Extinct, New, and Future Careers1
Extinct careers: Careers that used to exist but no longer do.
1. Bowling alley pinsetter: stack up pins when there was no machine to do it.
2. Food safety tester: consumed food to determine if it was safe for others.
3. Human alarm clocks: walk around with long sticks tapping on people’s windows, throwing pebbles, and shouting at the top of their lungs.
4. Rat catchers: eliminate as many rats as possible while risking being bitten.
5. Elevator operators: taking passengers to their desired floor and keeping passengers safe.
6. Milkman: deliver the product to people’s homes on a daily basis.
7. Lector who entertains factory workers: come into the factory and read literature to the workers to keep them entertained while doing often tedious work.
8. Log drivers: transport logs and other forms of lumber from the forest to the mill by dragging them through rivers.
9. Radio actors: people “performed skits, similar to modern sitcoms on TV today over the radio.
10. Street sweepers: sweep the streets and sidewalks.
11. Pre-radar listeners: the men operating the machines would listen for any detection of incoming enemy using amplified receivers.
12. Quarrymen: extracted stone from the earth, and would carve various items.
13. Lamp lighters: walk the streets right before it got dark and ignite the flames.
14. Ice cutter: saw up the ice on frozen lakes for people to use in their cellars and refrigerators.
15. Switchboard operator: connect long-distance calls and do other things that are not done digitally.
16. Gandy dancers: lay tracks for the railroads and often singing songs as they toiled.
17. Town crier: a gentleman with a booming voice made important announcements.
18. Resurrectionists: in the 19th century they removed corpses from graves for universities to use as cadavers.
19. Hemp dresser: separate the coarse parts” in the linen industry.
20. Powder monkey: stuff gunpowder back into canons.
New careers: Careers that did not exist 20 years ago.
1. Website copywriter: writing content conveyed through online media.
2. Social media manager: running social media accounts for small and large companies.
3. Internet marketer: leverages online tools in order to sell products and promote speaking engagements.
4. Online business manager: manages the operations of Internet marketers from their own home office.
5. Content strategist: helps plan websites, social media, and newsletter, and figures out how all of these pieces work together.
6. Blogger: keeps up with the demanding blogging schedule of big brands
7. App developer: develops apps for Apple and Android.
8. SEO specialist: ensures websites and Internet properties have been technically optimized.
9. Chief Listening Officer: follows social media and finds out what people think and feel about the company.
10. Professional Ethical Hacker: “finds problems and vulnerabilities in a company’s computer security system.
11. 3D animator: produces most of the work from computers with the newest animation software.
12. Green funeral director: assists grieving families while promoting a healthy, sustainable environment.
13. E-commerce consultant: consults on online sales and businesses.
14. Big data analyst/architect/engineer: creates powerful open-source batch-processing platforms [to] allow researchers and businesses to search multiple servers at once.
15. Cloud-computing worker: integrates an external platform, like Salesforce.com, with a company’s internal systems.
16. Genetic counselor: assesses individual or family risk for various inherited genetic disorders and birth defects, providing the information to other health professionals and patients and advising patients and families.
17. Drone pilot: pilots for commercial purposes as well as private government work.
18. 3D printing professional: works in the 3D printing industry as scientists, technicians, engineers, etc.
19. Wind turbine service technician: installs, maintains, and repairs wind turbines.
20. Sustainability expert: develops new workflows to increase productivity while lowering the carbon footprint of a business.
21. Elder care: handle legal concerns, staffing at residential facilities or consultants hired to facilitate end-of-life issues.
22. Millennial generational expert: helps companies understand the changing workforce
23. Zumba teacher: Latin-inspired dance-fitness program.
Future careers: Careers expected to exist in 20 years.
1. Productivity counselors: help people refine their lives to improve their productivity, combining ergonomics, wellness, time management, and career counseling.
2. Personal digital curator: recommends and maintains your unique suite of apps, hardware, software, and information sources of your evolving personality and career.
3. Microbial balancer: a trained balancer that assesses the composition and microbial makeup of an environment or individual and provides recommendations for balancing ecosystems for enhanced health.
