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When the annual Jobs Rated Almanac
survey was
released last week just before Labor Day, it contained some
surprises at both ends.
At the top was financial planner. The only financial planner I know hardly ever talks about her work, so I don't know if she finds the high income and low stress that top jobs offer.
I presume she likes her career, though, since she once inquired as to whether I might need such services, and it stands to reason that she wouldn't be looking for more clients if she hated her work.
I had to point out that I needed to have some finances
before indulging in any planning, along the lines of the
old saying Don't count chickens before they're
hatched,
except in my case, there aren't even any
eggs.
Next came web site manager, which took first place last year. That's one of the things I do (www.cozine.com), and it's mostly tedious scutwork -- putting content into HTML format, building indices, inserting tags, checking links. It's one of those jobs like mowing the lawn, in that you feel good when you're done, and yet, you know you're going to have to do it again soon.
Much the same holds for the next two, both also geek jobs -- systems analyst and programmer. The work is tedious and frustrating, and the only time anybody notices it is when you foul up. If these jobs rank high, then so should plumbers and electricians, yet they're nowhere near the top.
But the most astonishing entries were at the bottom of the 250 list careers.
Lumberjack came in 248th. When we lived in Kremmling, which then had two sawmills, I knew many lumberjacks. As far as I was concerned, the job had to be the pits.
Not only was it seasonal, but it was dangerous in dozens of ways -- chainsaws can get loose and slice off your limb instead of the tree's, trees can fall on you, skidder cables can break and smack you even if you're standing 100 feet away, etc. There were hundreds of ways to hurt yourself in the woods, and even if you were prudent, you could get maimed by a co-worker's error.
But one day a contract logger came in to renew his
subscription, and he told me he led a pretty good life.
You've got to put together a good crew,
he said,
but if you like and trust the guys you're working with,
then it's a great deal.
It was heavy work, he noted, so that they didn't have to waste time jogging or going to the gym just to stay in shape. It was outdoors amid some grand scenery, and a lot of people pay for that experience, rather than get paid for it.
And as for the work being seasonal, that was the beauty of the lumberjack lifestyle.
We start working in May, as soon as most of the snow
is gone and the roads are dry enough to drive on. I camp
out in the woods, so I don't have any housing expenses. My
overhead here is basically the cost of renting a
post-office box and buying some groceries once a week when
I come to town, so I can save my money, and you can make
pretty good money at this.
Come October, we shut down. There's a way to hustle
some unemployment compensation, plus I've got some money
saved. Mexico is warm and cheap, so I head south for the
winter.
Thus he worked less than six months a year, and that with people he liked and trusted. He spent his summers in the Rocky Mountains and his winters on a Baja beach, and he was still able to save money. He didn't sound the least bit unhappy.
Another surprise near the bottom was cowboy, just above lumberjack at 247th. And then there was fisherman, dead last at 250th.
These are surprising because they represent activities that people do for pleasure -- and they pay well for the pleasure.
Go into any travel agent's office, and you can get the chance to spend $3,500 for a week of being a cowboy, or to pay a similar sum to go deep-sea fishing.
In other words, cowboys and fishermen get paid to do things that other people are willing to pay to do. And yet these jobs come in at the bottom? Have you ever seen a brochure offering you a two-week vacation as a financial planner or web-site designer?
I can't figure this out. But I keep hoping that I'll understand American tastes in leisure, so that I'll profit and actually need some financial planning. Supposedly, she'll enjoy the work, and I know I'd enjoy needing one.
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