Gambling with cards is an obvious field. I've also worked with programmers who seemed to remember every bit of code they'd come across and that was a huge advantage (although it's a bit disconcerting when someone remembers your code better than you do).
I'm a programmer instead. School sucks when people don't understand why you don't need to study, and try to make you do it anyway. I remember essentially every line of code I've ever worked on, though, which can be an asset or a challenge depending - JScript version five is still knocking around in my brain somewhere, confusing my usage of modern Javascript.
Yet, after som prodding questions directed them to find a certain source file, an "if" at around line so-or-so in a 10k line (spaghetti, in my opinion) source file, make a single change, recompile and test. Of course, it worked.
That anecdote changed my understanding of his code. To me, it was badly written, unstructured and so on. (And it was.) But what use is structure and order if you can keep all of it in your head at the same time?
I lose track after a weekend, I need the order.
One way I've used my ability in the past is that, for example, I can just read libraries or documentation and remember them, possibly better than the author does. I've done that for several major and minor versions of Rails, all historical now, but it gave me a significant edge at the time.
On the other hand, as I mentioned, that also means there's a disturbing amount of obsolete information muddying the waters - another commenter here mentioned that he has a hard time distinguishing between his recollections of his own voice vs other people's, in his memories, and that is much how it operates for me - Was that documentation valid for Postgres 7.6, 9.6 or 14.6?
In my view, it would have been better to just spend time to refactor, until anybody in the team would be able to understand it.
That episode reinforced the belief in me that KISS is the best approach in writing code. I try not to write "smart" code but simple, easy to understand, so I can go on vacation or change projects without being constantly dragged into the same codebase.
The problem is with these programmers is that they can very easily work with big, complex spaghetti code bases, so they will rarely take the time to organize their code base in a modular way. Because they can easily fit the whole project in their memory, they don't see the value in make a project modular so you only have to think about a small part of it.
Someone who can perfectly recall a whole medical book does not make him/her a great doctor. Same for lawyers or any other "bookworm" professions.
But to answer your question, I would think a politician. You will look smart and in debates you can always recall your opponents voting history, statements,...
The same would apply to being a journalist. Being a Jake Tapper or similar who remembers everything someone ever said could make you an incredible interviewer.
I am a bit surprised not finding any reference to Lauria's book.
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-mystery-of-s...
One of the most satisfying feelings in the world is when someone has a Weird Error and you can point them to the exact spot in some complicated framework code that's responsible for the trouble they're having.
financial goals would not rank high. If I could remember every single thing I see, I would rather become a lawyer or a doctor where I would be able to have a much higher advantage over others and that would automatically solve any financial problems. If I had a superpower, I would use it to help people as a career path because gambling would get boring real soon as the money aspect of it would just disappear in a week or so (assuming any place allows you in twice).
This is like the one where people who win the lottery become happy for a very short time but very soon after that they either go back their baseline happiness or worse, become depressed.
Running a (perhaps specialized) bookstore seems more fun.
This is an interesting framing of the question. As someone with a bad memory, I definitely like the idea that it's not entirely a weakness.
Nothing else really matters, not even winning. As long as you don't steal from your clients.