4. Corporate disorganizer: an expert that shuffles hierarchies in companies to create start-up culture or organized chaos.
5. Curiosity tutor: provides inspiration and content to spark curiosity, but one that teaches the art of discovery.
6. Alternative currency speculator: as Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are gaining traction with people who distrust Fiat currency, this is creating an opportunity for alternative currency arbitrage and investment opportunities.
7. Urban shepherd: a combination of resilient micro-farmer and guide to the nature-filled side of the city. These plant care specialists focus on small-scale gardens and plots that exist in unusual urban areas.
8. Printing handyman: a neighborhood materials and 3D printing specialist, akin to the ‘do it all’ local repair man of the past who comes to you to fulfill your micro-manufacturing needs.
9. Digital death manager: a specialist that creates, manages, or eliminates content to craft ones online presences posthumously.
10. Personal life log archivist: organize, catalog, and make sense of the volumes personal content and to identify potential uses for one’s life log.
11. Digital detox therapist: counselor who specializes in separating technology-stressed individuals from their devices, creating unique analog immersion zones.
12. Crowdfunding specialist: expert on sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo who understands how to promote and attain funds for a project through crowdfunding.
13. Cultural skill Sherpa: helps clients develop and acquire the skills to prepare for positions that are one of a kind, emergent or newly relevant.
14. Quantified self-personal trainer: health trainer who not only recommends and curates diets but also analyzes personal and fitness routine data to create optimum personal life choices.
15. Vicarious videographer: captures unique experiences for consumption by armchair explorers.
16. Hack-schooling counselor: encourages students to hack the real world and experiment with life rather than only pursuing traditional educational paths.
17. Privacy consultant: reveals vulnerabilities in an individual’s personal, physical, and online security points.
18. Skype staging: hired career advisors that prepare and help an individual work through remote interviews or video conferencing, including etiquette, appearance, and conversational skills.
19. Meme agent: represents and maximizes the value of the personality or intellectual property used in a meme.
20. Drone driver: expanding outside of the military, as demand for commercial and private drone use increases, experienced drone drivers will be sought after.
1 Reid Mene, “17 Extremely Important Jobs that No Longer Exist,” Independent Journal, September, 2014. http://www.ijreview.com/2014/09/173651-13-jobs-used-important-longer-exist/
“10 Jobs that No Longer Exist,” Bored Panda, no date. http://www.boredpanda.com/extinct-jobs/
Katie Dowd, “16 Jobs that Don’t Exist Anymore,” SF Gate, no date http://www.sfgate.com/jobs/slideshow/14-jobs-that-don-t-exist-anymore-81344.php
Mark King, “Five Jobs that Didn’t Exist 10 Years Ago,” The Guardian, April 4, 2013. http://www.theguardian.com/money/work-blog/2013/apr/04/five-jobs-didnt-exist-10-years-ago
Meghan Casserly, “10 Jobs that Didn’t Exist 10 Years Ago,” Forbes, May 11, 2012. http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2012/05/11/10-jobs-that-didnt-exist-10-years-ago/
Adam Jeffery, “10 Jobs that Weren’t Around in 1989,” CNBC, April 29, 2014. http://www.cnbc.com/2014/04/29/10-jobs-that-werent-around-in-1989.html
Anita Ginsburg, “Careers that Didn’t Exist 20 Years Ago and Why You Should Consider Them,” Career Camel, October 25, 2014. http://www.careercamel.com/careers-didnt-exist-20-years-ago-consider/
“6 Weird Jobs that Didn’t Exist 20 Years Ago,” no date. http://www.jarty.net/6-weird-jobs-that-didnt-exist-20-years-ago/
Jaime Lee Mann, “Careers that Exist Now that Didn’t 20 Years Ago,” Next Network, January 30, 2014. http://nextnetwork.ca/careers-that-exist-now-didnt-20-years-ago/
Max Nisen, “20 Bizarre New Jobs of the Future,” Business Insider, September 13, 2013. http://www.businessinsider.com/popular-jobs-in-the-future-2013-9?op=1