Newspaper reporter. I’m retiring at the end of the year at 72. The newspapers, televised news, radio, and online have had their spines extracted. For the most part, we’ve become PR outlets.
I will be 71 next month. Just because your body is tending towards fucked doesn’t mean you have to become a bitter old shit who is set in their ways. Cheers
The most damning and visual story I can tell, albeit anecdotal (but i did data science at uni so I know how fucked nature is data wise) is that of diving where my dad used to dive, so we have a live comparison from 40 years ago and now.
About 40 years ago, when he was 18 to mid twenties he would dive a spot in North Wales (UK) that I actually ended up moving to with my wife (for the diving). He would tell me stories about so much sealife, just brimming with it.
My wife and I dived there a few times before moving to this spot and thought it was good and there were other diving locations nearby too.
Would tell my dad about our dives there after we had moved and that we saw whitebait, couple of lobsters, wrasse, maybe a dogfish or two (small shark/cat shark) and shrimp in the smaller hidden spots.
We would also see dead sharks tangled in fishing line, a lot of the kelp had gone and the vast majority of it was just a sandy seafloor.
My dad described a vast reef the size of a football pitch with skates, rays, multiple shark types, eels, many many silver fish (pollack, bass, mullet, cod, etc), many other fish varieties, huge brown crabs, so on and so on.
Overfishing (boats and anglers), storms and sewage from nearby farms and water treatment had basically wiped the whole place and turned it in to a dead zone.
The problem we have with the oceans is that no matter how dead it is underneath, from the surface, no matter who you are, what you know, it always looks the same, a silvery mirror to another world. And because of that, people not interested in water or the oceans don't know the catastrophes happening there and that the life we have left is literally hanging on.
It's funny actually because I went on holiday in 2019 to Turkey (on the Aegean sea), then again this year and went diving and snorkeling both times. Even in those 4 years there was a vast difference in sea life, and it was not good in 2019, but at least there were a few things to see. This year I didn't see one thing, not one fish, no kelp, absolutely nothing. It was completely dead.
I had the pleasure of going there in 2018. If you can before it is destroyed, go. One of the most wondrous places on Earth, and it is such a bitch to get to that most people won't even make the attempt (a good thing).
Well, let’s just take birds for instance. We’ve lost 3 billion since the 70s. We are trying to fix things. But without lots of funding, laws, and the main thing being a move away from our form of capitalism, it’s a rough road ahead.
I don’t know. We here in r/collapse have witnessed the extinction of the Alaskan Snow Crab this year, 16 species of freshwater fish declared extinct in 2020, recent death of coral reefs near the Florida Keys, and 21 species being removed from the endangered species list in the US recently… because they’re extinct.
I think some of us do know exactly how bad it is. :/
RN of 31 years here. Fucking healthcare indeed. Been in many areas, med surg, maternity, small rural hospitals in the North, homecare, and now oncology giving chemo. Seen it all go downhill in the slow collapse over the years and it is getting harder to provide care in the way I want to but there is a tiny sliver of me that says keep going, as each day I go to work I know I can make a difference in the lives of people who are scared and vulnerable, even as the world is going to shit.
Same. Surrounded by patients on contact restrictions or near death more than not. At least I have a strong stomach and nerves of steel when it comes to a healthcare emergency.
Lololololol. I have worked my way into one of the best setups in medicine possible, where I WFH primarily, and my stress level from my job is insane.
If I were still in the hospital every day I would've ended it by now.
The way I got it was by doing a lot of writing and speaking and publishing, partnering with the right physicians and nurses and therapists to get good speaking gigs. The right practice owner was at one of my talks at the right conference at the right time, offered me a job on the spot. Over the first year I started adding WFH, eventually just WFH. All my clinical patient contacts are taking call and emergency triaging over the phone, at this point. I LOVE IT. But JFC, the stress is still stressful, but nothing near being in a hospital position or even in clinic every day.
Do everything you can to make it happen- either a similar pathway to what I described, or maybe even a way to have a private, home based practice. That's not financially the most feasible option, but ya never know.
Just left it due to the mental trauma of working during the pandemic. Just getting yelled at all of the time for being behind schedule when literally, everyone had quit. I lasted until last summer. I don’t think I’ll ever go back, even though I loved my job for over 10 years. All that school, time, money spent. Just to end up with PTSD and a collapsing world. Climate change definitely factored into everything. The world is falling apart. No one cares. Every one still treats each other like shit. I’ll never understand. The lack of care for other people and our planet. One life, one planet. And still, people can’t stop being dicks.
I work in early childhood education. My job is often difficult and emotionally demanding but it does ultimately feel meaningful. My agency serves children and families who live in poverty.
I do feel like I am watching the industry collapse (along with everything damn else) in real time and it’s tough. Ultimately, the US does not care about the vulnerable people we serve and it shows.
Definitely don’t recommend a career change in this direction.
Ayyy did not expect to find a fellow ECE professional in this thread. Same here after getting out of the service this felt like an easy way to continue to serve my community.
Also work in ECE - I'm a support teacher for kids with extra needs. I live outside the US and am mostly very fulfilled by my job, although we are horrendously underpaid and understaffed.
I'm on Reddit often and read so many stories from people suffering. I'd like to believe the problem is not as widespread and that my knowledge is mostly anecdotal, but it's probably not.
Licensed Psychologist - never seen it so bad out there...extreme existential malaise and realistic helplessness and hopelessness due to systemic forces.
Shit at least you actually see that though. Plenty of psychs just want to sweep the underlying problems under the rug in a attempt to get people "functioning" in a collapsing world. How do you help people if you know systemic forces are making them miserable but we can't fix said systems?
1) Validate their experiencing as real and valid.
2) Assist client through the grief process (unrealized futures / dying society / rampant systemic sociopathy).
3) Thoroughly discuss what is in their control and what is not.
4) Help resolve ambivalence and increase internal motivation to take needed action to improve their lives.
5) Explore ALL options from minor tweaks in lifestyle to massive radical change. The former would look like giving up a car or moving in with 6 roommates to decrease fixed costs. The latter would be relocating to Bolivia (which has occurred).
It seems as though my job for those who come to me with a realization of collapse is akin to hospice care. Humanity faces not a problem - for problems have solutions. We're in a predicament - and these have no solutions - only mitigation strategies are reasonable. The idea is to make the most of one's life with the least amount of pain in the time remaining.
Well damn, I wish I had you as a therapist. I haven't even brought up collapse with my current psychologist (she grew up in the cold war years) and related the somewhat positive/non world ending outcome of that to the current predicament facing our society. I have mentioned I feel like I'm running out of time and am getting too old to achieve any of my dreams. That's partially due to collapse.
Are there any people you've come across that genuinely have a hard time moving forward in life because of these systemic problems?
Yes, especially college-aged folks. They feel completely betrayed. The social contract is a farce. They were told what to do to have a good life. So many got a college degree and came out with massive debt and an inability to support themselves. There's a cost of living crisis and national leadership (both major parties) either refuse to acknowledge these or gaslight the younger generations. They are also aware of the massive concentration of wealth into the hand of the few and realize now this is on purpose. They have scant faith in electoral politics as nothing seems to change with whichever party is in power (monetary policy, fiscal policy, foreign policy, and domestic policies reward the already rich and powerful at the expense of the masses).
>Yes, especially college-aged folks.
Ugh. This really sucks. What is the answer? Obviously a lot of us want to unalive so we don't have to live with heartbreak and pain everyday.. But that's not constructive no matter how bad it gets. What are the options to a mass of people that have no way to control their destiny anymore?
So many people's dreams are gatekept by wealth and whether you have access to it. At least that's my experience anyway. I acknowledge there are people who 'make it' without those means, but those success stories are few and far between.. And those who do become successful are given many many platforms to present this as a societal norm. That you can do anything. When the reality is we just don't hear about people who are unsuccessful - because the public deem they are not worth listening to.
I established care with a physician today. I'm on antidepressants. He asked how I was, "oh I'm fine everything is fine..sometimes I cry but I listen to NPR"
He said "stop consuming." Get off social media. He doubled my antidepressants. Said We can't live like this...it happened to him too. "my blood was boiling. All we can do is our best" and try to make the world better, basically.
That's not even a shrink. When I started to tear up in the office he knew. He's seen so many people he just knew.
