Who knew you could make money milking snakes, tasting pet food, or being a professional cuddler? It turns out that nowadays, you really can be anything you want to be. Even a mermaid...
The world as we knew it has changed, and so have career paths. Children once dreamed of becoming doctors, teachers, firefighters, lawyers, or even the president, but there's an endless pool of weird and wonderful jobs out there that many of us had no clue even existed. Believe it or not, some pay really well. An intimacy coordinator, for example, can rake in $1,100 per day, while a fortune cookie writer could take home over $50k a year.
Someone asked netizens, "What are some unconventional career paths I don't know about?" and many of the responses might inspire you to quit your own boring 9-5 job to become a cricket farmer, guide dog trainer, or superhero lingerie designer instead.
#1
I work at a hotel for dogs. I had interviewed at an animal hospital/pet resort in 2011 and lost the receptionist position to someone with more experience. After my last job started treating me like absolute [trash], I just dropped by and put in another application, whether they were hiring or not. The next day, they called, said they remembered liking me in my original interview, and asked when I could come for a working interview. Got it that time. So I started at the animal hospital as a receptionist and two days later they started training me to replace the inept manager at our pet resort. After a few months, I switched to more of an assistant manager role and took over social media and web marketing for the resort and animal hospital. I get paid to mess around on codecademy. Look at pictures of dogs to put in my graphics for the Facebook. Then the cool stuff I do at the resort....I literally get paid to pet dogs. It rules. We work hard to keep the place spotless, smelling nice and clean, and keep the animals as happy and stress free as possible.
© Photo: theAmazingPlanktopus
If it's money you're after, you should probably head to med school or become a CEO. Surgeons can rake in around $33,000 - $41,000+ per month, while many big bosses are laughing all the way to the bank after earning a monthly salary of between $25,000 and $50,000+. But as we know, those careers can come with their fair share of stress, long working hours and struggles that even big pay checks can't beat.
So why not try something a little more unconventional?
If you're up for making money while doing next to nothing, you could consider becoming a human statue. It involves posing as a live mannequin draped in paint or garments, and standing really, really still. According to the Career Addict site, the pay isn't too bad either, at $60–$100 per hour for doing the bare minimum.
#2
I am a cheese master, sort of like a sommelier but for cheese. I am currently working in cheese production on a farm making Saint Nectaire AOP in Auvergne, France. I got the job by moving to France on a whim (cause I love cheese) after finishing my undergrad degree in French and the rest was sheer luck.
© Photo: newton_figgz
#3
Im a safety inspector for playground equipment, fairground equipment, water slides and artificial climbing structures. I drive to locations & do the paperwork at home, as long as I make my hours I can make up my own agenda, I get paid to do stuff other people pay for and I am allowed, no obliged, to do everything you're not allowed to do. Some downsides, some perks, cool job stories. Sometimes it is my job to scale a climbing wall in work shoes.
© Photo: sprlm
If the mere thought of getting out of bed to make a buck makes you want to cry, you might be happy to know that you can even get paid to sleep. Yes, really... And that's because some mattress manufacturers hire professional sleepers to 'test drive' their products for comfort. But they're not the only ones.
Some researchers conducting sleep-related studies will also compensate you for sleeping on demand. As will certain hotels that need to ensure their rooms provide the perfect conditions for that much-needed rest and relaxation.
#4
Baby pincher. On a movie set where there's a seen where a baby cries, they get a professional to pinch them so they cry, but in a way that doesn't hurt them.
"Hey Bob, what do you do for a living?" "I pinch babies to make them cry - and I get full benefits!".
© Photo: Fine_Cats_and_Cigars
#5
Location scouting. It pays well, and requires no degrees. When producers get a script, they bring you in to be a real life treasure hunter and find whats described in the scenes. Every day is different and you get to explore the world.
© Photo: whatevskiesyo
#6
I used to be an antiquarian. (I sold second hand books.) People used to call and ask us to find books (we had a database with second hand books all over the country) on certain subjects or that they loved as kids.
I found it on Monster one night while I was half lit and looked for "oddball" in a job description because none of my usual things were paying off. I have good typing skills and I'm pretty well read, plus I'm good on the phone and with emails, so they hired me right away.
It was an awesome job- this was before EBay and abebooks were well known and people didn't know how to use Boolean search parameters. I had some awesome customers- most of them were obsessed with subjects (for example, one lady had probably the largest collection of books on zeppelins I'd ever heard of, another wanted any books on prostitutes you could find) but the really fun ones were the ones I really had to sleuth for, like, "I had a book that was blue with a duck on the cover," or "Its about a squirrel that makes friends with a wooden soldier." (The latter was actually still in print but the customer bought it from us anyway since I could find it.)
