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> Most trendy, fashionable and 'glamorous' jobs are like this. Which is why the smart thing to do is to go for the most unfashionable job (or market, if you're

> Most trendy, fashionable and 'glamorous' jobs are like this. Which is why the smart thing to do is to go for the most unfashionable job (or market, if you're starting a business) you can find that provides a product that your customers simply can't live without. You just don't want to be selling an elastic product, and you don't want to be in an industry where there's supply-side competition from people who are doing the work purely because they enjoy it. Healthcare is especially good in this respect. People will (quite literally) die without your product, and the payer is just about as far from the consumer as you can get, which makes demand highly inelastic. Your business isn't profitable? No worries, just double your prices. What are they going to do, stop paying you? And how much competition are you going to get (as a worker) when the work can't be outsourced and you can't hire a kid out of high school to do the work based on his GitHub profile?

jseliger 14y ago
>Healthcare is especially good in this respect I agree with your overall point but will temper it some by noting that there are VERY high barriers to entry (http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/why-you-should-become-a-nurse-or-physicians-assistant-instead-of-a-doctor-the-underrated-perils-of-medical-school/ http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/why-you-should-beco... for one discussion I wrote) and those barriers are enforced by regulators. That being said, once you get the necessary credentials to enter the market the gig is pretty sweet and pretty protected. The real benefits, however, appear to accrue at the lower end of the profession (nurses, P.A.s) and the very high-end (specialists). The great middle (family docs, internists) appear appear to be hurting. Oh, and dentistry is awesome from a money / lifestyle point of view, but it's not much respected (http://www.theonion.com/articles/local-prostitutes-eagerly-await-dentists-conventio,431/ http://www.theonion.com/articles/local-prostitutes-eagerly-a...).
- w1ntermute 14y ago
  It doesn't even have to be just working as a healthcare professional. If you don't like working with patients (it can be quite depressing for some folks), you could be creating a variety of products for this market, including software (though you sort of lose the supply-side advantage in that case).
- r00fus 14y ago
  Too many anti-dentites around :)
munificent 14y ago
> Which is why the smart thing to do is to go for the most unfashionable job That assumes that you don't get any value out of having a glamorous job. Sure, there are tons of people that want to be game developers. Why? Because a lot of things about being a game developer are awesome! You get a laid-back working environment, you get to work with artists and other exciting, creative people, the work is technically challenging, you spend your day looking at monsters and explosions instead of spreadsheets and forms. People you meet will be excited to talk to you about your work. If you're lucky, you create something that people will form real emotional attachment to. It's not smarter to choose a higher-salary job, because salary-maximization is not the goal of life. You spend much of your waking life at work, and a bigger salary won't give you those hours of your life back. You may as well try to make them be something you love.
- w1ntermute 14y ago
  > That assumes that you don't get any value out of having a glamorous job. The only value you get out of having a "glamorous job" is that other people think you have a glamorous job. Glamour has to do with perception, not reality. > Sure, there are tons of people that want to be game developers. Why? Because a lot of things about being a game developer are awesome! Wrong. They want to be game developers because they think a lot of things about being a game developer are awesome. Once again, this deals only with perception. > You get a laid-back working environment, you get to work with artists and other exciting, creative people, the work is technically challenging, you spend your day looking at monsters and explosions instead of spreadsheets and forms...If you're lucky, you create something that people will form real emotional attachment to. From the numerous comments on this thread alone, actually being a game developer is about as far from any of those things as you can get. > People you meet will be excited to talk to you about your work. This is probably the only thing on your list that is true, but if your happiness is primarily based on what other people think about you, you have a lot bigger problems in life than what your job is. > You may as well try to make them be something you love. I never said that you shouldn't do something you love. My point was that you should consider the bias of perception on market dynamics when determining your occupation, rather than falling prey to the trap of perception, like a lot of people do.

jseliger 14y ago

>Healthcare is especially good in this respect I agree with your overall point but will temper it some by noting that there are VERY high barriers to entry (http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/why-you-should-become-a-nurse-or-physicians-assistant-instead-of-a-doctor-the-underrated-perils-of-medical-school/ http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/why-you-should-beco... for one discussion I wrote) and those barriers are enforced by regulators. That being said, once you get the necessary credentials to enter the market the gig is pretty sweet and pretty protected. The real benefits, however, appear to accrue at the lower end of the profession (nurses, P.A.s) and the very high-end (specialists). The great middle (family docs, internists) appear appear to be hurting. Oh, and dentistry is awesome from a money / lifestyle point of view, but it's not much respected (http://www.theonion.com/articles/local-prostitutes-eagerly-await-dentists-conventio,431/ http://www.theonion.com/articles/local-prostitutes-eagerly-a...).

w1ntermute 14y ago
It doesn't even have to be just working as a healthcare professional. If you don't like working with patients (it can be quite depressing for some folks), you could be creating a variety of products for this market, including software (though you sort of lose the supply-side advantage in that case).
r00fus 14y ago
Too many anti-dentites around :)

munificent 14y ago

> Which is why the smart thing to do is to go for the most unfashionable job That assumes that you don't get any value out of having a glamorous job. Sure, there are tons of people that want to be game developers. Why? Because a lot of things about being a game developer are awesome! You get a laid-back working environment, you get to work with artists and other exciting, creative people, the work is technically challenging, you spend your day looking at monsters and explosions instead of spreadsheets and forms. People you meet will be excited to talk to you about your work. If you're lucky, you create something that people will form real emotional attachment to. It's not smarter to choose a higher-salary job, because salary-maximization is not the goal of life. You spend much of your waking life at work, and a bigger salary won't give you those hours of your life back. You may as well try to make them be something you love.

w1ntermute 14y ago
> That assumes that you don't get any value out of having a glamorous job. The only value you get out of having a "glamorous job" is that other people think you have a glamorous job. Glamour has to do with perception, not reality. > Sure, there are tons of people that want to be game developers. Why? Because a lot of things about being a game developer are awesome! Wrong. They want to be game developers because they think a lot of things about being a game developer are awesome. Once again, this deals only with perception. > You get a laid-back working environment, you get to work with artists and other exciting, creative people, the work is technically challenging, you spend your day looking at monsters and explosions instead of spreadsheets and forms...If you're lucky, you create something that people will form real emotional attachment to. From the numerous comments on this thread alone, actually being a game developer is about as far from any of those things as you can get. > People you meet will be excited to talk to you about your work. This is probably the only thing on your list that is true, but if your happiness is primarily based on what other people think about you, you have a lot bigger problems in life than what your job is. > You may as well try to make them be something you love. I never said that you shouldn't do something you love. My point was that you should consider the bias of perception on market dynamics when determining your occupation, rather than falling prey to the trap of perception, like a lot of people do.