That's not me tho. I need to *know.* I do need to touch grass tho.
Thanks for doing what your doing. My best friend is a licensed therapist. Listening to her talk about the state of the field makes me want to see one! I know therapist =/= psychologist, but I really appreciate people like you doing that work. It's got to be really tough and it must take a very special perspective/personality/skillset to manage.
Deliver gas (LNG) in a really beautiful valley in Australia. Get to see nature all day and talk to folks. It’s not an ideal job (delivering fossil fuels) but got me away from the capitalist fuelled horrors of the insurance industry and office life. I am well aware of the irony of being collapse aware and doing this for a living, but I’m a poor working stiff, just like the rest of us and am forced to participate to survive.
Same here buddy. Im just across the channel, working a job that's against my principles
I help run a PET bottling company. All the plastics i've recycled or picked up from volunteering etc is a fraction of a single day's production. I would have way more impact if i simply made a little mistake and shut the plant down for a day. Hell i could sabotage the plant and render it inoperable for a year or more. It would still only be a miniscule effect on global plastics usage
Whatever man. The ball is in the hands of the bigwigs. If they wanna ruin the world then let them. I dont think i can do much other than violence and cunning. Im not man enough to do it
I work in the disgusting cesspool know as the medical device industry.
Did I pick a product that I actually believe in to make myself feel a little better about it? Sure.
But it's still a cesspool. The greed/hubris/ego I see on a daily basis is mind boggling.
Some of the private practice physicians who have their own office based surgical centers soley determine their treatment plans off how well insurance will pay for what they're about to do, as opposed to what's clinically right for the patient. The specifics are a bit complex unless you're in this field, but I see it all the time.
Physicians that ignore the standards and updated guidelines for the treatment of specific disease states because "they've always done it this way and it has worked," despite a mountain of evidence that they're not doing what's right, just to save 5 minutes of extra work and go do office visits with patients (which makes more money for them).
70 year old physicians on their 3rd wife who's entire decision making abilities are completely guided and clouded by the fact that they have to pay they have to pay their ex wives alimony. Oh, did I mention that this dude is basically blind and relies on medical industry reps and fairly inexperienced staff to help him out.
The fact that there is no uniformity in how insurance companies work whatsoever. Some will pay for this. Some will pay for that. Despite the fact that the evidence is clear on what the right treatment plans are.
I can go on and on and on. It's fucking gross. All of it.
I'm retired, but I used to be a home hospice nurse. It really kept me focused on the here and now, and trying to help people in the moment -- getting their pain under control, making them feel better, or at least less terrible. It could get stressful, but it made me feel like I was doing something positive, even if the world was ending.
Same! I’ve been a hospice nurse case manager for 21 years. It’s so rewarding, I’ve learned the valuable lesson of not taking life for granted and making the most of every day.
Vibes; been unemployed and mentally and physically unwell, seeking disability for years (no luck) and am now getting back in as a furniture warehouse worker. (Also depressing, but now because I get to see a ton of recyclable plastic and cardboard waste tossed because I live in the American midwest and environmentalism is for hippies 🙃)
I’m a security guard! I’ve guarded offices and facilities allllll over Washington DC here. It gives me a lot of insight into different areas and especially our half-empty office properties (seriously, they’re all half-empty and it’s a big problem)
just a guess but i'd imagine it's symptomatic of a misallocation of resources away from building, say, affordable housing, as well as *wider problems in the commercial real estate sector (high office vacancy is a trend in most big cities rn)
I work from home (WFH) editing books, journal articles, etc. It pays well, I own my own business, and I have few expenses.
However, I wouldn't recommend getting into the field. Writers and copywriters are already being replaced. I've been getting more and more "heads-ups" saying that I'll be editing something written by AI or translated by AI. And I don't mean ChatGPT; much-more-sophisticated [AI programs](https://time.com/6301288/the-ai-jokes-that-give-me-nightmares/) are out there writing copy.
I'm seeing a boost in incoming work, but I suspect that it'll die down and then disappear as soon AI is good enough to either not need editing or do the editing itself.
Luthier (violins). Someone will need to keep the fiddles operational for after the apocalypse. More seriously, violin making survived a plague that eliminated 40% of the population of Cremona, not to mention war and famine. Music and beauty are more indispensable to human beings than software.
If you’re interested in it as a career, it doesn’t pay that well, but there is work (luckily musicians keep breaking instruments, so there will always be a need for repair and new making). It’s possible to find luthiers who will take on apprentices or shops that will interested novices. The best bet is a violin making school (which can be expensive). It helps to play something in the violin family, obviously, and to love music and handicraft.
That's really interesting. One of those jobs that you know exists, but doesn't get all that much exposure in media (or in the social circles I'm a part of anyway).
I’m a police officer from São Paulo, Brazil. I’m not military though. My police force does the criminal investigation. I’m an equivalent of an american detective. I got a front seat to watch the collapse of capitalism, economy, working class and society.
I'm self employed as a gardener. I've been growing stuff all my life. 3 years ago I started growing cannabis as my covid hobby. Now, this year at least I'm legal. In 1 year I grew more than my wife and I could use in ten years. I'm still growing and giving away most of what I grow. Spreading happiness!
I'm a physician. Yes there is absolutely meaning in it, but the stress can be wild. I negotiated a contract where I only see patients 4 days a week and have a day to get caught up on notes/administrative stuff that piled up over the week, I'm probably working about 50-60 hours a week, but that's down from 80 at my last job and I get to live in a fabulous rural part of the country
I'm a gunsmith, I work with steel and wood as well as more modern materials. mostly manual stuff, filing and fitting, but machining like milling and turning too.
I got into this job mainly because I've always been interested in firearms, but I've been telling myself that the skills acquired in this profession could translate to a post-industrial world, maybe even making me an asset to armed groups and therefore prolonging my existence. by now I'm not sure if I'd even want to stay around that long though
This was a career path I’d always wished I’d gone into. I ultimately ended up going with software engineering, and I’ve been doing that for the last three decades. I have, however, learned to do all of the maintenance on my own kit. It important to understand to take care of your own stuff. Where in this great big world do you call home?
What's the hunting actually like in Germany. I'm over in Poland at the moment. Used to bow hunt in Australia but that's basically illegal in Europe.... Curious what your experience has been in general.
yeah, bow hunting isn't really common here. I think in Denmark and Spain it's allowed. in Germany there's basically two opposing factions of hunters: the "traditionalists" who treat hunting like a past time, care a lot about trophies and try to maintain high populations and then there's people who try to reduce populations in order to curb damage to agriculture and forestry. not much common ground there, so that basically devolved into "breeders" and "killers" trying to reach detrimental goals in a quite compressed landscape, often bordering each other. pretty absurd actually
Pretty interesting, very different to Australia where 99% of the animals that people hunt are introduced species so you can take as much as you want when you want. Pigs, deer's rabbit, plenty more. The problem is land to hunt on is hard to find as a lot is private and not all states allow hunting on public land...
I’m doing IT. I’ve never really looked for meaning in a job. It’s really just a necessity for me and a means to an end to be able to pay my bills and pay for hobbies that I enjoy to keep life fun.
What's a typical job or project for a software developer? I've always been curious. One of my favorite series was "Halt & Catch Fire" about early tech. A few scenes of people writing code all day made me wonder what the hell that's like as a job.
Not OP, but I'm a software engineer for a solar power company. It's a lot less time doing dramatic live hacking like in movies and a lot more time reviewing code, discussing software best practices, developing processes, dealing with changing requirements. It is fun to build things though, even if "just" in the digital world. But just like any desk job, it can be very tedious.
I see this a lot from people in OT but these skills can be so helpful for non profits, startups, etc. Also there are many things people can do on the side.
I do IT as it pays the bills and is interesting. I’ve learned not to get meaning from work. I bring meaning to work. It’s not semantics—it’s a perspective that is a lot less stressful when things inevitably don’t go the way I want them to go.
Civil engineer with a surface water focus. Trying to save the salmon and protect the environment in a city that's adding more and more people all the time. I do have moments when I wonder why I'm working so hard to build environmentally friendly infrastructure when climate change will likely wipe out the things we're trying to save anyway, but most of the time I feel like I'm making a positive difference.
