Top 5 best careers
- Mathematician
- Actuary
- Statistician
- Biologist
- Software engineer
Top 5 worst careers
- Lumberjack
- Dairy farmer
- Taxi driver
- Seaman
- Emergency medical technician
Most college graduates probably won’t have to worry about being in a profession at the bottom of a “best careers” list, but graduates may still benefit from tracking how in-demand their majors are.
A new job Web site, www.careercast.com, did a study on the best and worst professions, with 200 careers ranked.
The rankings were based on five areas: stress, work environment, physical demands, income and outlook.
The site found top-five best careers were mathematicians, actuaries, statisticians, biologists and software engineers.
“Information technology jobs are one of the safest in the economy,” said Reda Chambers, a student support specialist in the School of Computing and Informatics. “Even with the economy melting down, those positions still need to be filled.”
Chambers added that businesses are always developing software to improve efficiency, including hospitals computerizing medical records.
“Any businesses that want to survive in the future need good IT [professionals],” Chambers said.
Students interested in becoming software engineers will generally need to take math, programming, software engineering and computer courses, she said.
Students should also have the “ability to look at a problem and break it down into smaller components,” Chambers said, as well as a logical mind and an ability to organize.
Matthias Kawski, the soon-to-be associate director of undergraduate programs in the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, said in an e-mail that careers in mathematics are pretty safe as well.
“It appears safe to assume that professionals trained in math are typically in essential positions where they cannot easily be replaced, and as such [they are] in relatively safe positions,” Kawski said.
He also said that most mathematicians generally don’t hold that as a career title.
“As I recall, [the U.S.] Department of Labor Statistics doesn’t even really recognize mathematician as a job — instead mathematicians work under all sorts of names in almost any field,” Kawski said.
He said that some work opportunities for mathematicians include management, health systems, engineering-related fields, government and universities.
Kawski said he encourages students to become interested in mathematics, as it is not the boring major it is made out to be.
“Mathematics is teeming with life, with breakthrough discoveries being made every day,” Kawski said.
It is hard to say whether the study is truly accurate for students, since it depends on the individual person, and demand for certain jobs always changes, which Kitty McGrath, the executive director of Career Services, suggests.
“There is no best major for all students. It’s an extremely individual decision. People are just very, very different,” McGrath said.
Reach the reporter at reweaver@asu.edu.
