People Are Sharing The "Smart" Career Paths That Always Attract Incapable Employees, And It's Too True
In my humble opinion, all work is hard work. But there are definitely some positions that require a higher level of intellect than others. Reddit user u/BandaidPuppet pointed out the irony of these types of jobs, which is that they tend to attract really incapable employees. Thousands of redditors flooded the comments with examples to back up this theory. Here are 21 intelligent career paths that are often pursued by people who have no idea what they're doing:
1."Law. There are many idiots running around as pseudo intellectuals who went to law school because they were 'good at arguing.' So many attorneys don’t realize it’s not about arguing and being an asshole for the sake of being an argumentative asshole — it’s about achieving resolution under the rule of law. The biggest offenders are the oldest attorneys who have gotten away with shit practice for decades and now coast on their names while still practicing like it’s 1982."
2."I've been working in special education for about a decade now, and I've found that it unfortunately attracts a lot of complete idiots. Schools are usually so desperate for support staff, they'll pretty much hire anyone."
3."School administrators. My significant other is a choir teacher and this year her music department received a lot of funding from a donation. The music department made a list of things they NEED. The school admins completely ignored their list and bought a ton of new music stands and smart boards for the band and choir rooms. Now they still don't have the equipment they need, but they have so many music stands, they had to put all of their old stands in storage."
4."Finance really runs the gamut from super bright to dumb as a hammer. Finance is confusing on purpose (lots of acronyms, lots of numbers) and requires salespeople. That's a potent recipe for sneaking dummies into an intellectually demanding profession..."
"...I used to work at a financial firm helping financial advisors manage their clients accounts and OH MY GOD some of them should not be allowed to handle other people's finances. There was one advisor who wanted to apply to trade options on some accounts, even though he didn't even know the basics of options — and no matter how many times it was explained to him, he just didn't understand. He wanted to apply for the highest level of options. That could seriously screw up someone's finances if done improperly. We did not approve him."
5."Nurses. I've met a lot of really clever, friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable nurses. But for every one good nurse, there are five idiots who you're amazed are considered literate."
6."Game development. I knew some people who wanted to go to a highly competitive game design school. A bunch of them were shocked that the application required them to do literally 1000+ drawings. The only guy that made it was the one who was ready to do those drawings and just did it with no complaint. Shocking, I know, but game development is a LOT of work."
7."Restaurant owners. The problem is that so many people with absolutely zero qualifications to open a restaurant somehow want to do exactly that."
8."Industrial workers. Electricians, carpenters, plumbers, mechanics, etc. You need a high amount of skill with math, common sense, working with your hands — the list goes on with the requirements you need to just begin in these jobs. Yet the amount of goddamn idiots I see in these positions is hysterical. The sheer amount of OSHA violations is amazing — especially the ones most people seem to think are ‘too minor’ to be reported."
9."The car business. Most are college/high school dropouts that handle your personal private information, credit, and contracts. I worked in the car business for six years across three states, and I’ve never met a more consistently low standard of employee. It’s all about getting as much money as you can out of every single customer by any means necessary."
10."People become EMTs because it’s easy (compared to med school, at least), so it attracts a lot of Rescue Randys who just want to be a hero. There’s nothing heroic about backboards and driving — trust me, I did it. Unfortunately there are a lot of immature paramedics as well, and a high number of wannabe cops/firefighters who end up in EMS. I’ve spent my entire career in EMS at literally every level, and there are a lot of great medics and EMTs, but the community as a whole has some serious growing up to do."
11."Journalists (I can say this because I am a working journalist lol). Lots of biases and personal agendas are pushed on people, when it was invented to literally be the opposite. Also, it's FULL of narcissists."
12."Law enforcement. It’s a job that should require a high understanding of sociology, justice systems, government, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and interpersonal skills. Instead I often see vitriolic, uneducated, trigger-happy assholes taking those positions."
13."Therapists. Some are great, but a whole lot of others are problematic people who really need to work on themselves."
14."Content creation. You have no idea — I've met successful content creators who I am shocked can tie their shoes."
15."Programming. Don’t get me wrong, all the brightest and most brilliant people I know are developers that I’ve had the pleasure of working with. But earlier today I had to explain to one that -800 + 1000 is in fact not 800, and I had to employ a calculator for backup."
16."Information security. There are so many articles about how we have a shortage of workers in the field. Places are churning out people with certificates in cybersecurity who know nothing about how computers, networks, or the internet work. They can operate tools and respond to rote situations though."
17."Having worked in higher education for almost a decade now, I’m still absolutely flabbergasted by how clueless and incompetent many tenure-track and TENURED faculty are at their own jobs."
18."Animation. I heard from a friend that most of the people who are interested in it now a days are more animation fans, rather than people who genuinely want to know and learn that skill. Thus, they underestimate the time and effort that goes into it."
19."Human resources. It's like it's a requirement to be the worst at organization, communication and ANY knowledge of job descriptions."
20."IT. You would be surprised how many idiots start working in IT and don't actually want to learn anything. Sometimes I wonder how they even got the job."
21.And finally, "Politics. The amount of Karens/Kens that are able to rule and enforce dumbass laws and regulations will always baffle my mind."
Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