My two favorite types of calls were obvious teenagers looking for "The original binding of the Necronomicon," (voice breaks and all) and little kids who called looking for the original, unexpurgated version of the Princess Bride. I told the former that as far as I know, it doesn't exist (in as hushed and scared a voice as I could) and asked the latter if I could talk to their parents for a second. When their parents came to the phone (they always did)I explained it wasn't a real thing, but gave them the option of breaking it to the kids, because that book holds a special in my own heart and finding out it wasn't real was tough.
The other really interesting customer I had worked for a set designer- she had me find good condition books that came out in years before a movie came out (although she couldn't actually tell me the movies) on general subjects. Like, "It's an OBGYN office in 1945," so books like Fear of Flying were out.
I almost wish I could still do that last part!
If "Netflix & Chill" is more up your alley, you might do well as a professional binge watcher. While the actual job title is Netflix Tagger, watching series and movies all day, every day is the crux of the matter.
"A tagger watches content on Netflix and assigns a tag to it. This tag enables the service to recommend additional content to viewers to keep them binge-watching," explains Kevin Ryan, who admits he wouldn't mind doing this for a living.
#7
There's a group of people in Belfast who will deliver you any supplies you need to combat a hangover for £4 and the cost of your items. Genius way to make a bit of money.
© Photo: spider-drunk
#8
I make scale models and movie props (rubber weapons, fake electronic stuff, etc.). I got into the job while looking for work while I took a year off university. After bouncing off a lot of the usual trashy job possibilities, I finally thought to go somewhere where I might enjoy the work, having always loved making miniatures, and the little model shop I walked into was looking for help. Many years and a few ownership switches later, I find myself going crazy painting rush orders of soft zombie-ending weapons and faux African idols. As well as making models for developers, mines, displays, spacecraft builders – you name it.
© Photo: carmium
#9
I work for a rafting company as their photographer. I basically sit outside on the side of a huge rapid 8 hours a day for 5 months out of the year taking action shots of boats with our customers on it. I found the job working at a paddle board shop on a river in my town, the owner of the shop also happened to be owner of the rafting company and when I told him I was a photographer he put me on the river taking photos. I found the paddle board shop job through craigslist.
For those curious of how the process works... First I take photos of about 5-7 boats going down the rapids per bus load of people that come every 45 minutes. I then take the flash drive and load it into a computer where I upload them to the web using a hotspot, someone at our main office will have the pictures up on a slideshow by the time everyone returns from there float. While I wait for more boats to come I watch netflix and read, ocassionally listen to podcats and go for runs... I can't complain!
I also work as a stock photo/videographer which is sort of obscure.
As you can imagine, competition is fierce in this field because who wouldn't want to get paid to stay in bed all day and watch movies? According to Zip Recruiter, the average annual pay for a Netflix Tagger in California is $27,709 a year, or around $2,309 per month.
#10
Child life specialist. I dunno how "off the beaten track" it is, but it blew my mind when I found out there were people at the children's hospital whose whole job was to make life better for the kiddos. Anything from a basic blood draw to an MRI scan, surgery, just being sick and scared in the hospital? Child life to the rescue! That sounds so cool to me :)
#11
I'm a professional juggler. I travel all over, make a decent living, work my own hours, and am basically paid to have fun!
© Photo: JuggleGod
#12
I design superhero lingerie. Underwear, corsets, bras, boxers, sleepwear. I also do the packaging design and photoshop models.
Went to art school, applied to a design internship, got it, was good at it and was hired on full time.
I just celebrated 5 years at the company and I love it.
I just avoid telling people what I do because the vast majority get weird about it. An electrician once came in to my office to fix something and whispered "Do you wear what you design?" in my ear.
It was gross.
© Photo: Bac0nLegs
Those looking to beat their boredom with something rather boring might want to consider watching paint dry.
"This job basically requires you to paint walls and other surfaces, and observe closely what happens to the color and texture of the paint while it dries, and how long that takes," explains the Career Addict site, warning that it's not one to be taken lightly as it takes "exceptional attention to detail and focus."
You could earn around $27 per hour for this mundane task but hey, to each their own.
#13
I live next to a lake/ reservoir where the water level has dropped from about 90% to 30% full. This has left behind a LOT of sandy beaches and a good mile walk to the shore. People are lazy and try to drive, and wouldn't ya know it? They get STUCK in the sand. Well, there is a guy who drives his tractor up and down the beach lines to tow people out of the sand, and he makes good money doing it.
TL;DR make money off stupid people.
