Desire the worst job? Get smart!

Earlier this month (on 14 JUN 2007), Popular Science returned with its famous annual (or bi-annual?) list entitled "The Worst Jobs in Science" for this year.

And this time, Microsoft-haters get more boosts to further make fun of the mega corporation (is Jason Daley/Pop Science picking a fight with Microsoft?):-

1. ComputerWorld: Studying maggots a better job than being a Microsoft security grunt?


2. Zhakonda: По горячим следам=) [I can't read this either ;-)]


3. mi3ch.livejournal: десятка [Is this Russian too? Many hackers from there, so it's natural!]


4. The Borjas Blog: ...The very definition of a live oxymoron...


5. DumbCoder: 10 reasons to be thankful for your job


6. Amazon Newstand: ...Longest To-Do List...


7. Nicki's MOG: Be Glad You May Be a Pencil-Pusher


8. Chocolanata: Don't complain yours anymore! [published on Microsoft Live Spaces]


9. 2-speed: ...work 24/7 to address the security holes in Microsoft’s products...


10. Andrew Hay: Worst Jobs in Science 2007 - Microsoft Security Grunt

Oops, my bad... I love Microsoft!
[I do NOT want to be blacklisted by them]


Say, you think that you are 'brilliant' enough?

If you are accepted for any of these 'worst' jobs, then you'll know that you are brilliant, indeed:-

#10: Whale-Feces Researcher
They scoop up whale dung, then dig through it for clues -- this should be fun, especially if you get to meet Jaws instead.

#9: Forensic Entomologist
Solving murders by studying maggots -- you want them fried easy or done?

#8: Olympic Drug Tester
 Going to Beijing in 2008 anyone?
When your job is drug testing the world’s top athletes, there’s no way to win -- you get to 'play' with drugs and make friends with addicts.

#7: Gravity Research Subject
They’re strapped down so astronauts can blast off

#6: Microsoft Security Grunt
Like wearing a big sign that reads “Hack Me”

#5: Coursework Carcass Preparer
They kill, pickle, and bottle the critters that schoolkids cut up

#4: Garbologist
Think Indiana Jones— in a Dumpster -- Love the trilogy!

#3: Elephant Vasectomist
When your patient is Earth’s largest land animal, sterilization is a big job

#2: Oceanographer
Nothing but bad news, day in and day out

#1: Hazmat Diver
They swim in sewage. Enough said.

“The worst was at a factory pig farm,” says Steven M. Barsky, the author of Diving in High-Risk Environments, the industry bible for hazardous-materials divers. “A guy had driven his truck into the waste lagoon and drowned. Not only was it full of urine and liquid pig feces, the farmer had dumped all the needles used to inject the pigs with antibiotics and hormones in there.” Someone had to recover the body, and the task fell to commercial hazmat divers.

...

The divers are generally well-paid, but hey, so are accountants. “To be an expert,” Barsky says, “you need to be a chemist, a physician, a biologist and 10 other things. Not many people are.”

Read more at this month's issue of Popular Science.

Older lists:-

The top 10 worst jobs in science from Popular Science, 2005:

1. Human Lab Rat


2. Manure Inspector


3. Kansas Biology Teacher


4. Extremophile Excavator


5. Nuclear-Weapons Scientist


6. Volcanologist


7. Semen Washer


8. Do-Gooder


9. NASA Ballerina


10. Orangutan-Pee Collector [You can still stay in Malaysia!]
    

The worst jobs in science from Popular Science, 2003:

1. Flatus Odor Judge


2. Dysentery Stool-Sample Analyzer


3. Barnyard Masturbator


4. Brazil Mosquito Researcher


5. Hot-Zone Superintendent


6. Isolation Chamber Tester


7. Fistula Feeder


8. Prison Rape Researcher


9. Carcass Cleaner


10. Postdoc


11. Metric System Advocate


12. Corpse-Flower Grower


13. Endangered Species Ecologist


14. Astronaut


15. Fish Counter


16. U.S. Stem Cell Researcher


17. Planetary Protection Officer


18. Fusion Researcher

As a self-employed pajamaworking micropreneur, I had a very short salaried-employment experience. But I surely had my fair share of mundane jobs -- as a pizza delivery man [driving around was fun though!], a factory worker [I get to inspect rubber glovers, and 'professionally' trained to pull out those health products out of hot and fast-moving fiberglass hands], a computer programmer [close enough to 2007's Job #6] etc.

My worst job ever was not as bad as Pop Science's #1 in 2007, but close enough -- I once worked at kitchens and dining halls (and a fast-food restaurant) with tasks that involve cleaning pots and pans full of cooking oil residues priorly used for preparing meals consisting bacons, hams, pork etc, and you know how Muslims are suppose be at least 10-foot pole away from those! [I'm exaggerating... Though, after job would be going straight home for complete shower and ablution]

How about you? What was/is your worst job, to-date?

Related books:-

• Tony Robinson's "The Worst Jobs in History" (March 2007) and "The Worst Children's Jobs in History" - Buy them and save at Amazon.