Posted on 05/02/2013 9:53:02 AM PDT by BenLurkin
It's been said that if you're not growing, you're dying. Well, that seems true when it comes to careers, too. Unfortunately, in today's fast-paced, technology-driven world, sometimes it's hard to predict which jobs will be winners and which will be losers. But understanding the likely trajectory of your chosen field will be crucial to your professional success.
"People need to ensure that they're in an industry, or working to enter one, that has long-term potential and security," says Debra Wheatman, a certified professional career coach and president of Careers Done Write. She says that if you're not careful, you could find yourself putting your best earning years into a dead-end job.
Or worse: By the time you do see the light, you might be stuck. "A career change often times means you have to start over at a more junior level," says Wheatman, "If you have a family or other debt obligations, it could be really difficult. These things have to be considered."
With your professional future in mind, we combed the U.S. Department of Labor, the authority on the nation's job trends, to find five common careers that may not be so common by 2020. And while they might not be completely phased out by then, they'll likely be either on their last legs or barely staying afloat.
And yet there is a silver lining. We also identified five alternatives that the Department of Labor says have a more promising future. Read on to see if your career goals are destined for success, or headed to the unemployment line.
(Excerpt) Read more at education.yahoo.net ...
A surprising amount of business is still conducted using COBOL and RPG-2 and -3.
Health insurance salesman .
Unless obamacare is repealed, and the chances of that are remote, this will be a dead profession.
I used a more primitive device also made by IBM. I would type a line blind and when I had entered a set number of characters, the device would print out a line right and left justified. These would be pasted up on a copy board and then photographed. The resulting negative would be mounted on a flat specific to the press that was going to print the work, touched up for any imperfections and then used to burn a plate. It seems impossibly primitive now.
"Let me tell you about my mother."
Move to Lancaster County PA. You'll do well!
Regards,
GtG
PS Location, location, location!
Yikes!! That sounds a lot less efficient than linotype, even.
Hmm, well...33 years in the IT biz and I’m ready for another gig. My sister suggested “organ donor.” But I don’t know how to play the organ...
Did that, too. Somewhat similar, but TTY predated keypunch by decades. I was also the only operator in the District who could operate the IBM MagCard Selectric typewriter. (Noisy!)
Any career in the private sector where you have to work hard and make a lot of money doing so because Uncle Sam will tax the s__t out of you and confiscate your wealth and you’ll end up with the same income and assets as some lazy bum who spent his whole life on public assistance and certainly less than the Lords and Ladies who work for the government and get benefits and a retirement package estimated to be worth several million dollars on average.
Well, it was all done on paper and the paste up adhesive (wax really) allowed for updating for prices (remember the inflation of the ‘70’s?) and dates for the next printing.
Well, I do remember using wax adhesive for paste-up. But typing in characters for each line, printing out line by line and then photographing it, (which is how I understand the process you described) sounds incredibly time-consuming.
You describe the process accurately. At $2.50/ hr I didn’t mind spending the time.
Very very true. I’m a corporate drone but the people and place where I am are great so it’s a trade-off.
My husband is a consultant - in less than 2 months he makes what it takes me a year to make.
“Didnt another recent article list Underwriter as one of the best careers?”
I would think Undertaker would be a great career. An endless supply of customers.
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