© Photo: LoveThemApples
#14
My dad was a board game inventor for twenty years. His career path was plain weird. He studied physics through university, worked for a high technology company, made a lot off his stock options when the company blew up, started a jigsaw puzzle company, eventually sold out to his business partner, and used his contacts to become a board game inventor for other companies. He went to companies with mockups and then licensed the games out, living off the royalties. It actually sounded like a really fun industry, going to toy fairs in New York and Germany every year. He got hammered with the Wiggles at one of the fairs in Nuremberg once.
© Photo: anon
#15
Insect trapper, here. I travel around a territory and set up insect traps, looking for invasive species. I got the job by volunteering for two days at the local park, where they taught me what to do. 48 hours later there's a job ad in newspaper (different park system) & I really cleaned up by using the appropriate key words and phrases in my application.
This is the second job I got by volunteering. I spent 5 years as a caretaker in a private nature reserve, which started when I had some free afternoons and I called them to volunteer. They said "We don't need volunteers right now, but we have a paying job if you want." Sight unseen, over the phone. Sweet.
© Photo: VernalPoole
For the more social among us, there's always the option to get paid for attending weddings, funerals or other gatherings.
Professional bridesmaids can make up to $2,500 per wedding, or an average of $21 per hour. You'll be tasked with the usual bridesmaid stuff like helping the bride pick out the perfect dress, arranging the bachelorette party, creating a wedding registry, working with the venue and vendors, and of course, making a glamorous appearance on the big day.
But you could also get paid just to attend a wedding as a guest without being in the bridal party. Paid wedding guests are a thing. They make money by just going to the event so that the crowd seems bigger and livelier.
#16
I used to do digital film restoration work (motion picture film), cleaning up those scratches and specs of dirt you see on older movies (though when you do that job for a while you realize that all movies have them and you can't stop seeing them and it's awful). Got the job because my friend moved back into town and got hired there through some kind of family connection, then realized he hated it so I was like "hey can you ask them if I can just have your job?". I had no qualifications for it at all, just learned it on the spot, but most of it's not too hard to pick up really.
So yeah, if any of you guys ever watch Air Bud 2: Golden Receiver on Blu-Ray you're welcome for the crystal clear viewing experience.
© Photo: anon
#17
I judge high school debate tournaments!
I look for tournaments every weekend on JoyOfTournaments and email the coordinators to ask for a contract.
I did debate in high school and started missing it so I started judging to get back into it. It's so fun and the students are so competitive and brilliant. It's very exciting to see them improve.
#18
Though I don't know much about it I once heard a tale of reforestation in Canada being a potentially good gig if you don't mind hardcore physical labor. basically you plant trees in a forest all day. You also have to become skillful fast because you are paid per tree planted, and knowing exactly where and how to plant quickly can be a challenge. The man I met who did this said he cleared over $20,000 in a summer.
© Photo: cbuell88
Not all of us want to work solely with, or for, human beings... Luckily, there are an array of unconventional animal-related jobs you could consider. There are positions for guide dog trainers, snake milkers, reindeer carers, animal acupuncturists, cricket famers, reptile breeders and more. Some even come with their own unique perks.
A professional pet food taster, for example, makes sure that Fido's food is up to scratch. According to Life Chronicles on YouTube, tasters bite into kibble to check for the correct crunchiness or softness, and evaluate wet food for the right crumble and moisture content. Yum.
#19
Become a guide-dog trainer!
You start as an apprentice and then work your way up to a master trainer. You essentially teach dogs like labs and retrievers how to become guide dogs for the blind. Some schools have fake crosswalks and you teach the dog how to wait at the curb and cross when it's safe. Very rewarding stuff!
© Photo: Currywursts
#20
Open a service business to drive people home (in their own car) from the bars at night. People just started doing this in my town and it has really taken off. Basically, drunk people call you when they're ready to go home and you drive them home in their own car. You just need a friend to follow you so you can get back to the bar or to go pick up more people. I think a lot of people are reluctant to call a regular taxi service if they drink too much because they will have to figure out how to get their car in the morning, so this solves a lot of problems. You can really advertise this creatively if you wanted to. Plus, if you charge $15-30 or more to take someone home, you can easily make a few hundred dollars on a busy night. AND, if someone pukes on the way home it's in their own car, so you don't have to clean it. You'd probably meet some funny people and have great stories to tell.
© Photo: Popcorn_Addiction
#21
My mother was an artists model. She worked at all of the good art programs in NYC and Miami.
She was a single mom though so money was always tight but she truly loved her job.
(No joke) The students really love models with curves because it's more of a challenge to draw or sculpt or paint. My mother had a 400 lb friend. She was a favorite.
It doesn't HAVE to be bare, but you'll get more work if you do bare and clothed gigs.
Classes can be at any time of day, anywhere and almost any educationally developed country has a need for models.
