The Worst Jobs in Science: The Sequel

flyingtoaster writes "For the second year in a row, Popular Science published their annual countdown of the worst jobs in science. This year's list includes Anal-Wart Researcher, Iraqi Archaeologist and Landfill Monitor. And you think your job's bad?" We also linked to last year's list.

Comments

Religious radicals?

[Anonymous Coward]

You do realize that over half of Americans reject the standard theories (important word: theories, not laws) for the origin of life and the universe that are presented in secular science education, don't you? And that slightly over 40% of Americans believe that the Bible is the literal Word of God and that the book of Genesis is the true story of our origins?

If it comforts you to use invective like "religious radicals", then so be it. Just realize that you are maligning and impugning over half of the population of America. We are not some small fringe movement. We've opened our eyes and taken a look at the real evidence and know that science is definitely not on the right page either factually or spiritually.

Re:Religious radicals?

[tantrum]

have no problem believing (with a healthy degree of skepticism) the results of experimental science. But the absolute faith in a theory that can't be experimentally tested (and I don't think experiments on a few hundred generations of drosophilia demonstrate a great deal) and which therefore will forever remain unprovable, to me appears ludicrous.

Well, too bad for you. Feel free to play with imaginary friend, then.

God never was and never will be.

If you want to pray to something, pray to the sun, as that prolly is what has given life to the earth. Or you could send all your money to me, and your prayers would be just as likely to come true.

Re:Nurse is on the list, thats really really BAD!

[Erythros]

As the saying goes "If you could walk a mile in my shoes".
Interesting that you should comment on a subject which you know little about.

You are correct to state that nurses make a decent salary based on the numbers you have posted, being "2 years of training". You must realize that these two year degrees you speak of is only after 1-2 years of pre-requisites of college science and psychology, with bachelor programs being more intense and including theory and management skills, much harder than you could imagine.
Your analysis of the nursing shortage is flawed because while you are correct to mention the Problem of "Fleeing" nurses, you balance it with the problem of difficult entrance to nursing schools. For one, many students never actually finish their studies after they realize what they have gotten themselves into. The other problem is this "fleeing" problem is rampant and the number of graduates cannot supplement the supply of RNs leaving. Many RNs leave the profession entirely after only 2-3 years or less and many others go right into their Nurse Practitioner Studies to get out of the bullshit that exists on the unit.

I agree with the person who posted the problems with the profession including lack of IT support to ease the paperwork burden on RNs.

I also agree with the comment indicating the pittance of a salary that a Nurse's Aide receives to do their "shitty" job. There is a serious shortage of good Nurse's Aides to do much of the unskilled care that is often required. Have you ever tried to care for just one ill person??? Now multiply this by 8 or 10 and intesify their illness and needs threefold.

As you may have guessed I am an RN, and yes I have left the profession for the reasons listed above. I am currently self-employed in a sales position and much happier and a hell of a lot less stressed. My reasons for leaving were not financial. When I first graduated and worked in a cardiac unit my thoughts were, "I should have become a stock Broker, it would be less stressful. I'd rather lose someones millions than someone's mother. By the time I left the profession I was making more than many Nurse Practitioners, whom you indicated to be making 70K - 100K. There are many problems plaguing the nursing profession. Good nurses need to be respected for their knowledge, experience, caring, and willingness to put up with everyone else's families.

Re:hypocrite

[Julia Cameron]

• Do you care about the millions that Saddam killed? If so, don't worry, he won't be killing anymore.

Erm... no. That's our job now.

Re:hypocrite

[Julia Cameron]

• What an idiot. Please stop voting. And driving, and handling anything sharp around other people for that matter.

Well, Saddam is in custody. And over a year ago, Chimp Boy landed on a big ship and smirked over a job well done. Oh, aye... sure.

Someone is killing all those Iraqi civilians. It isn't me who is killing them, and neither is Saddam anymore. No, you people, with a wee bit of help from the insurgents, have taken over killing them now.

I'm a structural engineer. If we did as poor a job of putting up the Twin Towers as your so-called 'Intelligence' agencies did by not paying attention to all the reports that came in to their agencies about terrorist threats, those buildings would have collapsed without anyone having to fly planes into them. In other words, if I did my job as incompetently as Condi Rice did hers, I'd be unemployed, or possibly in jail. Yet, Chimp Boy promoted her. So who's the idiot? You lot re-elected him. What you fools call 'the blame game', we call 'accountability'. Oh. And I have a perfect driving record.

Every building my group ever designed is still standing. It's not that we're brilliant -- it's that we know how to do our jobs.

(Usual disclaimer: This is no slur on the soldiers, but on the neocon fools who planned -- and I use that word loosely -- this tragedy.)