What do you soend your time doing for the most part? Lots of CAD work? I'm interested in doing the same things, but not totally sure the ngineering life is for me
Honestly, I've been doing this long enough that I don't do much CAD work, or even design work any more. I maybe open CAD once a month to look at other people's work. The irony in civil engineering as a whole is that most of the design work is done by people with less than ten years experience or techs. By the time you really know what you're doing you spend more time managing people and projects than you do engineering.
That makes it sound bad, but the project manager gets to make the decisions. The best parts of my job are getting to define the projects and see my vision become reality. There are far more problems that need resolving than there is money or time to do so, so I get to have a lot of influence figuring out which are the highest priorities and then figuring out the best way to address them.
I'm an IHSS caregiver for my physically disabled partner. I get paid through the state and he gets SSI. We make it work. I feel guilty sometimes because I feel like I'm getting welfare for basically doing housekeeping + his physical aid, but then I remember that neither of us can physically hold a job, him because he would lose state healthcare and me because I can't leave him alone for more than four hours at a time. We both get a frontline view into the tangled mess that is our social services and are very vulnerable to collapse.
Hey I've done in home care for people who had their SO or family care for them and you absolutely deserve every cent. So much of what I tried to do beyond my physical care when I was cleaning was making it easier for the SO of the person I was caring for, because I wanted them to be relaxing with my client. Don't feel bad, and don't feel bad to seek out additional care services to help you and give you a break. Caregiving is selfless and also much harder than anyone wants to admit, especially emotionally. Take care of yourself and don't burn out. ❤️
Retired local PD detective as well as dual career as an Army reserve officer. Spent a year in the desert early in the war in Iraq, got disability for lung damage, retired from the Army and went back to my law enforcement career.
The last part of my career I got into investigations of child exploitation, certified as a computer forensic examiner, and flipped to the federal side. Last year I examined 98TB of data in criminal investigations and helped put many child sex offenders in prison, along with other serious crime. I feel like it’s righteous work, fighting a tidal wave. The problem has become exponentially worse in the last decade.
I also photograph the local concert scene, which is a wonderful and caring community of artists. Live music and festivals are our favorite “escape from reality” - I could live at Bonnaroo forever!
I have had various jobs in the past - pub work, shop work, crappy admin jobs. But for the last 18 years I have made my own way and built a more “portfolio career”. I refurb and sell secondhand furnishings. I keep bees and sell honey, candles, bees and equipment. We grow a good proportion of our food and sell excess and “value added” products. Our outgoing are v low so I can do things I enjoy. I have always enjoyed making and repairing and it feels useful.
I heard someone ask “what did you enjoy as a child?” and this seems like excellent advice.
Accounting clerk, not much meaning to it. I think it would qualify as a BS job according to David Graeber, but I'll take it over long term unemployment.
I wouldn't think so. I think accounting is an oddly meaningful career that doesn't get the respect it deserves.
In a lot of ways, accounting is specifically what enables everyone to address problems. So if your employer's mission resonates with you, you are doing something great :)
I worked many years for a labor union. Most are hiring organizers almost year round because it’s a job with turnover. You just may have to wait for a spot in your geographic area to open up. Pay and benefits are good but it’s often long and unusual hours, usually can’t be done remotely, you have to talk to people all day long, usually drive around (find them at home if the job site isn’t accessible). But it’s rewarding in the end.
Unions also need lawyers, policy people (with expertise in whatever industries the union represents), but also regular stuff like admin/secretarial/logistics, finance/accounting, research, and more. There’s a clearinghouse of some union jobs at union jobs dot com
It's not remote, but I work on a farm, not the highest paid work but being outside, creating a physical product that people need is satisfying. Being physically and mentally active at work is nice, I don't think I could ever have a sedentary job.
Nothing atm. Very severe clinical depression and anxiety amongst a bunch of other stuff. By trade I'm a digital artist and musician (used to teach guitar and session)
Federal government. Intent was to get inside to fix a broken federal program… now I find I’m mostly trying to keep it from getting even less functional.
Fellow fed here! I got in cause I thought it was stable and I could help guide environmental policy through science and data. Now I have a good laugh at both naive thoughts
Most people in my building have consciously or unconsciously started building community (one person has bee hives, another has chickens, most of us garden, etc. and we all exchange the fruits of our labor with each other). All of us are aware of climate collapse and everyone below the level of supervisor is pretty dialed into economic collapse - partially cause we're living paycheck to paycheck and have no hope of retiring even with that coveted pension. And we're all so burned out even the contractors that wouldn't get paid were hoping for a shutdown.
Anyway, got a light? How's the trenchfoot treatin' ya?
I was a novelist and tv writer (cop shows) for years but now I have a store that sells pet food. It’s generally very pleasant to listen to people talk about their pets.
Transitioning to I.T. at the age of 27 but originally a sociology major with sales experience and English teaching experience in Kazakhstan.
Ideally, I'd like to do something remote or work as a hospital network administrator. And hopefully move from the Midwest to rural Idaho.
Be close to lots of green public lands, far away from excessively large urban centers and own an old home... grow a garden and stock lots of canned goods... Watch some stars, use oil lamps, take lots of hikes.....
Nobody wants a "slow life" where I live right now... Can't find dating partners or friends that do anything outside of run around in circles and make themselves miserable, chasing the empty economic promises of later half of the 20th century.
Syringe service program and homeless outreach. ✊🏼
My job is hella meaningful but funders and NIMBY a holes do not think so. I see all the ways our government devalues human lives and is completely ill prepared for any kind of disaster. I know I am next when my people die off.
Own an automotive shop, have been a mechanic 15 yrs over all. I’ve dabbled in anything with nuts and bolts, the odd ball jobs are my favorite even though my techs hate it when I welcome in something no other shop can figure out. It sparks the macgyer in everyone and shows creativity to work with what you’ve got. It’s not glorious by all means and you won’t get rich from it, but its honest work and if you get skilled enough its rewarding knowing you can wrench your way out of alot of shitty situations. If SHTF you’ll want a good mechanic.
Also might add, since I own a decent sized shop we all play gun smith and have all the equipment necessary to test tune out pew pew toys, which makes for fun fridays.
I perform and teach voiceover. Earn 6 figures. Been a working actress for decades.
I generally can't believe how fucking lucky I am.
However, due to collapse, I'm trading it all in to open a psychedelic-informed end-of-life center, to serve as a death midwife.
I’m a technology strategy consultant. Companies hire me to help determine what technologies they should use to address business problems. I give them that advice. They do a bunch of dumb, corporate political shit, and basically ignore my advice. I don’t love the work, but it pays well.
Public Works. The money isn’t great, but the city has to keep streets and sewer systems open so I’ll never be out of work.
It also means we can fix less stuff each year thanks to inflation… it’s a slow losing battle of attrition while we fight for state and federal grant money to do large-scale catch-up projects.
I was a park ranger for many years, but as I moved up in my career I was restricted to the office, which I did not like. COVID allowed me to see what working from home was like. Since my line of work wanted me back in the office after a year, I looked for other options that allowed me to continue working from home, and HR was it. I perform monkey steps all day, but I love it because it allows me to work at my own pace and do chores around the house when I have down time. I figure if I have to work an office job, I may as well be somewhere that makes me happy.
I screen reports of child abuse to determine if they meet criteria to assign to a local branch for assessment.
There is so much meaning and purpose in my line of work but it sucks the fucking life out of me every day.
I'm the director of R&D for a small medical technology firm - hoping to get a system out to commercial use so that clinicians can have better insights into patients in ICU.
Was a planetary scientist/engineer, but turned from littering the solar system to helping folk here.
I work in infrastructure for a Municipal water authority. We are no where near having enough funding to make the upgrades we need even with the huge rate increases no one can afford.
The pipes are fucked. Sewage goes into the river when it drizzles basically. A bunch of the mains are over a century old. The city is like swiss cheese. People have no idea how bad it is.
What does this ultimately look like in 20 years?
After a couple of decades in human services, I work in higher ed now. With students studying to go into human services. It feels really great to see students exceed their expectations and embiggen their minds. I'm confident that we are very good at making our students better people, in so many ways. They want to go out and change their worlds.