© Photo: justpointeyourtoes
#22
I'm a home instruction teacher (or home school teacher, whatever you want to call it).
When kids are suspended or too sick to go to school (or even have anxiety about going to school), I go to their house and teach them. I work with elementary through high school children.
It's great. I make my own hours, create my own lesson plans for the ONE KID I teach at a time, and I can wear what I want!
Very rewarding, even when I have to chase down some of my suspended students when they try to not be at home when I get there.
#23
Smokejumper! It's basically a wilderness firefighter who parachutes with heavy (80+ lb) loads into the back country to fight forest fires. The entrance requirements (physical and mental -- often some sort of degree is required) are tough and from what I've read most people that do it are ex-military. I would love to do this someday.
#24
Being an usher! You often get to see amazing theatre for free, and just have to hand out programs.
I had a friend who was an usher at a summer-long music festival, and he got paid AND saw every musician he ushered for FOR FREE with amazing seats.
#25
Elevator mechanic. My brother fell on some tough times for a bit, and he took an apprinticeship with an elevator mechanic. The fully licenced guys make incredible money, and you don't have to spend much time in a classroom at all to learn the trade. Seems really cool, and it's something I would look into if I were going to pick up a trade.
© Photo: anon
#26
I'm a stay at home dad. Marry a woman who is much smarter than you! She's a CPA with a big 4 company and provides us a great living. I have a 15 year old a 4 year old and a 2 year old, all boys. We live on 5 acres where I'm a beekeeper and free range a flock of chickens. We are also finalizing the process of becoming foster parents.
I've been home for right at 4 years now and each of them have had their own challenges, I've had a couple family members voice their disapproval of our family's choice but we decided a long time ago that we would do things that we thought were best regardless of what others thought. I've always enjoyed what I do, but now I've come to accept what I do as a legitimate and valuable contribution for our family. Before I stayed home I was nurse then became an accountant. This isn't for everyone that's for sure but it works for us!
#27
Boatbuilder!
My mom took industrial woodworking and decided she wanted to work on boats, she did that for 30+ years, she taught me, now I do it!
#28
I teach after school competitive robotics and engineering to low income schools. I got the job because the principle of one of those schools had a daughter in my regular class, and one thing lead to another. Surprisingly, the low income schools pay way more.
#29
Friend of mine recently started a job where he takes care of the practice models used to train EMT and nurses and such. He says the dummies are surprisingly intricate, so yeah, it's a full-time job to keep them running properly. He seems to be enjoying it.
Partner has been fascinated by the idea of whale taxidermy ever since learning that that is a viable career option for, like, five people at a time.
#30
I am a production potter. I go to work about 60 hours a week and make pottery all day. Some days I clean or pack unpack the kilns but typically I am just at my potter's wheel making mugs, plates, bowls, you name it and I make it.
**EDIT: clarification**
We sell our work through two avenues. We sell wholesale to giftshops and galleries around the country and we also sell retail in the gallery/studio that the owner of the studio opened. I don't personally make all too much. I get paid $9.00/hr + 12-15% of sales. Pieces range from $44 mugs to $210 serving platters (retail prices - wholesale is typically half of the retail price). My boss and I are very close and he has said numerous times that if I need more money he can pay me more. However, I prefer that he put the bulk of our profit in to advertising, studio maintenance/upgrades, and general supply costs. As long as I can make rent, buy groceries, and put a little bit away each week then I am very happy.
#31
My cousin has a career as a photographer, which would seem normal, but her career is kind of niche because she just takes pictures of babies like they're models. IMO that's a pretty interesting career.
© Photo: Aerialstrike
#32
Professional sleeper. Get paid to sleep so scientists can study your brain to try to find out why we dream.
unknown:
Used to work in a research lab (not a sleep lab, but we did MRI studies, which are about the highest paid studies you can do without having horrible substances injected into your body). Honestly the pay from research studies is virtually never enough to support a person. It was great to be able to be a subject once in a while to earn some extra cash on top of a salary, but you couldn't make a decent living off it.
Not only do the studies tend not to pay that much when you factor in all the time involved, but it's hard to find good studies. I lived in a large city with multiple universities and lots of labs and I still had a hard time finding that many that I could do. Plenty of studies are specific to certain demographics, and many screen people out for all kinds of reasons - health, personal/medical history, safety stuff, and on and on.
© Photo: anon
#33
Contract archeology. It depends on where you are at, but usually you don't need more than a Masters, and sometimes just a BA. The way it works is that in some areas developers are required to have the site checked to make sure that there is nothing of archeological or historical interest where they are building. The actual work generally consists of digging a bunch of holes and sifting through the dirt. The cool part is you can get undergrad and graduate students to do that part for you at minimum wage (or free as interns). The down side is that the developers tend to get pissed if you actually find something.
