Apparently, there are a lot of jobs out there that feel more like “traps” than viable career paths. You go through all this school with the promise of a good job with high pay , only to be met with debt and an oversaturated job market .
The people of Reddit have listed the careers they see as traps (mainly because those are the career paths they chose). I guess take this as a warning.
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The housing market is really all over the place.
With some users mentioning real estate, one said, “At least a month ago, in the US, there were more real estate agents than homes for sale, per the CEO of Redfin.”
They don’t say “starving artist” for nothing.
“Probably about any kind of artist, but in particular 3D (CG) artist. Tons of art schools popped up selling degrees to be a video game artist or a chance to be an animator at Disney or something.
“Ended up oversaturating the market with low quality portfolios that had no chance of ever getting into a major studio.”
Helping animals pays, just not very well.
“Veterinarian, debt of MD but fraction of the salary. Works if you don’t have to pay for college and vet school, but not really logical if you do.”
To add to that, another user said, “My college girlfriend with doctor parents told me vet school has a higher reject rate than medical school.”
Taking care of bees shouldn’t just be a hobby.
“I do beekeeping and while I find it very rewarding it seems like a growing trend of a trap. There have been a ton of people who ‘want to get into it.’ Probably spend like $400 on equipment/bees and are done with it after 2 years. You could buy a ton of honey for that.”
To think, I used to want to be an architect growing up…
“Trap: architect. Source: architect.”
Another user added, “I generally agree. Education requirement is high. Getting into school can be tough. At least 5 years. Need a several year long work training program and pass a multipart test.
“It is a small field and many other fields try to push into architecture… It is like all the downsides of a medical degree but with not so great pay.”
Good for consumers, not so good for the workers.
“Painting houses honestly. The market is constantly saturated with cheap workers so if you can get a reputation for quality work you can make a pretty penny.”
I guess it’ll still work out if you’re good enough?
One job with a confusing amount of educational requirements:
“The biggest scam is being a qualified librarian. For terrible pay, organizations want you to have a flipping Master’s in Library Science. If the jobs paid more, it would make sense but it’s absolutely ridiculous.
“Even worse because you can sneak your way into being a librarian other ways and still be paid what qualified people are paid (there are always exceptions).”
People should still be able to make a living at a non-profit.
“A lot of non-profits rely on your desire to do meaningful work to get away with some pretty exploitative labor practices. I’m sure it depends though because that’s a really broad category.”
Sounds like a dream job, but in reality it’s a nightmare.
“Any video game career. I wouldn’t say any specialized degree is a waste, but it’s completely unnecessary. Jobs are super competitive so breaking in w/out experience is hard, and there’s more and more candidates every year.
“One company I worked for said they rejected five thousand resumes for a position they posted.”
Apparently, being a yoga teacher is like being in an MLM.
A user explains why: “A lot of yoga teacher programs are by yoga teachers who can’t make enough money teaching yoga so they start yoga teacher training programs. There are levels of yoga teachers based on how much training they have.”
Once again: starving artist.
“Theater. Unless you are already wealthy and know people in a big city that can get you a position in a company. Everyone wants in, much competition, low pay. Bad hours. Lots of travel and basically begging for work.”
I guess it’s not as exciting as in the movies.
“Trap: biotech and biotechnology. Long hours, low pay, most of the work is extremely dull and monotonous relative to what I thought ‘science’ was, not much in the way of transferable skills.”
IT, in fact, sounds like a massive headache.
“Information Technology. It’s less that you can’t find work, but you never find work at your level, and everywhere I’ve ever worked… has people who only half ass know what they are doing. We are talking mistakes that someone on the lower levels of IT should be making.”
Being a small business owner is super risky.
“Having your own business. Any business. The [rate] of failure is way higher than people think and chances are you’re working 100 hours a day for less than minimum wage.”
Of course some people make it, but so many people just don’t.
It probably got worse over the last couple of years.
“Nursing. I was used, abused, overworked, and under paid. Everyone ends up burning out quickly, and the working environment becomes hostile. I almost never got a chance to take a lunch, and was consistently asked to stay overtime to cover for a total of 16 hours.”
Too many cooks in the kitchen, I guess.
“Being a chef. A lot of people spend a small fortune going to culinary school in order to work in a hot, stressful kitchen 70 hours a week, making a [expletive] salary that usually ends up being about the same rate (or less) that the burnout line cooks and dishwashers make per hour.”
Who knew physical therapists had it so rough?
“Trap: Physical Therapy. In the US it’s a doctorate program, so on top of requiring a 4-year undergrad degree you need to complete 3 more years of graduate education. High tuition, low salary for a doctorate, and most of the fillable positions are what we call patient mills.”
It’s definitely not a job just anyone can do.
“Trap: Teacher. Yeah it’s nice to have summers off but [you’re] working 7am-7pm everyday plus a few hours on the weekends just to make 50k a year. Not to mention dealing with a bunch of whiny parents that don’t give a crap about their child’s education.”
Does this one count as starving artists? Maybe.
“Trap: Journalism – over saturated and there’s fewer and fewer jobs every year. Freelancing is an option, but it’s rare that people can make enough to live off consistently without another source of income.”
It’s so sad how helping people just doesn’t pay.
“Social worker. They abuse you right into the ground. I’ve never seen a higher turnover and higher burnout rate than social workers at the hospital I work at.
“I have a desire to help people and that’s why I was going to school to be a social worker. But after seeing how much abuse they take and work overloads they receive and are expected to do it changed my mind. They help people, but at the cost of themselves.”
