Figuring out what to do with your life is one of the hardest things that most of us have to deal with.
Some people just know from a very young age that they want to be a lawyer, a doctor, a garbage man, etc.
But for a lot of people, the path to finding a career that fits them is filled with mistakes and mishaps.
So that’s why it’s important to listen to people about what careers you might want to AVOID.
Let’s dig in to some career advice from folks on AskReddit.
1. Film industry.
“I currently work in the film industry.
I really want to hammer down the point that there is no job security. Oh, you got a job on a season of a TV show?
How fun, but enjoy it while it lasts because 7 months from now you’re going to be looking for a new job again once the season ends!”
2. The academic life.
“I went into academia career path (as an admin) right after I graduated from undergraduate degree.
I was a naive 21 years old fresh grad girl, and boy oh boy. All my life I always thought that the professors are wise and clever, being highly educated and all. Dang noooope, most of them are in the high throne of power trips.
Talk high and always assumed they know everything. Also I have sh*tty pay and my coworkers are *ssholes.
So yeah, academia is not as grand as people make it seem.”
3. All over the place.
“Petroleum engineering, that’s a rollercoaster of a career where you will be job hopping forever, moving, or looking for a job often.
Whenever the oil prices tank because some opec country is pissed you may loose your job. Obviously renewables are the future but we still use a lot of oil, just throwing that out there.”
4. The law.
“Law.
Especially if someone from your family isnt already a lawyer/owns a law firm.
4+ years in business and still trying to find my right connects and industry links. My employer treats me like sh*t, no paid extra hours, tons of paperwork and even small mistakes could throw away everything you have worked so hard for.
Can’t even think about going independent because of student loans and risk involved without good connects. Whereas my friends from law school who had their families with the same background have purchased their first German cars :).”
5. Soul-crushing.
“The soul-crushing experience of working in warehouse for a large corporation like Amazon or Chewy, among many others.
Your fellow co-workers are tired and overworked. The pay is usually just enough to live comfortably on your own but you will often be tired due to long hours (generally more than your average 8 hours,) have little to no room for growth within the company, and management is concerned more with production numbers than your health and safety.
I see too many jaded co-workers push aside the rules in order to get their task done just so they can move on with their day, I guess because maybe in their minds it means being one step closer to getting the hell outta there for the day.
I advise NO ONE to ever get into warehouse work. There are people who enjoy the work and are more well suited to handle that kind of job atmosphere, but I would argue that those people are f*cking insane.”
6. Let’s (not) get physical.
“Physical therapist.
It’s a doctoral degree now, with all the costs associated with that. Jobs are always available but the pay will vary from a low (I’ve seen) of $45k to $120k, with an average around $65 for a new grad. Raises are non existent and reimbursement rates keep falling.
Honestly if it were less expensive to get the degree I wouldn’t mind taking a pay cut if it allowed me to spend more time with my patients and not have to be on a laptop all the time just to survive.
It is nice having the super power of almost always understanding people’s MSK injuries though…”
7. The food game.
“Cook/chef.
Unless you like sh*t pay and long hours of sweaty work on your feet under extremely high pressure and ridiculous deadlines. Also good luck getting any respect from people older than you.
I’ve trained so many people older than me and they think I’m just some kid with a god-complex and they know so much more than me “BeCaUsE I’vE bEeN dOiNg ThIs FoR 30 yEaRs!”
Not that my decade of experience and talent that shows gives me credibility or the fact that I’M YOUR BOSS but your former drug abusing *ss has been locked in prison for 20 of those 30 years so stfu and listen to me because everyone can learn something new.”
8. STEM.
“When I was in school I bought the idea that “the world needs more STEM majors!” hook, line, and sinker.
That may be true for computer science, but it’s not true for many areas in biology and chemistry. Unless you want to go into academia (and I’d urge you to read the rest of this thread if you do) your industry options are going to be limited, competition will be fierce, and pay will be low.”
9. Whoa.
“Pharma rep.
The company I worked for was super biased. Also, you can be dumb as rocks but they will hire you if you are good looking.
It is such a shady, dated, sales style.”
10. Sounds rough.
“Teaching.
Having homework for the rest of your life is nightmarish, not to mention all the other sh*t wrong with it. Thank god I got out.
I taught at community colleges as well, so in a way I had the “easy” version of it. Can’t imagine how anyone deals with parents and public school bullsh*t.”
11. Fighting fires.
“As a firefighter-paramedic, don’t do it.
Often the pay looks great on paper. However, we often do ungodly amounts of overtime and thus the steep debt increases.
Pretty much most of us that get our testosterone tested where I work, are very low. The doctors said it was due to weird sleep patterns and high stress.
The cancer risk, including a higher testicular cancer risk, I know several single nut firemen. Exposure to chemicals that can be in your body for the rest of your life.
But people love firefighters, and with good reason. We risk a lot, not just our lives. It’s not completely altruistic though. So the paychecks vary widely. From very well paid to volunteer, and everything in between.
Many firefighters are smart enough to make good money elsewhere. But at the end of the day, most of us LOVE the job. And many of us love complaining, sorry for the rant.”
12. IT.
“DO NOT go into IT.
If you like computers, be a coder.
You’ll make 5 times as much, and you won’t have to deal with 3 am calls because some *sshole’s router needs to be restarted.”
13. Don’t do it!
“Any kind of field can be right for the right person but so far here are my two careers that I don’t recommend.
HVAC- Basically you’ll either be worked to the bone (working 12+ hour shifts in the worst weather conditions even when you aren’t on call) or have nothing to do. Depending on the company you can be laid off during the slow periods.
Unless you get lucky you won’t be well taught during your apprenticeship, either out of malice by your coworkers who don’t want competition or out of incompetence because they don’t know how to teach effectively. If you have a natural knack for it you’ll be fine (eventually) even with sh*tty teachers but I didn’t so I left. Also any kind of physical work will eventually take its toll on your body.
Basically everyone I worked with had a bad back from having to lift huge compressors for years in weird positions by themselves. If you want to go into this field I strongly recommend saving massively for retirement from day 1 because by the time you reach your 50s you are going to have a really bad time.
Also with the exception of 2 technicians everyone had a really bad attitude. Installers were happier than service technicians but the service guys get paid more.
Security- My number 1 complaint with this career is the hours. It’s unreliable. I work private security so while it pays more than being hired directly by the client (usually) the hours change pretty much every week.
It makes long term financial planning or saving of any kind impossible. Fun fact is that security officers are actually more likely to be killed on the job than police officers. You are expected to enforce rules by the boss without the client actually giving you the authority to do so.
You are expected to put your life/safety on the line for the ungrateful if anything ever goes down (many clients hate us, think we are rent-a-cops, and go out of their way to make our jobs worse). Night security ruins your health.
Also the mind numbing boredom (I’ve honestly probably gotten stupider since doing this job) and having to be on your feet for hours at a time without even the cushion mats that cashiers get would also likely ruin your health if done long enough.”
14. Biology.
“I worked as a field biology tech in conservation for about 6 years out of college.
Did my time in barely paying internships (couldn’t have afforded non-paying), then got an “entry level” job that required at least a couple years experience and stayed there for 4 more years.
Then I changed careers to data analysis. My pay increased by 60% even though I was back into an entry level job.
Working as a biologist was fun and a good way to see parts of the country I never would have seen working in an office. But I’m so glad I got out in my 20s rather than try to make it work as a career.”
Now it’s your turn.
In the comments, tell us what career paths you would advise against.
We can’t wait to hear what you have to say. Thanks.