It's basically highly paid ditch digging.
#34
Timber cruising for logging companies. You go around, key trees and key rare species (keying means using a source to identify the species). Identify which trees can be cut down without having too much impact on the local environment, make sure they don't have rare/endangered species around them, etc. You basically work alone, hiking around the woods all day. Or so I understand, at least. I'm a plant taxonomy student right now and this sounds like my dream job.
© Photo: anon
#35
I own a food truck.
I was broke and got on Who Wants to be a Millionaire and said I was going to start a restaurant when I won the million.
Didn't win enough for a restaurant so I bought a food truck.
#36
I'm an acrobat. I make enough to have a good mortgage that I'm [trying] to pay down, a new car every few years, and save some cash. My house isn't massive and I work [hard].
The quick story is I started when I was young- 10 years old- learning circus arts while I learned coding until I was around 16. I did a national tour at 16, and knew that was it for me.
I finished highschool with honours but never went to university. Currently touring the world roughly 10 months of the year and traveling constantly... Over 100 flights last year. That part sucks but the shows are super fun.
#37
I work in cell site forensics, which largely involves taking the billing records of suspects' phones and mapping it for analysis. I largely do clean-dirty analysis i.e. comparing the usage and movements of a clean phone and a suspected dirty phone to assist in attrubution.
The other main thing I do is just proving people's movements, for example if someone is suspected of going from Place A to Place B and committing a crime, and their phone makes the same journey at roughly the same time it helps prove that they went there.
I started off in digital forensics as my degree pushed me toward it, and as someone was leaving my current position I was thrown into it as my skillset was the closest.
#38
I make robots that help kids with autism engage in their therapy.
I had been an autism educator for twelve years when I went to a local event called Dorkbot where researchers, artists, and other misfits share their current projects. One person was presenting her HCI master's capstone project making an affordable robot for autism therapy. I liked it, took a robot to some therapy sessions, and loved the kids reactions. She and I became cofounders for a brief period before she left for bigger and better things. Since then I've been cramming as much electronics, robotics, coding, 3D modeling, and business development into my head as I can.
© Photo: whosoever
#39
I'm a cartographer.
I've always had an interest in maps, and in technical drawing. Before I got into work, I did Graphics GCSE, and my father was a technical draughtsman for the oil and gas industry. So, although I didn't pursue anything like it in university, I had a rough grounding in the ideas.
Then, after I graduated in 2008... all I could get was temp jobs for local government. One of these short assignments was taking a map of my county and a list of addresses, finding them on ArcGIS and placing a dot - growing bus stops.
So with a basic grounding and now experience, opportunity came when I changed temp agencies and the new one got a request through from a big mapping company. I jumped at the chance, and I took a test they'd devised: the most nerve-wracking game of spot-the-difference I'd played. I got 97% on the test, only small and silly but higher than anyone else had ever got, including the colleagues of the people who devised it.
So I make maps. The data comes in and my job is to draw over it to make it fit the standards of a certain scale. I'm also very lucky that I live within commuting distance of said company. You need to be able to spot discrepancies in the data and fix them. It's not totally epic yet as I've been a temp here for 2.5 years and despite retirements there's been no recruitment - hopefully that will change in April.
#40
You have a degree? Any university degree is all you need to teach English in some countries. Its not bad and you get to see some of the world. I live in Korea now.
#41
Sports Equipment Manager. Yeah the hours and pay aren't ideal, but it's a really cool behind the scenes job. I get to interact with the players and coaches on a daily basis and am in charge of the equipment room, where we have over $300,000 worth of apparel. Also, I'm probably the only person you'll meet that actually wants to be an equipment manager.
#42
I'm a caricature artist that draws for people's/company events or private commissions. I also sell them as a vendor at events sometimes. People really love caricatures and I make decent money for only working a couple of hours. I've also done them as a street performer and make about the same amount as I'd charge, on most days.
Also, I was a carnie. I'm not talking about the kind that run fair rides, though. I'm talking about being one who works in a traveling concession trailer. You get to travel around the state (or even the US) by going to different county fairs, meet and work with interesting people and get paid really well AND under the table...My boss also didn't charge me for room and board even though she provided a camper for all of the employees to stay in if you were from farther away...I live in Michigan and my boss and a few employees are from Florida but does all sorts of fairs in Michigan over the summer. The job wasn't too hard either, it just sucked if it was really hot out because the trailer was like a sauna and it sucked standing next to a hot grill all day. It was so worth it, though.