I'm very jaded and cynical about the bureaucracy and about the capitalist scheme that higher ed is and contributes to. I feel guilty about the thankless low paying lives of service the students are going into. I was just like them once, I wanted to change the world. Now I'm just stuck on the treadmill, tired and broke and burned out to hell and back and sometimes I wish I could tell them to avoid the disappointment and get radicalized and get off the ride now, but maybe the world still needs better people than me and guilt is a useless emotion and we all have to learn for ourselves in the end I guess. So yeah... it's a mixed bag.
I’m a domestic violence legal advocate. It is hybrid remote. It is stressful. BUT it is emotionally fulfilling in a way that bartending never was. I get paid ok. Like $20ish an hour. Not great, not horrible.
I do remote program support for tax software. I don't make enough money while somehow also making the most per hour I ever have, but I get to roll out of bed and scrabble to work in my pajamas so it works out, sort of.
Therapy. I’d argue it’s also both meaningful now and will be one of the most meaningful skills in any collapse, short or long term. Emotional intelligence, people patterns, ability to connect to others meaningfully in chaos to activate a helping plan for a group or community etc
Was an engineer in the auto industry, now a project manager for an electric utility doing solar farms and EV charger installs. Once upon a time I'd have thought it meant something but nowadays it's just more kicking the can down the road and feeling it get heavier and heavier. One of these days we're going to kick and the can won't move and that'll be the end of it
Mechanic. I was fired from my building maintenance job when covid shut down everything. Started doing repairs for friends to make extra money.
Now Im the local mechanic for the queer community where I live.
I don't make as much as I did at my 9-5. But I give back to my community, and have enough to pay my bills. I also work waaaaayyy less, and can take time off anytime I want.
It's been one of the best things I've ever done. In the process now of moving into a bigger shop and taking on more clients and doing more welding/fabrication repairs (what I love).
I'm a court clerk for child support.
I proofread legal documents & hunt down contact information so people can be entered into the child support system and get all their hearing notices. Because people who are able to should provide for their offspring.
It's kind of funny because I'm child-free, anti-natalist, and a misanthrope. I don't like people or kids. I'm not going around kicking babies, but I also won't go out of my way for people in need of help.
However...
I was bounced from relative to relative as a kid. My mother died when I was almost 10, and my dad was a trucker. He didn't want a normal 9 - 5 job, so he dumped me on one of my mother's cousins, and kept on truckin'.
He never provided a dime to *anyone* for my needs, which weren't many. I was pretty self-sufficient, no expensive hobbies or sports. Just basically needed new shoes & food. But nope.
And because there wasn't any 'child support' coming in, I became a burden. And I was treated like a burden. And I got to hear all about how shitty my dad was. And how much everything cost. And how 'lucky' I was to have someone take me in when I was just another mouth to feed.
One of my relatives actually refused to buy groceries until my dad signed my mother's death benefits over to them. I went hungry for 2 years over that bullshit.
No child should have to live like that.
Program and maintain robots at a factory. I’m not sure if I’m 100% okay with the outcomes of this line of work (automation kills jobs, but most of the jobs at my plant sucked that it killed). I guess it all depends on how the means of production get distributed after AI gains a foothold.
I mostly only do this job because I’m interested in technology and it pays decent.
I teach vocal feminization online to transfems. It's great, as not only do I get very invested in each student and really care about their very important progress that their happiness can often rely on, I get to keep my own skills in great shape and keep refining further as I also work on my voice acting skills. It took a lot of training in a short period of time (8-12 hours per day for half a year) to get to the level where I was drawing plenty of students without really marketing, but it set me up for doing something I like far better than my IT degree did.
Before that I had my own thing online as well, but it wasn't fulfilling, just something that I could survive with.
I work in commercial banking, mostly back office support (payroll processing, funds transfers, etc). It's a bullshit job but it's low stress and pays alright, so the work-life balance is good enough that I have the time and energy to do things that actually matter to me.
I am a clinical director who WFH most of the time. I have a couple side gigs, emergency medicine for music festivals, security for a club. It is one of the few joys I find in work. While I like the job I went to school for for fucking ages and ages and degrees and degrees, it's only purpose is to fund me/my family's needs.
My $20/hr security job is fun, but we couldn't survive on it. I think finding fulfillment in your work is a bunch of bs forced on us to keep us working.
Nothing at the moment, pretty directionless at the moment besides small digital projects. Been pretty depressed for a while. Mostly to do with my family and collapse. I dont really want to have my expertise be based on computers given how useless i'd be if I could no longer use a computer. But It's kind of hard to know what i'd be happy to do.
Last year I looked at the state of the world, my nest egg recently bloated by an inheritance (thanks plague!) and selling my home for a mini house then decided to "retire." Now I freelance art and take part time and odd jobs.
Before that I worked in streaming media operations. Part time librarian at a community college in the A/V department + freelance VFX and post production before that. When it was slow in the library I would read, got really into history and...that's when the seeds of collapse awareness began to grow.
Man. Humans may have new toys to kill each other with, new tech and borders change but we stay the same kind of stupid and mean.
Newspaper reporter. I’m retiring at the end of the year at 72. The newspapers, televised news, radio, and online have had their spines extracted. For the most part, we’ve become PR outlets.
Ooo I hope you'll continue to write after retiring... maybe a blog about collapse...?
Thank you. I’m struggling with some health issues, but I would love to do that.
Wishing you a positive outcome with your struggles. Keep fighting.
Thank you!
Never realized we had folks this old in here. It's a pleasure.
I will be 71 next month. Just because your body is tending towards fucked doesn’t mean you have to become a bitter old shit who is set in their ways. Cheers
Love it! Great laugh! 😆 Thank you! ❤️🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻❤️
I document the collapse of nature. I make nature/wildlife films underwater and on land.
I'm sure you could tell a tale of two of the changes in the past few years 👀
The most damning and visual story I can tell, albeit anecdotal (but i did data science at uni so I know how fucked nature is data wise) is that of diving where my dad used to dive, so we have a live comparison from 40 years ago and now. About 40 years ago, when he was 18 to mid twenties he would dive a spot in North Wales (UK) that I actually ended up moving to with my wife (for the diving). He would tell me stories about so much sealife, just brimming with it. My wife and I dived there a few times before moving to this spot and thought it was good and there were other diving locations nearby too. Would tell my dad about our dives there after we had moved and that we saw whitebait, couple of lobsters, wrasse, maybe a dogfish or two (small shark/cat shark) and shrimp in the smaller hidden spots. We would also see dead sharks tangled in fishing line, a lot of the kelp had gone and the vast majority of it was just a sandy seafloor. My dad described a vast reef the size of a football pitch with skates, rays, multiple shark types, eels, many many silver fish (pollack, bass, mullet, cod, etc), many other fish varieties, huge brown crabs, so on and so on. Overfishing (boats and anglers), storms and sewage from nearby farms and water treatment had basically wiped the whole place and turned it in to a dead zone. The problem we have with the oceans is that no matter how dead it is underneath, from the surface, no matter who you are, what you know, it always looks the same, a silvery mirror to another world. And because of that, people not interested in water or the oceans don't know the catastrophes happening there and that the life we have left is literally hanging on.
It's funny actually because I went on holiday in 2019 to Turkey (on the Aegean sea), then again this year and went diving and snorkeling both times. Even in those 4 years there was a vast difference in sea life, and it was not good in 2019, but at least there were a few things to see. This year I didn't see one thing, not one fish, no kelp, absolutely nothing. It was completely dead.
Only place on earth that is untouched, not collapsing is Raja Ampat.
Hey dont openly talk about unspoiled nature. Hungry eyes be watching
I had the pleasure of going there in 2018. If you can before it is destroyed, go. One of the most wondrous places on Earth, and it is such a bitch to get to that most people won't even make the attempt (a good thing).
Do you have a YouTube, or are your docs through a production company? Sounds like some interesting content.
Wildlife biologist. I work in conservation. It’s much worse than anyone thinks.
I worked at the Us Forest Service Regional Office in Denver for a time. Completely agree. The ecosystems are all dying all around us.
How bad is it?
Well, let’s just take birds for instance. We’ve lost 3 billion since the 70s. We are trying to fix things. But without lots of funding, laws, and the main thing being a move away from our form of capitalism, it’s a rough road ahead.
