Future Careers

[Nicholas]

My question, being a young 24 year old and all, is what jobs and careers will be present after peak oil starts to take a stronger effect in the coming decade.

I’m struggling to find a path in life after discovering about peak oil. I was originally studying business as University but had very conflicting ideas about what was being taught in the school of business, primarily the notion that its good for economies to forever grow under a model of endless consumption, totally bogus theory if you ask me.

What prospects do the younger generation have? I don’t want to invest in a career that has no future... but then again I can’t find any avenue in the future that suggests any of us have a real future...

[Nicole]

Any career where you grow, design, build or repair things by hand.  In a PP world, quality carpenters, builders and repairpersons will be priceless, particularly for durable goods.  Farming, fishing, butchering, cooking, healing... these are all age-old professions.

Avoid careers that involve selling or reselling things, producing consumable goods.  Particularly the middle management and executive classes are going to suffer a rude awakening, and I think they'll do worse than grunt labor types, who at least still work for a living.  Yes, I'm middle management, I do work hard for a living but somehow hours and hours of my week get sucked into conference calls and other time-wasters, and I'm relatively insulated.

*Possibly* computer programming will survive, especially for the online world, in companies that deliver an online service, like learning and web-based software.  I don't recommend subjecting youself to staring at a computer screen all day... get out in the world.

[RobTzu]

Join the military, or a para military, i.e police, border patrol, ATF agent. 

[Thuja]

If you're a woman...Sex Worker. 

 In post World War II German oin the Russian occupied side, many of the women who had lost their husbands to the war were penniless and near starvation.  Many of them turned to prostitution for survival.  Sex for food.  It might come back in style.  This is another very important reason women should do everything they can to prepare for the coming times...to escape the barbarism of a world with few resources and too many people.   

[Wrencher]

Well, no one can really know, but once I heard that in the 1800's and early 1900's in Europe young Jewish men prepared for a professional career (where ever they were living) but also trained for a trade.  I can't really say that this advice was given or taken, it being totally anecdotal, but it makes a lot of sense to me, and that is what I have encouraged my kids to do.  They haven't come to terms with the whole PO change in mindset, and remain conucopians I am afraid..... but we shall see.

So, go and study business - it is always good to know how the business world works.  But learn how to fix cars, chainsaws, lawnmowers.  Learn how to garden, sew, tan leather, bake bread,...all those things.  Lean how to make clothing and shoes.  Learn how to install solar space and hot water systems.  Learn about photvoltaics..... there is no end. 

The only problem might be what to learn first.  No one knows how this situation will play out, so study hard - everything that you can, and plan on learning throughout your life.

All the best

Wrencher

[OldHorseman]

   Some careers for LATOC...

   Bicycle repair and modification.

   Trapping/ furrier/ tanner.

   Blacksmithing. (Traditional.)

   Moonshining.

   Midwifing.

   Alternative / natural medicine.

   Muleskinner.

   Carpentry (old school).

   Mutant Zombie Biker.

   Evangelical preacher.

   Hired gun.
 
   Gunsmithing.

   Undertaker.

[Nicole]

Clockmaking
Tailoring
Toolmaking
Masonry
Brickmaking
Silver/goldsmith
Weaving
Plumbing, esp. gravity fed (you think women are giving up on indoor plumbing?!  Not likely!)
Cobbler
Hatmaker
Bootmaker
Bookbinder
Chandler
Glassblower
Wheelwright
Tavern keeper
Dog trainer, esp. herding, protection and hunting dogs
Musical instrument maker
Potter
Cooper
Trader
Brewer
Winemaker
Beekeeper
Librarian
Sailor
Dowser
Groom and/or horse trainer
Jailer
Farmer (most of the organic and CSA farms take apprentices)
Cowboy
Botanist
Cheesemaking

Lots of stuff!  Some of these trades are obsolete, but may come again.  Those which are not obsolete often have an apprentice system still, like carpentry and plumbing, so having a degree in something else won't mean much.

[OldHorseman]

Clockmaking

   I dunno. Exact time ceases to be important for most folks other than sailors (who need it to navigate sans GPS).

Silver/goldsmith

   Assaying and coin minting especially.

Wheelwright

   I saw a wheelwright's tire-bender at an antique junkyard the other week.  I don't think the proprietor had a clue what it was.

Potter
Cooper

   And Miller... Good rule of thumb: If the trade has become a surname, it's probably worth learning!

Beekeeper

   Yes! I meant to include that one. We need those NOW!

Jailer

   We already have a surplus of those.  I don't think we'll have the luxury of keeping a couple million people behind bars much longer...

   Executioner / hangman perhaps.

  Those which are not obsolete often have an apprentice system still, like carpentry and plumbing, so having a degree in something else won't mean much.

   Keep in-mind that some skills have been modernized to the point that current practitioners will be lost after the crash... Carpenters relying on fancy power tools, blacksmiths relying on gas forges and mig welders...  Try to pick up old techniques and skills in addition to the updated ones, just in case you find yourself having to work with hand tools, coal fire, etc.