#43
I am an RRO. A Registered Roof Observer. I watch contractors install large commercial roofs for an engineering company. Got the job after getting tired of sales. Found the gig online. Got the offer with one week of unemployment left over three years ago....unfortunately, laid off again.
#44
Weatherman. It's not that it's necessarily obscure, but in Canada, there aren't more than 100 of us.
Got extremely lucky and found a spot on a morning show. They liked my personality and have invested in making me a meteorologist. Love what I do.
#45
Astronomer here! Perhaps too late for the party, but you basically get to be one my first studying a lot of math and physics in undergrad, then applying for grad school for a PhD in astronomy.
#46
I'm a mortician. I hold a license in funeral directing and embalming, I absolutely love what I do. I take care of the living by looking after the deceased. This profession will only be more and more in demand as our population grows and ages.
#47
I am a freelance event production/theater electrician. Lighting designers or production managers will call (or more commonly, email a bunch of freelancers on their list) with things like:
>
> We are looking for electricians to build [show] at [venue.] We need people for
>
> [day] 10a-6p
>
> [other day] 10a-6p
>
> etc.
>
> Please reply if you are interested. Rate is [usually $20-25] per hour.
>
>
Then I show up on the days and times I signed up for, and put up power and lighting for whatever show they are building. It can also be theater maintenance (fixing lights) and occasionally running the light board or programming, but I don't run shows or program often. Yet. There are usually "strike" calls to take down what you built after the show is over.
It can be fun and cool. You don't see a whole lot of shows but it's nice to be physically building something pretty large, and you can see the fruits of your labor pretty clearly when things are turned on and working.
The worst part of the career is some months are slow and you don't have a ton of work, whereas others you get multiple people asking you to work on the same day and have to turn down work. Overall it works out, though, and if you are good at what you do the demand for your help is always there. The option to tour is also always there if you ever want to get out of town.
#48
Kids' martial arts instructor. Specifically taekwondo -- within the time it takes to get a college degree, you can have your black belt and be teaching kids. You get to own your own business or franchise, and the startup costs aren't initially that high. Honestly, you don't need to be some super [skilled] -- kids' taekwondo is more like scouts or an after school program. And it keeps you fit and you get to dress up and basically do a whole lot of LARPing.
(Note that I don't actually do this for a career. I used to, and could have easily made it a full-time thing, but I don't really like kids. It always struck me that if you did, however, it would be a pretty good job.).
#49
I'm a freelance v3/v2 (basically a video technician) for broadcast television I do mostly college sports but do lots of non-sport events as well. Basically I setup our camera cables/fiber optic cables as well as setting up small PoV cameras (like ones behind nets) and I also set up announcer booths for our talent as well as troubleshooting anything video related that may go wrong. (and oh my god do things go wrong) The days are long and its usually outside but the pays great. It takes so much more to get live sports on the air than people realize. I'm not even sure I could list all the of the different positions we have but all of those graphics you see on espn (excluding the bottom one) are done live in the truck most of the time as well as having a director and producer to tell camera men what to do and put together the live show.
#50
Work in a national park. I worked in Yellowstone for a season, and there's people who are lifers. Some work year round, some work the summer, travel in the winter, and others just go to a different park. It's mostly hospitality and tour jobs, but it's a blast.
#51
Horse trainer. It can be pretty rewarding to teach people how to communicate with an animal.
#52
I have a teacher who's friend with a diver in the artic who makes a lot of money taking pictures and videos, he's working for compagnies like BBC and they are 5 in the world doing this in cold water so they always have job and since they are only five, they talk to eachother on skype and decide who's taking the jobs. For a job single job they go in the north, dropped by an helicopter and it doesn't come back before 2 weeks. They are in a very cold place and wet because they are diving. It's a hard job and there isn't a lot of people knowing about it, but you get a lot of money from that.
#53
I'm a fly in fly out worker, 3 weeks on and 1 week back in city, company pays for my flights about 4 hours out into the middle of Western Australia where I catch butterflies for 3 weeks... Just got to catch as many butterflies as I can in jars and hand them in at the end of each day so they can document species etc
Pays 190k a year and I work like 9 months out of 12 so it's good though it is pretty hard work really, a lot of people try it and leave after a few weeks the environment is very tough try and hot and you can easily pass away out there.
© Photo: lettis
#54
*Ramp Tower Coordinator*
A ramp tower is a small glass box that usually sits on a terminal roof at larger airports. The tower coordinates the terminal's/airline's operation. Found the job through my company after getting my foot in the door doing something more common.
#55
I'm a professional organist.
I knew a guy who made that job for himself and helped me do the same for myself.
#56
I'm late to the party, but here it goes anyways!
I make makeup inspired by video games, comics, anime, etc. Basically I was spending too much money on makeup, and all my free time playing video games so I just combined the two.