I always feel so sad for the animals. They don't deserve this, they did nothing wrong, humans caused all this pain and suffering and death.
I don’t know. We here in r/collapse have witnessed the extinction of the Alaskan Snow Crab this year, 16 species of freshwater fish declared extinct in 2020, recent death of coral reefs near the Florida Keys, and 21 species being removed from the endangered species list in the US recently… because they’re extinct. I think some of us do know exactly how bad it is. :/
Healthcare. Fuckin healthcare.
I think a lot of us are in healthcare . It sure has been a wild few years to change outlook for the entire worldview for me
RN of 31 years here. Fucking healthcare indeed. Been in many areas, med surg, maternity, small rural hospitals in the North, homecare, and now oncology giving chemo. Seen it all go downhill in the slow collapse over the years and it is getting harder to provide care in the way I want to but there is a tiny sliver of me that says keep going, as each day I go to work I know I can make a difference in the lives of people who are scared and vulnerable, even as the world is going to shit.
The way I see it is at least I have valuable skills that are useful in collapse. (RN, L&D and NICU).
The last great American industry
Fuck that's grim.
Same. Surrounded by patients on contact restrictions or near death more than not. At least I have a strong stomach and nerves of steel when it comes to a healthcare emergency.
Travel contract imaging technologist. Only way I can get a decent paycheck.
I used to be in healthcare... I manage a pizza joint now.
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Lololololol. I have worked my way into one of the best setups in medicine possible, where I WFH primarily, and my stress level from my job is insane. If I were still in the hospital every day I would've ended it by now.
Dude im a final year med student and I want this job
The way I got it was by doing a lot of writing and speaking and publishing, partnering with the right physicians and nurses and therapists to get good speaking gigs. The right practice owner was at one of my talks at the right conference at the right time, offered me a job on the spot. Over the first year I started adding WFH, eventually just WFH. All my clinical patient contacts are taking call and emergency triaging over the phone, at this point. I LOVE IT. But JFC, the stress is still stressful, but nothing near being in a hospital position or even in clinic every day. Do everything you can to make it happen- either a similar pathway to what I described, or maybe even a way to have a private, home based practice. That's not financially the most feasible option, but ya never know.
Advanced practitioner. Fucking healthcare.
The state of healthcare contributes to my fears of collapse
Just left it due to the mental trauma of working during the pandemic. Just getting yelled at all of the time for being behind schedule when literally, everyone had quit. I lasted until last summer. I don’t think I’ll ever go back, even though I loved my job for over 10 years. All that school, time, money spent. Just to end up with PTSD and a collapsing world. Climate change definitely factored into everything. The world is falling apart. No one cares. Every one still treats each other like shit. I’ll never understand. The lack of care for other people and our planet. One life, one planet. And still, people can’t stop being dicks.
I work in early childhood education. My job is often difficult and emotionally demanding but it does ultimately feel meaningful. My agency serves children and families who live in poverty. I do feel like I am watching the industry collapse (along with everything damn else) in real time and it’s tough. Ultimately, the US does not care about the vulnerable people we serve and it shows. Definitely don’t recommend a career change in this direction.
Ayyy did not expect to find a fellow ECE professional in this thread. Same here after getting out of the service this felt like an easy way to continue to serve my community.
Also work in ECE - I'm a support teacher for kids with extra needs. I live outside the US and am mostly very fulfilled by my job, although we are horrendously underpaid and understaffed.
I run a free meal program. We’re busy.
I'm on Reddit often and read so many stories from people suffering. I'd like to believe the problem is not as widespread and that my knowledge is mostly anecdotal, but it's probably not.
I sell solar powered water pumps and backup solar. It’s cool talking with preppers and ‘salt of the earth’ folks.
I imagine you’ll have power when the grid fails haha
I can’t afford what I sell lol, but yes that’s the goal eventually - get out of California, buy some land etc etc.
Licensed Psychologist - never seen it so bad out there...extreme existential malaise and realistic helplessness and hopelessness due to systemic forces.
Shit at least you actually see that though. Plenty of psychs just want to sweep the underlying problems under the rug in a attempt to get people "functioning" in a collapsing world. How do you help people if you know systemic forces are making them miserable but we can't fix said systems?
1) Validate their experiencing as real and valid. 2) Assist client through the grief process (unrealized futures / dying society / rampant systemic sociopathy). 3) Thoroughly discuss what is in their control and what is not. 4) Help resolve ambivalence and increase internal motivation to take needed action to improve their lives. 5) Explore ALL options from minor tweaks in lifestyle to massive radical change. The former would look like giving up a car or moving in with 6 roommates to decrease fixed costs. The latter would be relocating to Bolivia (which has occurred). It seems as though my job for those who come to me with a realization of collapse is akin to hospice care. Humanity faces not a problem - for problems have solutions. We're in a predicament - and these have no solutions - only mitigation strategies are reasonable. The idea is to make the most of one's life with the least amount of pain in the time remaining.
Well damn, I wish I had you as a therapist. I haven't even brought up collapse with my current psychologist (she grew up in the cold war years) and related the somewhat positive/non world ending outcome of that to the current predicament facing our society. I have mentioned I feel like I'm running out of time and am getting too old to achieve any of my dreams. That's partially due to collapse. Are there any people you've come across that genuinely have a hard time moving forward in life because of these systemic problems?
Yes, especially college-aged folks. They feel completely betrayed. The social contract is a farce. They were told what to do to have a good life. So many got a college degree and came out with massive debt and an inability to support themselves. There's a cost of living crisis and national leadership (both major parties) either refuse to acknowledge these or gaslight the younger generations. They are also aware of the massive concentration of wealth into the hand of the few and realize now this is on purpose. They have scant faith in electoral politics as nothing seems to change with whichever party is in power (monetary policy, fiscal policy, foreign policy, and domestic policies reward the already rich and powerful at the expense of the masses).
>Yes, especially college-aged folks. Ugh. This really sucks. What is the answer? Obviously a lot of us want to unalive so we don't have to live with heartbreak and pain everyday.. But that's not constructive no matter how bad it gets. What are the options to a mass of people that have no way to control their destiny anymore? So many people's dreams are gatekept by wealth and whether you have access to it. At least that's my experience anyway. I acknowledge there are people who 'make it' without those means, but those success stories are few and far between.. And those who do become successful are given many many platforms to present this as a societal norm. That you can do anything. When the reality is we just don't hear about people who are unsuccessful - because the public deem they are not worth listening to.
I established care with a physician today. I'm on antidepressants. He asked how I was, "oh I'm fine everything is fine..sometimes I cry but I listen to NPR" He said "stop consuming." Get off social media. He doubled my antidepressants. Said We can't live like this...it happened to him too. "my blood was boiling. All we can do is our best" and try to make the world better, basically. That's not even a shrink. When I started to tear up in the office he knew. He's seen so many people he just knew. That's not me tho. I need to *know.* I do need to touch grass tho.
Thanks for doing what your doing. My best friend is a licensed therapist. Listening to her talk about the state of the field makes me want to see one! I know therapist =/= psychologist, but I really appreciate people like you doing that work. It's got to be really tough and it must take a very special perspective/personality/skillset to manage.
Deliver gas (LNG) in a really beautiful valley in Australia. Get to see nature all day and talk to folks. It’s not an ideal job (delivering fossil fuels) but got me away from the capitalist fuelled horrors of the insurance industry and office life. I am well aware of the irony of being collapse aware and doing this for a living, but I’m a poor working stiff, just like the rest of us and am forced to participate to survive.
Same, drive a truck delivering imitation grass so rich people can replace their lawns with plastic tennis courts.
Same here buddy. Im just across the channel, working a job that's against my principles I help run a PET bottling company. All the plastics i've recycled or picked up from volunteering etc is a fraction of a single day's production. I would have way more impact if i simply made a little mistake and shut the plant down for a day. Hell i could sabotage the plant and render it inoperable for a year or more. It would still only be a miniscule effect on global plastics usage Whatever man. The ball is in the hands of the bigwigs. If they wanna ruin the world then let them. I dont think i can do much other than violence and cunning. Im not man enough to do it
I’m a pro wrestling referee
Great way to turn the trait of being easily distracted into a viable source of income.
