can you possibly expect to make a good living. You should make enough to get by. Additionally, people having low incomes not only pay ZERO federal taxes, but actually have a NET NEGATIVE TAX!!!! I don't remember the number off the top of my head, but there is a dollar amount below which you will get back all of the money you paid in PLUS ADDITIONAL MONEY (assuming you have a kid(s)).
Can we please end this political thread and keep it on the level of bettering yourself for work? This is an ENGINEERING forum, correct?

 

[Tomfh]

Would you propose to reduce the minimum wage then?

 

[tripleZ]

EIT's philosophy appears to mirror basic free market economic systems. Thus you wouldn't propose to lower OR increase the minimum wage. The government in essence would not dictate a minimum wage level and would permit companies to pay what they feel is fair, and would permit workers to accept what they feel is fair. Kind of an "Atlas Shrugged" economic system. Workers barter services for wages, and both parties agree to certain terms.

I guess you can look at the years prior to 1938 with the enactment of the Fair Labor Standards Act for an example of what "could" occur with the elimination of such things like the minimum wage...but you've got too many social safety nets to go back to that era without a LOT of pain.

 

[dcasto]

It doesn't seem to matter anymore about wages and houseing where I'm at today. The average house is valued at 4 times the average in the US. The average person makes only 1.2 times the national average. The only people that own houses are the ones that were here 10 years ago when housing was 75% of the national average. Those people were then and now still working service industry. Coming from an area where housing is normal, I can't buy a house here for what I'm paying in rent (FACTS the house I'm in the rent is 50% of what the payment would be with a 20% down payment). So, here can live on less because their house payment is next to nothing, less than rent in a big city. Oh, we can thank all those executives that though this little town was so quaint that they drop bundles of ill begotten booty and drove the houseing market to the stupidity level on the meter..

 

[HgTX]

Why would you want to work extra hours and take on the extra stress of being a lawyer, doctor, engineer, etc... if you could down the street and work at Wendy's for 10k/year less but be home with exactly 40 hours every week and the biggest stresser you had was making sure you don't over-cook the fries, and the most ridiculous deadline you had was to make sure the kids' meal toys arrived on time?

Why? Because working in food service really, really, REALLY sucks. Ever try it? No? Then don't sneer.

Trust me, people don't go into crap jobs because they're
"lower stress". They aren't.

Hg

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[KENAT]

Star HgTX, the supposedly mindless jobs often aren't what they're cracked up to be. Retail isn't much better.

 

[looslib]

Maryland or maybe just Baltimore has a law that says government contracted jobs must pay workers a 'living-wage'. I think it is like 11.65/hour.


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli
Sr IS Technologist
L-3 Communications

 

[Lion06]

HgTX-
I would say that those jobs suck because you don't make any money, not that you don't make any money because the jobs suck.

I am just sitting back laughing now as some of the arguments coming across seem almost ludicrous. Are you serious or just trying to get a reaction out of me? Are you seriously comparing the level of stress and responsibility of a lawyer, doctor, engineer, etc... to that of a food service worker (or any other "low end" job)?
The job may very well be fast-paced, but I am not sure fast-paced = high stress. Also, once you are done for the night, you leave everything at the door. I doubt a waiter or waitress goes home and continues to try to figure out how to do something better.
I could go on for hours, but I won't. If you are going to make a case, please make it reasonable.

 

[kchayfie]

My job isn't stressful. I design water treatment works. Between peer review, my own professional pride and the commissioning team, any mistakes that may have crept in are going to be picked up before the water gets to a customers tap. I am confident that if someone was poisoned by the water supplied by my treatment works, I will have done everything I could have been expected to do and it isn't likely to be my fault. Stress-free. Sure, tight deadlines and heavy workloads can start to wind me up but in the most part, its a good life.

In my other life, I tend bar at a local sports club. Its voluntary, but not so different from having a minimum wage job in another bar somewhere in town. We have a function room hired out for parties. With a full room and customers expecting serving and the bar needing re-stocking and everyone claiming they were next in line and the other barman sneaking off outside for a smoke, my stress levels soon rise. I like to take pride in offering a good service there as well but I'm more likely to go home feeling bad for ignoring the quiet guy at the end of the bar because I let the obnoxious tyrant monopolise my attention and I didn't do the best I could. Sure, if all the customers are polite and understanding, its easy to manage the pressure but that can't be guaranteed for every event.