I started small with local craft fairs and such, moved to etsy (and quickly got tired of their shenanigans), after that I launched my own website and almost 2 years later I'm still at it!
© Photo: anon
#57
I was an animal technician. I would clean, feed and give fresh water to medical research animals. Also I would assist researchers in their projects and be a voice for the animals. I have a Diploma in Animal Technology, and got the job by applying to an online ad. But I know a lot of my classmates got their jobs through work experience. The job was overworked, underpaid, and under-appreciated.
I now work in health screening for medical research animals. We check that a facility that is housing animals is free of disease. The pay is the same, but the work is less stressful, and I don't have to work weekends or holidays any more. I got the job by word of mouth.
© Photo: KpopFTW
#58
Fire breather/circus nightclub performer here! I actually seen other people doing it and I wanted it to me my job so so so bad! 2 years later I finally found someone willing to train me, i'm coming up to 2 years in the job!
#59
Be a bush pilot. It takes a lot more commitment and time to achieve than most of the other replies in this thread. Bush pilots in Alaska, Africa, South America, etc. fly to some of the most remote places in the world and are solely responsible for the survival of entire villages. Some act as hunting/fishing guides for wealthy tourists, some deliver mail and supplies to villages which are inaccessible by any other means, and others act as support crew for other disciplines such as wildlife management or engineering.
#60
I used to live in an area with a lot of surfers. Some of the regular surfers were emergency tradespeople (plumbers, electricians, etc.) who would charge a huge amount of money to do emergency plumbing for big buildings. They'd do a few hours of work a day/night at $200/hour then surf and chill the rest of the time.
Edit: for those who are curious this was in Sydney, Australia.
#61
Boat Captain. After a professional career and divorce, my dad opted for happiness over the office and got his Captain license. He now drives large boats for a living, taking prospective buyers on test drives, repossessing boats from owners who have defaulted on loans, and piloting water taxis and tour boats. It's really cool and, as an added bonus, he gets paid to move yachts to and from the Caribbean as seasons change.
#62
Auction buyer. Not the type you see on reality shows going to storage auctions to fill up their flea market stand. Places like used car chains have employees whose job is to go to auto auctions and try to find the cars most likely to sell for the least investment. Sometimes the job extends to overseeing the rehab on the cars before they go on sale.
#63
Cricket farming. Cockroach farming. Minimum initial investment, but if you play your cards right, you can earn a lot of money selling it as feed both online and to local pet stores, farms, and zoos.
© Photo: infected_goat
#64
BIOMEDICAL/CLINICAL TERMINOLOGY SERVICES - high salaries, low stakes, work from home, save lives.
I think there's a reason this path is lesser known ;).
#65
I am employed as a gravedigger. Saw an ad on craigslist and applied. Pay is decent and the work is fairly enjoyable. Winter kinda sucks though due to all the frost in the ground.
Edit:
Q: Do you have to use some special technique when digging so that the walls don't cave in?
A: No real technique to prevent cave ins. If it does happen we'll just have to come back with the backhoe and dig it back out again. However, we do typically try to get as close as possible to the adjacent vault to help minimize how much it caves in.
Q: How does a typical day look?
A: Aside from digging and servicing funerals most of my time is spent installing monuments, working on equipment or doing general grounds maintenance tasks like tree work, for instance.
Q: How physically taxing is it nowadays? Do you have to deal with the grieving families yourself? What do you think would be the best/worst aspects of it?
A: Physically it's not bad at all. We have equipment for almost everything from digging to hauling the dirt away. Long gone are the days of digging graves by hand. I do have some contact with families when I'm servicing a funeral. I usually just try to keep my head down and do my work as quickly and respectfully as possible. Best aspects of the job is definitely being able to work outside all day. Worst aspect is when we have to bury infants. Never a dry eye at those funerals.
Q: Is your work in any way commission based? If not, what stuff do you get up to when there's no graves to dig? Or has that just not come up yet?
A: No, I'm paid hourly and work a standard 40 hours a week with the occasional overtime on weekends. Our sales staff is commission based however. The cemetery I work at is 105 acres so there is quite a lot to do when I'm not digging like setting monuments, working on equipment, tree work, grave restoration, etc.
#66
I hang wallpaper. Learned it from my dad. I get asked if it's 1975 or comments about how they *can't believe people still use wallpaper* almost daily.
#67
Professional Poker Player for 10 years... I just saw an episode of the World Poker Tour when I was 17 and figured if I worked really hard at it and studied, I could make tons of money at it.
#68
I'm a Cartoon Animator. Perhaps not super obscure, but I started out by taking Computer Science in University and I did not like it at all. Despite doing alright, it just wasn't my thing.