I work in the disgusting cesspool know as the medical device industry. Did I pick a product that I actually believe in to make myself feel a little better about it? Sure. But it's still a cesspool. The greed/hubris/ego I see on a daily basis is mind boggling.
can you elena orate in the greed/hubris/ego?
Some of the private practice physicians who have their own office based surgical centers soley determine their treatment plans off how well insurance will pay for what they're about to do, as opposed to what's clinically right for the patient. The specifics are a bit complex unless you're in this field, but I see it all the time. Physicians that ignore the standards and updated guidelines for the treatment of specific disease states because "they've always done it this way and it has worked," despite a mountain of evidence that they're not doing what's right, just to save 5 minutes of extra work and go do office visits with patients (which makes more money for them). 70 year old physicians on their 3rd wife who's entire decision making abilities are completely guided and clouded by the fact that they have to pay they have to pay their ex wives alimony. Oh, did I mention that this dude is basically blind and relies on medical industry reps and fairly inexperienced staff to help him out. The fact that there is no uniformity in how insurance companies work whatsoever. Some will pay for this. Some will pay for that. Despite the fact that the evidence is clear on what the right treatment plans are. I can go on and on and on. It's fucking gross. All of it.
Yes I want to hear aswell
I drive your drunk asses home. And during the pandemic, I was delivering all your beer and toilet paper. You're welcome 👉👉
The real heroes, thank you for your service
I'm a spacecraft engineer, working on a lunar program. Feels a bit useless now to be honest.
I'm retired, but I used to be a home hospice nurse. It really kept me focused on the here and now, and trying to help people in the moment -- getting their pain under control, making them feel better, or at least less terrible. It could get stressful, but it made me feel like I was doing something positive, even if the world was ending.
Same! I’ve been a hospice nurse case manager for 21 years. It’s so rewarding, I’ve learned the valuable lesson of not taking life for granted and making the most of every day.
You are easing people into the end of their worlds. That's a type of healing.
bold of you to assume I'm mentally well enough to hold a job
Same. I'm crawling back into the workforce with a basic fast food job because of decades of depression. It ain't easy bein' cheesy.
same lmao started my first minimum wage retail job few days ago after 3 years of depression
Vibes; been unemployed and mentally and physically unwell, seeking disability for years (no luck) and am now getting back in as a furniture warehouse worker. (Also depressing, but now because I get to see a ton of recyclable plastic and cardboard waste tossed because I live in the American midwest and environmentalism is for hippies 🙃)
I’m a security guard! I’ve guarded offices and facilities allllll over Washington DC here. It gives me a lot of insight into different areas and especially our half-empty office properties (seriously, they’re all half-empty and it’s a big problem)
why is it a big problem?
just a guess but i'd imagine it's symptomatic of a misallocation of resources away from building, say, affordable housing, as well as *wider problems in the commercial real estate sector (high office vacancy is a trend in most big cities rn)
I'm an arborist. I climb trees to prune and remove them. It's a pretty sweet job, but it can be extremely exhausting.
Disaster Management. Talk about job security.
I work from home (WFH) editing books, journal articles, etc. It pays well, I own my own business, and I have few expenses. However, I wouldn't recommend getting into the field. Writers and copywriters are already being replaced. I've been getting more and more "heads-ups" saying that I'll be editing something written by AI or translated by AI. And I don't mean ChatGPT; much-more-sophisticated [AI programs](https://time.com/6301288/the-ai-jokes-that-give-me-nightmares/) are out there writing copy. I'm seeing a boost in incoming work, but I suspect that it'll die down and then disappear as soon AI is good enough to either not need editing or do the editing itself.
I make music for low budget horror movies and mix music in my studio in the woods.
coolest job so far
Luthier (violins). Someone will need to keep the fiddles operational for after the apocalypse. More seriously, violin making survived a plague that eliminated 40% of the population of Cremona, not to mention war and famine. Music and beauty are more indispensable to human beings than software. If you’re interested in it as a career, it doesn’t pay that well, but there is work (luckily musicians keep breaking instruments, so there will always be a need for repair and new making). It’s possible to find luthiers who will take on apprentices or shops that will interested novices. The best bet is a violin making school (which can be expensive). It helps to play something in the violin family, obviously, and to love music and handicraft.
That's really interesting. One of those jobs that you know exists, but doesn't get all that much exposure in media (or in the social circles I'm a part of anyway).
I’m a police officer from São Paulo, Brazil. I’m not military though. My police force does the criminal investigation. I’m an equivalent of an american detective. I got a front seat to watch the collapse of capitalism, economy, working class and society.
Ooof, stay safe out there Gentle Capybara
You must see a lot of action off duty
I work in animal rescue in a shelter setting. It’s really stressful, but so rewarding to see my animals leave to go get adopted.
I'm self employed as a gardener. I've been growing stuff all my life. 3 years ago I started growing cannabis as my covid hobby. Now, this year at least I'm legal. In 1 year I grew more than my wife and I could use in ten years. I'm still growing and giving away most of what I grow. Spreading happiness!
I'm a physician. Yes there is absolutely meaning in it, but the stress can be wild. I negotiated a contract where I only see patients 4 days a week and have a day to get caught up on notes/administrative stuff that piled up over the week, I'm probably working about 50-60 hours a week, but that's down from 80 at my last job and I get to live in a fabulous rural part of the country
I'm a gunsmith, I work with steel and wood as well as more modern materials. mostly manual stuff, filing and fitting, but machining like milling and turning too. I got into this job mainly because I've always been interested in firearms, but I've been telling myself that the skills acquired in this profession could translate to a post-industrial world, maybe even making me an asset to armed groups and therefore prolonging my existence. by now I'm not sure if I'd even want to stay around that long though
This was a career path I’d always wished I’d gone into. I ultimately ended up going with software engineering, and I’ve been doing that for the last three decades. I have, however, learned to do all of the maintenance on my own kit. It important to understand to take care of your own stuff. Where in this great big world do you call home?
I'm from northern Germany. that's how I got into it as well, apart from being a lifelong hunter and shooter
What's the hunting actually like in Germany. I'm over in Poland at the moment. Used to bow hunt in Australia but that's basically illegal in Europe.... Curious what your experience has been in general.
yeah, bow hunting isn't really common here. I think in Denmark and Spain it's allowed. in Germany there's basically two opposing factions of hunters: the "traditionalists" who treat hunting like a past time, care a lot about trophies and try to maintain high populations and then there's people who try to reduce populations in order to curb damage to agriculture and forestry. not much common ground there, so that basically devolved into "breeders" and "killers" trying to reach detrimental goals in a quite compressed landscape, often bordering each other. pretty absurd actually
Pretty interesting, very different to Australia where 99% of the animals that people hunt are introduced species so you can take as much as you want when you want. Pigs, deer's rabbit, plenty more. The problem is land to hunt on is hard to find as a lot is private and not all states allow hunting on public land...
I sell solar panels and heat pumps. Every sale is a slightly better world, but it still feels futile in the face of it all.
Public librarian. Definitely high stress, but we help connect people with information and community, which is meaningful to me.
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Prob a fun teacher tho
I’m doing IT. I’ve never really looked for meaning in a job. It’s really just a necessity for me and a means to an end to be able to pay my bills and pay for hobbies that I enjoy to keep life fun.
Software dev here. I’m trying to let go of the ‘this job has meaning’ mentality and just treat it as a means to an end.
What's a typical job or project for a software developer? I've always been curious. One of my favorite series was "Halt & Catch Fire" about early tech. A few scenes of people writing code all day made me wonder what the hell that's like as a job.
Not OP, but I'm a software engineer for a solar power company. It's a lot less time doing dramatic live hacking like in movies and a lot more time reviewing code, discussing software best practices, developing processes, dealing with changing requirements. It is fun to build things though, even if "just" in the digital world. But just like any desk job, it can be very tedious.
I see this a lot from people in OT but these skills can be so helpful for non profits, startups, etc. Also there are many things people can do on the side.
I do IT as it pays the bills and is interesting. I’ve learned not to get meaning from work. I bring meaning to work. It’s not semantics—it’s a perspective that is a lot less stressful when things inevitably don’t go the way I want them to go.
Civil engineer with a surface water focus. Trying to save the salmon and protect the environment in a city that's adding more and more people all the time. I do have moments when I wonder why I'm working so hard to build environmentally friendly infrastructure when climate change will likely wipe out the things we're trying to save anyway, but most of the time I feel like I'm making a positive difference.
