

Best Jobs of 2011 - Rickasaurus
http://www.careercast.com/jobs-rated/10-best-jobs-2011

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martythemaniak
I went to school during right after the crash and during the height of the
outsourcing fears (remember the 2004 election rhetoric?) and I'm pretty sure
both of those contributed greatly to the profession's outlook. CS and CompEng
enrollments have plummeted while the demand keeps on growing and growing.
Definitely a great time to be competent software engineer.

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fredoliveira
I'm surprised at this mainly for the stress figures. I don't know if this is
the case for everyone else, but I would assume some of those positions would
have much higher figures for stress - namely software engineers and actuaries.

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shortlived
Yeah that was very surprising especially since the stress number was the
lowest for software engineers. I have way more stress than a dental hygienist.

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BrandonM
So when you screw up you have the potential to fuck up someone's teeth, draw
blood, or generally cause pain and discomfort to your client? Personally, I
just edit and re-run the program.

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shortlived
And the stress I'm referring to is more deadline induced than anything else.
It's a fact that people in the dental world have very regulated ~40 hours/week
schedules. How many all nighters do they pull? None.

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krschultz
and 95% of software engineers don't either. My roommate in college works an
exact 40.0 hours each weak doing ASP.NET coding for enterprise stuff.
Basically zero stress what-so-ever, and makes $55k at age 22.

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shortlived
Unless your roommate wants to stay in the same position (entry level coder)
then s/he will at some point have to take on more responsibility and/or more
challenging work which in turn leads to working some overtime.

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sz
I was surprised to see Mathematician as #2. That contradicts everything I've
read about math careers on HN.

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lmkg
This would make sense if they're counting Operations Research as a type of
Mathematician. Those are the people who design the algorithms (not necessarily
write the code) for air flight planning, supply-network chains, personnel
scheduling, and most forms of resource allocation. Lots of applications in
resource extraction, manufacturing, transportation, military, and
infrastructure design.

This assumes that they're talking about "Mathematician" as a career, and not
just what you can expect with a Math major. If you have a degree in math, you
can get quite a high-paying job in a broad range of other industries (like
programming and finance, also on the list) because people will just assume
you're the smartest person they've ever met.

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Natsu
> If you have a degree in math, you can get quite a high-paying job in a broad
> range of other industries (like programming and finance, also on the list)
> because people will just assume you're the smartest person they've ever met.

I do get people who assume that, especially when they hear what a CMS degree
consists of, but I have yet to work out the high-paying job bit.

At work, I mostly only get to do 2D Euclidean geometry, where people seem
amazed that you can find mutually tangent circles to make windows look nice.

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mildweed
Living in the midwest, I always hate looking at national average salaries. My
cost of living is great, but its always an ego hit to see numbers like that.

Either that or I need to get a better paying software engineering job :/

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bherms
I feel the same way... 24 yrs old in Indiana and only making $45k + benefits.
Granted I never finished my degree (12c short)... :\

I'd like to see lists like this normalized by region taking into acct cost of
living, etc. Also, I wonder if outliers are chopped off here -- ie: top google
software engineers making several hundred thousand/yr.

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jdminhbg
It's nice to compare lists like this to the constant wailing and gnashing of
teeth in places on the internet where software careers are discussed.

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bherms
The best job of 2011 is the one that makes you happy.

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gacba
Actually, I'm scared that the florists and cashiers will start applying for
programming jobs again after attending a DeVry Insitute program or something
similar. I remember suffering through this during the DotCom boom...it sucked.

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modoc
How does a Historian have almost twice the stress of a software engineer?

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jhpriestley
They do not measure stress directly, but base it on a rather narrow rubric of
objective factors such as physical demands and travel.

[http://www.careercast.com/jobs-rated/2011-jobs-rated-
methodo...](http://www.careercast.com/jobs-rated/2011-jobs-rated-methodology)

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twodayslate
Systems?

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klbarry
Historian? That blows my mind, who, besides academics, hires historians? I
understand studying history is vital to being a competent executive/decision
maker, but no one hires solely on that.

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Timmy_C
I had a friend who did history research in Hollywood for movie companies. That
is one example of a non-academic historian.

Heck, you could even say that some news reporters and non-fiction book authors
are modern day historians.

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sfphotoarts
They forgot Steve.