I then really thought hard about what I loved doing, and I thought about how I loved drawing as a kid... anything from trying to copy video game art, to large mazes in which stick figures would be trying to make it past various defenses.
Anyways, I took an animation course at a different college and loved it. Presently I am going on 9 years working for a very successful animation studio. I've had the opportunity to work on several amazing cartoons that are currently on TV and online, and I couldn't be happier!
#69
Is video game dev obscure? I got into the industry years back from a newspaper ad that simply said "GAMERS WANTED". Didn't take me long to call that number lol.
#70
I'm a land surveyor. It seems like it's a really niche and high expertise job that nobody knows exists. Half the people I talk to, if I mention my career, just give me a blank look, followed by "you hand out surveys?"
No, I measure things. I measure them real good, so good that your local architect takes a look at my plans and says "That plan's so good, I'm going to design a 2 million dollar home on top of it".
The explanation with less attitude is that we're the people you see there with that expensive looking camera look-a-like doohickey sitting on top of a big tripod (hint: it costs more then a car). It's a good job if you like working in a lot of locations, but more importantly, it's a good job if you want great job security and usually very good pay.
The bar for entry is relatively low (though it is a long, *long* process that starts as a survey assistant and ends as a certified surveyor), in most countries beginning with a trade course. Unless you're in victoria or a couple of states in the US at least, bar for entry is much higher in some areas. As far as I can tell, there is always more jobs available for surveyors compared to surveyors looking for jobs, so you're entering a really good job market.
You gotta be good with math, and you gotta be *really* good at not mixing up numbers. If you're the kind of person who regularly writes down 141° 23' 52" as 142° 32' 52" and you can't immediately see the difference, keep looking. Messing up a decimal point in this career is unacceptable, it's not a mundane detail, Michael.
But if that doesn't faze you, take a look. It's an essential service, because it's basically a government's way of backing the dollar when it comes to land titles. You are buying a land title with a guarantee from the government that a surveyor has been out there and said, "yep, this land is your land, this land is my land" (depending on local legislature). So it's a job that is not going away any time soon, generally starts around ~40k a year, and can easily reach 6 figures with seniority.
#71
Fish breeder!
All you do is breed certain species of fish to sell to shops, aquariums or fish keepers. I make about $30 on some baby fish and $120 on others, I make an estimate of 500 a month. Note, this isn't my job, it is my hobby.
© Photo: Turkboy69
#72
Become a dental technician-
1. There are less and less of us every year but more and more need.
2. You can get training on the job and starting salaries are better than most entry level positions.
3. Once you learn the trade you can "write your own ticket" I know technicians that never went to school that now make 80-100k a year and work pretty standard hours.
4. You basically get paid to go to art class, every day is different and you can really be creative with your work.
#73
Sandhogs. They're the subterranean miners who dig and blast water and subway tunnels under New York. It's dangerous work though, and I'm pretty sure they lose an average of one man for every mile of tunnel excavated.
#74
I'm 19 and got tired of the whole minimum wage pay so i sell/make Decals/signs/stickers for businesses or personal needs. I make at most a thousand monthly and that's with me dual majoring at college. I work maybe once or twice a month. I advertise myself on craigslist and using business cards and putting my name out there. It works but I plan on working in the computer science field. It's a ton of fun too just meeting new people all the time and having a new different situation.
#75
Have a college degree and know what an IP address is? No criminal history? You could become a SOC/NOC/NSOC analyst making at least $45k/yr (+benefits).
Work 4 days a week, 12 hour days, staring at a computer screen waiting for green lights to turn red and opening a trouble ticket when they do.
#76
Become a Crane operator. Seriously, it can be pretty lucrative.
#77
I'm a video game designer. I went to school for mathematics and had no idea that I could apply my skills to video games, but here I am. It's exactly as amazing as it sounds.
#78
Superintendents usually get a free apartment and decent salary, and most companies like to hire couples (basically doubling your salary). Although it's not an easy job. You work usually 8-4 or 9-5, but then you are on call for emergencies. I never realized how many floods and fires happen in an apartment building until I became a super. You also have to keep in mind that you are dealing with peoples homes and sometimes they can get territorial, but a lot of the time people are thankful for you being there to fix things. It can be a lot of fun, but it isn't easy at all.
#79
I recently just got back into tower climbing. Pay is very high even with no college. You fly to a different city each week and the work is always an adrenaline rush.
#80
I fly medium to large UAV's for film, TV and critical infrastructure inspections.
Was on CL one day and found an ad looking for someone with a PPL and RC experience. I had both and how have ~ 1500 logged hours of UAV flight time. Great pay, and we have full benefits now. In addition I travel all over the world.
