Ask HN: Which professions are impossible to get because the oldies never retire? - kevindeasis
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tracker1
Tenure in higher education is probably one of the hardest ones... some legal
and medical programs are pretty locked down as well.

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pmiller2
Came here to say this. I am fond of saying that when I was in grad school, I
was preparing to enter a profession where I'd literally have to wait for
someone to die to get a job.

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pmiller2
Scientific glassblower: [http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-caltech-
glassbl...](http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-caltech-
glassblower-20160613-snap-story.html)

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drawnwren
Oddly enough, I think there are a lot of positions in the maritime industry
like that. Harbor pilot comes to mind.

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smt88
The ATF (Alcohol Tobacco Firearms enforcement agency in the US) was on a
hiring freeze for a long time because no one retired and the size of the
agency was fairly fixed. They're expecting a huge wave of retirements in the
near future and are now hiring like crazy (relatively speaking, anyway).

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tracker1
In the mid-80's my dad had an offer from the ATF that he would have accepted,
had the USPS not lost/damage/delayed the delivery of said offer... It arrived
in a plastic bag with a postmark from 3+ months prior.

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hkmurakami
Supreme Court Justice.

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trentmb
At the risk of looking ignorant (because I am) have there been any exploratory
works on imposing term limits on SCOTUS justices?

EDIT: Is 'exploratory' the correct term, at least in the PoliSci crowd?

~~~
MichaelBurge
There's the time Roosevelt was on a mission to get the New Deal passed, and
threatened to pack the courts if they kept ruling his legislation
unconstitutional. The Chief Justice changed his position very quickly when
that threat came up.

Packing the courts involved creating 6 additional spots on the court(chosen by
the President), if existing justices didn't retire by 70.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_Procedures_Reform_Bil...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_Procedures_Reform_Bill_of_1937)

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kahrkunne
Monarch of Great Britain

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Overtonwindow
Congress

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tracker1
It's funny, but I should have mentioned that one as well... Higher level
politics is pretty locked in too, though that may change drastically in the
next decade in the US.

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blakesterz
Librarians. For years our professional associations cried there would be a
shortage and convinced people to go to library school (real librarians have a
Masters degree). Now people aren't retired, and when they do retired their
position is either not filled or filled with a part timer.

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evanwolf
Some branches of engineering. Civil and corrosion are mostly locked up by
established firms, led by founders.

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meira
Oligarch

