Wednesday, June 27, 2007

10 worst jobs in science

Well, Popular Science released their list of the 10 worst jobs in science for the year.

Most of the list wasn't terribly surprising...dealing with tasks that disgust the average human (such as researching whale feces or swimming in hazardous waste). I almost think they should just create a single 'lump' entry for all 'disgusting' animal/bodily/etc. type jobs since in reality there are surely enough jobs that are in the same vein as those listed that the entire list would be comprised of those jobs.

A couple of items on the list were somewhat surprising as I wouldn't have thought of them as the WORST things that could happen...however, on thinking a little more I can see their point.

I was definitely surprised to see "Microsoft Security Grunt" on the list, but reading the description and thinking about it, I can see that could definitely be a stressful job. It may not be disgusting in the sense that you're investigating maggots crawling through a corpse, but it could definitely take its toll.

I also enjoyed the "oceanographer" entry which seemed semi-political in placement. Oceanography in general seems a very high-level job description that covers many aspects so this almost seemed like an intent to call humanity to task for the destruction of our oceans. Seen in that light, I suppose the job of an oceanographer is likely depressing and frustrating (as well as dangerous as indicated by the brief account they relate).

Anyway, let me know what you think of the list and if you have any science related jobs that you think would be better fits for the top 10.

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