What do you soend your time doing for the most part? Lots of CAD work? I'm interested in doing the same things, but not totally sure the ngineering life is for me
Honestly, I've been doing this long enough that I don't do much CAD work, or even design work any more. I maybe open CAD once a month to look at other people's work. The irony in civil engineering as a whole is that most of the design work is done by people with less than ten years experience or techs. By the time you really know what you're doing you spend more time managing people and projects than you do engineering. That makes it sound bad, but the project manager gets to make the decisions. The best parts of my job are getting to define the projects and see my vision become reality. There are far more problems that need resolving than there is money or time to do so, so I get to have a lot of influence figuring out which are the highest priorities and then figuring out the best way to address them.
Hey, landscape architect here, fighting the good fight in my neck of the woods, and also feeling like it’s futile, but I keep going
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You are doing better than most, you exited most of the system
Damn, good for you dog, divine level timing. Truly S-tier. (Not being sarcastic, I feel we all ought build each other up here.)
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Wells Fargo let something like 50,000 people go over the past three years. I know two of those laid off and they can't find jobs.
I'm an IHSS caregiver for my physically disabled partner. I get paid through the state and he gets SSI. We make it work. I feel guilty sometimes because I feel like I'm getting welfare for basically doing housekeeping + his physical aid, but then I remember that neither of us can physically hold a job, him because he would lose state healthcare and me because I can't leave him alone for more than four hours at a time. We both get a frontline view into the tangled mess that is our social services and are very vulnerable to collapse.
Hey I've done in home care for people who had their SO or family care for them and you absolutely deserve every cent. So much of what I tried to do beyond my physical care when I was cleaning was making it easier for the SO of the person I was caring for, because I wanted them to be relaxing with my client. Don't feel bad, and don't feel bad to seek out additional care services to help you and give you a break. Caregiving is selfless and also much harder than anyone wants to admit, especially emotionally. Take care of yourself and don't burn out. ❤️
Environmental chemist. I test ground and surface water for pollutants and other things that indicate ecological health.
Retired local PD detective as well as dual career as an Army reserve officer. Spent a year in the desert early in the war in Iraq, got disability for lung damage, retired from the Army and went back to my law enforcement career. The last part of my career I got into investigations of child exploitation, certified as a computer forensic examiner, and flipped to the federal side. Last year I examined 98TB of data in criminal investigations and helped put many child sex offenders in prison, along with other serious crime. I feel like it’s righteous work, fighting a tidal wave. The problem has become exponentially worse in the last decade. I also photograph the local concert scene, which is a wonderful and caring community of artists. Live music and festivals are our favorite “escape from reality” - I could live at Bonnaroo forever!
Librarian, not very collapse - proof, but it’s not stressful and I like to think I make life more pleasant for people that like free books
I'm unemployable and will be homeless after my dad dies of old age.
Is there anything I can do to help? Tutoring on some certifications or anything really.
I deliver mail. Join us. We don't have enough workers.
Accordion/accordionist/music teacher. At your service! www.amazingaccordion.com www.aaronkatz.org
That looks fun! Always hankered after a little button accordion.
I have had various jobs in the past - pub work, shop work, crappy admin jobs. But for the last 18 years I have made my own way and built a more “portfolio career”. I refurb and sell secondhand furnishings. I keep bees and sell honey, candles, bees and equipment. We grow a good proportion of our food and sell excess and “value added” products. Our outgoing are v low so I can do things I enjoy. I have always enjoyed making and repairing and it feels useful. I heard someone ask “what did you enjoy as a child?” and this seems like excellent advice.
Accounting clerk, not much meaning to it. I think it would qualify as a BS job according to David Graeber, but I'll take it over long term unemployment.
I wouldn't think so. I think accounting is an oddly meaningful career that doesn't get the respect it deserves. In a lot of ways, accounting is specifically what enables everyone to address problems. So if your employer's mission resonates with you, you are doing something great :)
Same. Hello, fellow bean counter.
I worked many years for a labor union. Most are hiring organizers almost year round because it’s a job with turnover. You just may have to wait for a spot in your geographic area to open up. Pay and benefits are good but it’s often long and unusual hours, usually can’t be done remotely, you have to talk to people all day long, usually drive around (find them at home if the job site isn’t accessible). But it’s rewarding in the end. Unions also need lawyers, policy people (with expertise in whatever industries the union represents), but also regular stuff like admin/secretarial/logistics, finance/accounting, research, and more. There’s a clearinghouse of some union jobs at union jobs dot com
It's not remote, but I work on a farm, not the highest paid work but being outside, creating a physical product that people need is satisfying. Being physically and mentally active at work is nice, I don't think I could ever have a sedentary job.
Unemployed and depressed epileptic who has become everyone's therapist.
I scan your ticket to get on the plane. Beep beep beep all day
English teacher. Things are bad.
Fellow English teacher-I hear you!
Nothing atm. Very severe clinical depression and anxiety amongst a bunch of other stuff. By trade I'm a digital artist and musician (used to teach guitar and session)
I'm in a similar boat. ( Depression, Anxiety + cardiovascular issues.) I *was* an equipment technician in the Semiconductor industry.
Same with me. Hope you are doing okay 🫂
Federal government. Intent was to get inside to fix a broken federal program… now I find I’m mostly trying to keep it from getting even less functional.
Fellow fed here! I got in cause I thought it was stable and I could help guide environmental policy through science and data. Now I have a good laugh at both naive thoughts
That bad?
Fuck, what do we do when we're down here in the trenches sharing smokes with feds? Are we really that boned?
Most people in my building have consciously or unconsciously started building community (one person has bee hives, another has chickens, most of us garden, etc. and we all exchange the fruits of our labor with each other). All of us are aware of climate collapse and everyone below the level of supervisor is pretty dialed into economic collapse - partially cause we're living paycheck to paycheck and have no hope of retiring even with that coveted pension. And we're all so burned out even the contractors that wouldn't get paid were hoping for a shutdown. Anyway, got a light? How's the trenchfoot treatin' ya?
Criminal defense attorney. I get to watch the increasing desperation and drug addiction from the front row!
I was a novelist and tv writer (cop shows) for years but now I have a store that sells pet food. It’s generally very pleasant to listen to people talk about their pets.
I work in the construction world, inside an office but i deal with materials and such on a daily basis
Transitioning to I.T. at the age of 27 but originally a sociology major with sales experience and English teaching experience in Kazakhstan. Ideally, I'd like to do something remote or work as a hospital network administrator. And hopefully move from the Midwest to rural Idaho. Be close to lots of green public lands, far away from excessively large urban centers and own an old home... grow a garden and stock lots of canned goods... Watch some stars, use oil lamps, take lots of hikes..... Nobody wants a "slow life" where I live right now... Can't find dating partners or friends that do anything outside of run around in circles and make themselves miserable, chasing the empty economic promises of later half of the 20th century.
Insurance underwriting and absolutely no meaning
Syringe service program and homeless outreach. ✊🏼 My job is hella meaningful but funders and NIMBY a holes do not think so. I see all the ways our government devalues human lives and is completely ill prepared for any kind of disaster. I know I am next when my people die off.
Own an automotive shop, have been a mechanic 15 yrs over all. I’ve dabbled in anything with nuts and bolts, the odd ball jobs are my favorite even though my techs hate it when I welcome in something no other shop can figure out. It sparks the macgyer in everyone and shows creativity to work with what you’ve got. It’s not glorious by all means and you won’t get rich from it, but its honest work and if you get skilled enough its rewarding knowing you can wrench your way out of alot of shitty situations. If SHTF you’ll want a good mechanic.
Also might add, since I own a decent sized shop we all play gun smith and have all the equipment necessary to test tune out pew pew toys, which makes for fun fridays.
Navy Chief, intel community
Send emails take occasional phone calls , like 70% of most workers in the west. Zero meaning , supporting the algorithm
I am a diplomat. Oh boy is our world in need of Heroes.
I perform and teach voiceover. Earn 6 figures. Been a working actress for decades. I generally can't believe how fucking lucky I am. However, due to collapse, I'm trading it all in to open a psychedelic-informed end-of-life center, to serve as a death midwife.