[Nicole]

I think telling time will be important; people have been trying to tell the time for thousands of years.  I just don't see a stone-age-era crash coming.  Any trade that flourished 100 or 200 years ago will probably flourish again, although the "luxury" trades will probably be in limited amounts for a while... selling mostly to PO'ers.   A good clockmaker can also repair clocks, and many of them have never modernized much in the production of hand-wound clocks. 

Miller is an excellent occupation idea, especially in places that grow a lot of grain.  It's hard to find a traditional stone mill left for sale -- the few there are that are not in parks or publically held have been snatched up by specialty companies.  The traditional millstones are even harder to find because, well, they work better!  And bigger companies like Bob's Red Mill who don't have a traditional mill use them anyway.  If you can't get a water-powered mill, oxen-power is also an option.

You know, I think I'd like to be a miller.  If history is any indication, no one messes with the miller -- the miller provides such a critical service that even criminals will protect them.  You'd need to keep all the equipment working (right up my alley), and get a portion of everyone else's food.  I have no idea how to grow wheat and such and just never had a knack for corn.

There's a place in So Cal you can go to take lessons in traditional blacksmithing.  Who'd a thunk it? 

[OldHorseman]

If history is any indication, no one messes with the miller -- the miller provides such a critical service that even criminals will protect them.

   Yes... Similar with blacksmiths. (Nobody could function very long in the old days without the smith.)  In the Muslim world, farriers are supposed to be protected by all sides in any conflict.

There's a place in So Cal you can go to take lessons in traditional blacksmithing.  Who'd a thunk it? 

   Not too surprising. ANVIL Magazine was published from California for many years.

[ToledoBass]

There are quite a few Blacksmithing schools in Oklahoma. Blacksmithing is a big business there.

[nobody]

Until the smoke clears and the starving suburbanites have went to the Great-Shopping-Mall-In-The-Sky and the OCB's (Ol' Country Boys) have decimated the MZB's, specialist versus generalist are clearly disadvantaged. If you can do a little of some of the things Nicole and Oldhorseman have posted you would a valuable addition to any post-peak community. A Jack-Of-All-Trades sort of thing. But pre-peak you need a trade or craft that will be valuable now and later. I'm thinking Industrial Electronics or Electrical Engineering which can earn you some pretty decent money now and would make you much sought after post-peak. (solar-arrays, wind generators, etc)

There's a multitude of sources that can increase your knowledge and enhance your survival potential. I'm fond of RFDTV, they have some great shows: Downunder Horsemanship, Beekeeping, Campfire Cafe, Forge and Anvil, etc.

[oliver.rochford]

I have to go with Nobody on this.

Unless you are lucky enough to be financially independant, you are going to be looking at a tradeoff.

You can either go for a profession (and profession is the term, if all crashes, there won't be any 'careers' for a while imo) that will be useful afterwards, or you can go for a career now that will give you freedom to prepare privately.

I originally apprenticed for 3 1/2 years as a printer in Germany. The advantage there is that you literally learned a trade. I learned the theory behind making inks, paints, optical physics and all types of printing, from the old moveable type presses to modern computer-controlled lasers.

Then I did a 2 year course in Office Communications, which includes planning, management etc.

Lastly, I did an Engineering Diploma in I.T System integration.
Even though that will not be majorly helpful in the future, I now earn enough cash to
a. Buy some of the stuff I'll need
b. Time willing, in a couple of years buy a large plot of land (real estate in the UK is horrendously priced)
c. Gives me the resources to plan ahead and prepare myself.

My partner and I are currently looking for a larger plot of land as I mentioned above, mainly to get her and my families on the estate with us.
Our parents are probably better suited....my father for example being a metal worker (old-school apprenticeship in the sixties) and general builder, my brother is in I.T but is originally an electronics engineer and my mother was a seamstress.

My girlfiriends parents are similar in as they have trades too.

The point I am making is that there are several ways to rome In a post carbon world, things will go back to the local scale, meaning people will be less specialised, and people will find all kinds of uses for their skills and know-how.

Specialised professions are for the most part a symptom of our industrialised lifestyle.

cheers
Ollie

[Nicole]

I am a specialist in leading development teams of programmers.  That doesn't mean I don't know how to grow, preserve and cook food and sew (from scratch without a pattern, not just mending) and any number of other useful PO skills.

Just because you are a "specialist" on blacksmithing or whatever doesn't mean you won't have a range of skills in your belt to get you by.  But when the dust settles a bit, that specialized ability can make you a much more valued (and wealthy, as thing as judged then) member of a community.

[lfietree76]

Well, farming, perma-culture springs to mind, will need lots of those, particularly if the powers that be try to substitute ethanol for gasoline, food will be that much more expensive. 

Farriers (black smiths that specialize in shoeing horses) are going to be needed.  A good one can shoe 8 horses in a day, so that's 4 farmer's teams if each team is 2 animals.  Sounds like a growing business to me 6-8 years down the road for sure, and maybe as few as 4. 

If your science inclined a nurse or doctor that specializes in wilderness/third world medicine and of course herbology.  Get to know your area's medicinal plants, somebody's going to have to know how to treat high blood pressure and head aches when Bristol Myer's Squibb etc. go under.