<p>"America's best jobs offer great pay, work that's satisfying, and big growth opportunities. Here are the 100 with the best prospects in the years ahead." Parents, are your progeny headed for any of these?</p>
<p>I don’t see undertaker or funeral director on there, as far as we know they can’t be outsourced! 
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<p>Big emphasis on Math/science-required fields! No surprise there.</p>
<p>CPA: boring</p>
<p>Civil engineer: Growth opportunities in India & China! USA…not so much unless we decide to actually put big bucks towards the infrastructure that desperately needs rebuilding.</p>
<p>civil engineer: D worked for a civil engineering firm as an undergrad. They still can NEVER find enough engineers. There are plenty of opportunities for civil engineers in the private and public sector.</p>
<p>musicamusica - I know two people here in California that have kids that have graduated with civil engineering degrees in the past two years and neither one was able to get a job in that field.</p>
<p>Showmom - where are they looking for jobs in CA? that’s really a big deal right now.</p>
<p>I’m from SoCal, and if they were looking for jobs out toward the inland empire (like 30 mins east of Pasadena where there are TONS AND TONS AND TONS of new housing developments and areas being developed, a new job wouldn’t be hard to find)</p>
<p>Oh, and I plan on becoming a CPA, so thanks there music mom</p>
<p>I didn’t read the list, but another good one is public policy/engineering or whatever the city manager type one is (I forget - my cousin did this and went to UKansas for MPP and now she is an assistant to a city manager in some town in TX and makes 80k, IN TEXAS, as an assistant - 1 yr out of school!)</p>
<p>Binks, I’m an accountant, and do not find it boring at all. And I am an extrovert and very much a people person.</p>
<p>^ I think your post is excellent for pointing out the fact that most of us really don’t have a clue about most occupations. Most of us really do not have inside knowledge to pass judgment. We neither work in the industry nor have done the job yourselves. Instead we rely on a lot of half-baked judgments, data from a few biased sample points, and reliance on a lot of stereotypes. </p>
<p>It really highlights how hard it must be for kids to find a suitable career for themselves.</p>
<p>^^ Well said. In addition - different strokes for different folks. What some people find very interesting others may find boring and vice versa. ‘Best job’ is too subjective of a term to consider. ‘Best opportunities and financial reward’ would be more objective but then it’d be up to the individual to decide if they have even a bit of interest in some of them.</p>
<p>Students should go with what they like, not aim for a “best job”. If they like something on the list it makes sense to consider one of those jobs. There are plenty of other jobs as a physician, two specialties make the list. Of note is the relative stress level for jobs- high in some.</p>
<p>^ Agree with both of you. </p>
<p>Very very hard to predict what will be ‘hot’ for the rest of one’s 40 year career. </p>
<p>And of course, the big challenge is having to a) know oneself (and future self) regarding what one will like and most enjoy, but also b) figuring out what the actual occupation or career path entails. Particularly difficult when the job is one that requires a lot of cognitive effort- the intrinsic satisfaction that comes with certain types of problem solving or cognitive skills is very hard to appreciate and observe from the outside.</p>
<p>…
Cal. is a very tough spot for ANY job right now. I have to take exception with binks09, the inland empire expansion has come to an abrupt halt in the last two years. The Riverside area is only second to Las Vegas in foreclosures and with thousands of homes empty, building is going to be on hold for some time. MomMusic FYI: The Civil Engineering projects D was involved in were in environmental remediation and the firm is based in So Cal and they are still looking. But then again, they are looking for a very specific sort of civil engineers( with experience)</p>
<p>SLUMOM, I think that industry has taken a real hit with the rise in cremations.</p>
<p>Big emphasis on health care. I wonder if cost containment measures in the health care debate would alter the outlook in that field. But it does seem that the emphasis at the top of the list is for people who work on a regular basis with patients, instead of very-highly trained specialist physicians - the list includes physician assistants, physical therapists, nurses, occupational therapists, and primary care doctors, etc. In other words, the somewhat-lower-cost forms of health care that help large numbers of people on a daily basis.</p>
<p>Let’s hear it for boring accountants! D is a jr accounting major, loves it, and already has two internship offers for summer 2011 (both of which come with full-time employment offers post-graduation.)</p>
<p>^ Congratulations to your daughter, scout59.</p>
<p>DH is a CPA and loves his job even better than he first started, that was many moons ago. He strongly encourage DD to follow his step. She is first year in a business program now. Let’s see.</p>
<p>The best jobs in America?</p>
<p>The way things are looking round here any job that pays you a salary is the going to be the “best job in America”</p>
<p>The #1 job is software architect. Software architect? How is that different from systems analyst?</p>
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Well, it’s spelled differently. :)</p>
<p>I’m sure somebody can come up with subtle differences but I think a lot of these software industry terms are poorly defined and all mushed together, and I doubt anybody will convince me otherwise.</p>
<p>I guess it’s possible to have a systems analyst that doesn’t really have much to do with actual software. </p>
<p>But now that you mention it, time to check out wikipedia. After all, some systems analyst/software architect went to the trouble to put it on the web. And I have an MS in IS and still have to look it up.</p>
<p>What bothered me about the job descriptions is that they didn’t describe the path to get one of those jobs, and how easy/difficult that is. Especially for all of the Director positions - you can’t, for example, just decide to become a Sales Director. First you have to have a regular Sales position, and hope to get promoted some day.</p>
<p>I would have also liked to see what education is required for the jobs.</p>