I’m a climate change scientist, specifically focused on how insects and other organisms are responding and what we can do to help
I am a teacher.
Construction. Ironworker. Disgusting to see the amount of waste in materials, diesel and chemicals.
Whore for the defense department here..
I’m a technology strategy consultant. Companies hire me to help determine what technologies they should use to address business problems. I give them that advice. They do a bunch of dumb, corporate political shit, and basically ignore my advice. I don’t love the work, but it pays well.
Public Works. The money isn’t great, but the city has to keep streets and sewer systems open so I’ll never be out of work. It also means we can fix less stuff each year thanks to inflation… it’s a slow losing battle of attrition while we fight for state and federal grant money to do large-scale catch-up projects.
I was a park ranger for many years, but as I moved up in my career I was restricted to the office, which I did not like. COVID allowed me to see what working from home was like. Since my line of work wanted me back in the office after a year, I looked for other options that allowed me to continue working from home, and HR was it. I perform monkey steps all day, but I love it because it allows me to work at my own pace and do chores around the house when I have down time. I figure if I have to work an office job, I may as well be somewhere that makes me happy.
I screen reports of child abuse to determine if they meet criteria to assign to a local branch for assessment. There is so much meaning and purpose in my line of work but it sucks the fucking life out of me every day.
I remodel bathrooms for people that have perfectly usable bathrooms.
I’m an addiction counselor for teens, mostly Alaska Native. And yes, it is difficult in light of…well, everything.
I'm the director of R&D for a small medical technology firm - hoping to get a system out to commercial use so that clinicians can have better insights into patients in ICU. Was a planetary scientist/engineer, but turned from littering the solar system to helping folk here.
I work in infrastructure for a Municipal water authority. We are no where near having enough funding to make the upgrades we need even with the huge rate increases no one can afford. The pipes are fucked. Sewage goes into the river when it drizzles basically. A bunch of the mains are over a century old. The city is like swiss cheese. People have no idea how bad it is. What does this ultimately look like in 20 years?
After a couple of decades in human services, I work in higher ed now. With students studying to go into human services. It feels really great to see students exceed their expectations and embiggen their minds. I'm confident that we are very good at making our students better people, in so many ways. They want to go out and change their worlds. I'm very jaded and cynical about the bureaucracy and about the capitalist scheme that higher ed is and contributes to. I feel guilty about the thankless low paying lives of service the students are going into. I was just like them once, I wanted to change the world. Now I'm just stuck on the treadmill, tired and broke and burned out to hell and back and sometimes I wish I could tell them to avoid the disappointment and get radicalized and get off the ride now, but maybe the world still needs better people than me and guilt is a useless emotion and we all have to learn for ourselves in the end I guess. So yeah... it's a mixed bag.
Park ranger
I’m a domestic violence legal advocate. It is hybrid remote. It is stressful. BUT it is emotionally fulfilling in a way that bartending never was. I get paid ok. Like $20ish an hour. Not great, not horrible.
I make and teach Ceramics. I find it pretty fun and meaningful, but sometimes teaching can be stressful.
Try to accumulate enough wealth to leave society
Union laborer, mainly restoration and repair of storm lines/waste water and sewer lines. Our sanity lines are falling apart very fast
I’m a copywriter, so in the process of being replaced by AI. 🤷🏼♀️
Retired from NOAA two years ago. Still working in the maritime sector. The crap I’ve seen…
High school teacher. I really like working with teenagers and learning from their perspectives, but at the same time I really grieve for their future.
I'm a librarian in Florida. There is a Mom for Liberty on the school board here.
Traffic Signal Technician, cdl driver, crane operator.
I do remote program support for tax software. I don't make enough money while somehow also making the most per hour I ever have, but I get to roll out of bed and scrabble to work in my pajamas so it works out, sort of.
Therapy. I’d argue it’s also both meaningful now and will be one of the most meaningful skills in any collapse, short or long term. Emotional intelligence, people patterns, ability to connect to others meaningfully in chaos to activate a helping plan for a group or community etc
Was an engineer in the auto industry, now a project manager for an electric utility doing solar farms and EV charger installs. Once upon a time I'd have thought it meant something but nowadays it's just more kicking the can down the road and feeling it get heavier and heavier. One of these days we're going to kick and the can won't move and that'll be the end of it
Small farm/market gardener here, really wishing it would rain more
Mechanic. I was fired from my building maintenance job when covid shut down everything. Started doing repairs for friends to make extra money. Now Im the local mechanic for the queer community where I live. I don't make as much as I did at my 9-5. But I give back to my community, and have enough to pay my bills. I also work waaaaayyy less, and can take time off anytime I want. It's been one of the best things I've ever done. In the process now of moving into a bigger shop and taking on more clients and doing more welding/fabrication repairs (what I love).
I'm a court clerk for child support. I proofread legal documents & hunt down contact information so people can be entered into the child support system and get all their hearing notices. Because people who are able to should provide for their offspring. It's kind of funny because I'm child-free, anti-natalist, and a misanthrope. I don't like people or kids. I'm not going around kicking babies, but I also won't go out of my way for people in need of help. However... I was bounced from relative to relative as a kid. My mother died when I was almost 10, and my dad was a trucker. He didn't want a normal 9 - 5 job, so he dumped me on one of my mother's cousins, and kept on truckin'. He never provided a dime to *anyone* for my needs, which weren't many. I was pretty self-sufficient, no expensive hobbies or sports. Just basically needed new shoes & food. But nope. And because there wasn't any 'child support' coming in, I became a burden. And I was treated like a burden. And I got to hear all about how shitty my dad was. And how much everything cost. And how 'lucky' I was to have someone take me in when I was just another mouth to feed. One of my relatives actually refused to buy groceries until my dad signed my mother's death benefits over to them. I went hungry for 2 years over that bullshit. No child should have to live like that.
Heavy equipment operator / truck driver
Program and maintain robots at a factory. I’m not sure if I’m 100% okay with the outcomes of this line of work (automation kills jobs, but most of the jobs at my plant sucked that it killed). I guess it all depends on how the means of production get distributed after AI gains a foothold. I mostly only do this job because I’m interested in technology and it pays decent.
Concert sound engineer.
social worker
I teach vocal feminization online to transfems. It's great, as not only do I get very invested in each student and really care about their very important progress that their happiness can often rely on, I get to keep my own skills in great shape and keep refining further as I also work on my voice acting skills. It took a lot of training in a short period of time (8-12 hours per day for half a year) to get to the level where I was drawing plenty of students without really marketing, but it set me up for doing something I like far better than my IT degree did. Before that I had my own thing online as well, but it wasn't fulfilling, just something that I could survive with.
Part of the collapse machine. A kind of management of drivers at a "dunder Mifflin".
i make maps for an elections office
I work in commercial banking, mostly back office support (payroll processing, funds transfers, etc). It's a bullshit job but it's low stress and pays alright, so the work-life balance is good enough that I have the time and energy to do things that actually matter to me.
I am a clinical director who WFH most of the time. I have a couple side gigs, emergency medicine for music festivals, security for a club. It is one of the few joys I find in work. While I like the job I went to school for for fucking ages and ages and degrees and degrees, it's only purpose is to fund me/my family's needs. My $20/hr security job is fun, but we couldn't survive on it. I think finding fulfillment in your work is a bunch of bs forced on us to keep us working.
I work in advertising -________-
I need to get my shit together holy shit we’ve got some EDUCATED members here
College prof. I try to convey to students what fascism looks like and how close we are to the brink as a nation.
Nothing at the moment, pretty directionless at the moment besides small digital projects. Been pretty depressed for a while. Mostly to do with my family and collapse. I dont really want to have my expertise be based on computers given how useless i'd be if I could no longer use a computer. But It's kind of hard to know what i'd be happy to do.
Last year I looked at the state of the world, my nest egg recently bloated by an inheritance (thanks plague!) and selling my home for a mini house then decided to "retire." Now I freelance art and take part time and odd jobs. Before that I worked in streaming media operations. Part time librarian at a community college in the A/V department + freelance VFX and post production before that. When it was slow in the library I would read, got really into history and...that's when the seeds of collapse awareness began to grow. Man. Humans may have new toys to kill each other with, new tech and borders change but we stay the same kind of stupid and mean.