I'm lucky that I have the intelligence and the opportunity to take on the highly paid, relatively stress-free job. I would hate to be in the situation where the low paid job with the demanding customers was the only way to feed my family. And then market forces allowed a high school student to undercut me and bring wages down, just because he wants the latest gadgets his parents won't buy.

 

[ctopher]

Per some of the comments above ... not everyone that flips burgers or takes out the trash is uneducated or not a rocket scientist. They could be engineering students.

Chris
SolidWorks 07 3.0/PDMWorks 07
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 04-21-07)

 

[KENAT]

Or in between Engineering jobs in a restricted market...

 

[HgTX]

StructuralEIT--once again, have you ever done those kinds of jobs? You don't seem to have much of a clue what you're talking about. Those jobs, regardless of pay, just suck. They don't suck because they don't pay, they suck because they suck. They truly do. I can't believe I have to explain this, but here goes.

Stress levels are a lot higher in blue-collar work, especially in the service industry, than they are in professional fields. Yeah, from a big picture viewpoint the stakes may be lower, but in the immediate picture, it sucks.

Every minute of what you do is under the near-absolute control of someone else. The jobs typically involve spending a lot of time standing on one's feet, which is not healthy. You can get burned by the equipment or by spills; you can be forced to work too fast and end up cutting yourself by accident.

The job security is terrible--minor errors can often get one fired, especially in non-union workplaces, and the workers typically have a lot less financial cushion in case of job loss than do workers in the upper middle class, which also means more stress in the form of worrying about losing one's job. The atmosphere of a kitchen is often phsyically unpleasant--hot and steamy. Because the workforce is typically not educated enough to stand up for their own rights, management tends to be more abusive than they would be in a "professional" workplace.

And most professionals are in their positions because, to some extent, they enjoy doing that work, regardless of how "important" (which you seem to equate to stress) those jobs may be. Most people in the total crap jobs are in those jobs because that's what they can get, not because they find anything enjoyable about waiting tables, flipping burgers, or cleaning toilets.

Hg

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[Lion06]

HgTX-
I can speak from experience - I had a blue-collar job for 10 years while going to school to get my undergraduate degree. Life circumstances put me in a position in which I could not go to college right after high school. I won't get into what I did for a living, but the stress was virtually zero. Have you ever had one of these jobs (not while you were in school, but to actually support yourself and your family)? While the micromanaging may suck, as a blue-collar worker you have almost no decisions to make. You simply do your job. If you do it well, you won't have a problem. If you do it poorly, then you will have a problem.
I agree the jobs just suck (regardless of pay). I made more when I left my blue collar job than I currently make as an engineer (by about 20%), and I was not in management (I was on a production line).
All that being said, I am not going to debate this any further. You obviously think people should be paid more (than they might make for a company), and I feel differently.

 

[Tomfh]

I made more when I left my blue collar job than I currently make as an engineer (by about 20%), and I was not in management (I was on a production line).

Why'd you quit that job then? If it was stress free bliss and you got paid 20% more than a young engineer gets I would have imagined by your own arguments you'd be a fool to leave that job.

 

[IRstuff]

Stress is relative. A sucky job generates stress of its own. Engineering jobs have a certain amount of job satisfaction that can be hard to generate in a sucky job.

But, the mark of the true professional is that ability to transcend suckiness and deliver service with a smile. ;-)

TTFN

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[Lion06]

Tomfh-
I find it interesting that you quote me but leave out a very relevant sentence just before the quote you pull from my post. I did say, "I agree the jobs just suck".
The main reason for this is you can teach a blind ape how to do most of them. Now, before you go quoting me on that I am not saying that people who do those jobs are as dumb as a blind ape. All I am saying is that the jobs take zero thought process or decision-making ability. The reason I left is because "the job sucked, regardless of pay".
I am failing to see your position, however. All you seem to do it pick one of my statements, neglect any other relevant statements and then contradict it. I would be interested to hear your position, and how you think it can be resolved.

 

[SomptingGuy]

Worst jobs:

http://www.phespirit.info/derekandclive/live_01.htm

 

[aplmke]

I think anyone who believes that professional job stresses compare to the overwhelming life stresses that accompany poverty doesn't really have a grasp of the real world.