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Comment by coolbreezetft22 | Hacker News Reader

Not just young but older as well.. My mother-in-law (who is not in tech) really steered my brother-in-law hard towards job in tech as software engineer thinking it's the greatest job ever - "working in IT is the best job!"

Luckily he graduated just in time a bit under a year ago and managed to sneak right before the hiring freezes happened.

IMO the most stable careers in terms of good demand and pay continue to be nursing and doctor (though probably more stressful and less flexibility)

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Nurse and doctor are not very good when you consider that nurses are not paid that well (unless you are an RN or a specialty nurse), and doctors earn pay comparable to plumbers when you consider the opportunity cost of going to college/being in training until your mid-30s. This is in the US.

It's often much more profitable from a payoff/effort ratio to become something like a Physician's Assistant / Nurse / Lab Tech than to become an actual Doctor nowadays.

Grass is greener on the other side.

I didn't say I think those careers are amazing or better (I don't want to be in them over my current job) but I definitely think they are more resistant to economic downturns and more location-agnostic

In terms of job security nothing beats healthcare though. No matter how well or bad the economy is doing, no matter how many industries crumble, no matter how expensive things get, no matter if currencies go up or down, food is short or in excess, etc., people - rich and poor - will always have health issues. They either live long enough to have many health issues, or they have a big health issue which threatens them of not living long enough.

It's paradoxical that many hospitals laid people off during the early days of the pandemic because they suspended visits/treatments, during the early days, for most non-emergency conditions.

https://www.npr.org/2020/05/10/853524764/amid-pandemic-hospi...

The healthcare industry is not as rosy as you imagine. Yes, demand is inelastic, but stuff like this still happens.

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