Editor’s note: This article was first published in April 2015, and its ranking is for 2015. The projection of the strongest prospects until 2022 for systems analysts has since expired.
As it does every year, the career guidance website CareerCast.com has analysed the 10 best professions to work in, and this year, 2015, most of them are related to mathematics. So if you like working with numbers and managing spreadsheets, you are in luck.
Professions such as actuary, mathematician, statistician and scientist are some of the best jobs right now. These professions pay well and offer plenty of opportunities for advancement.
(Read: Want to earn more than average? Social and maths skills will help)
CareerCast evaluated the income, outlook, environmental factors, stress and physical demands of 200 professions across a wide range of industries, salary bands and skill levels.
With this data, CareerCast determined the best and worst jobs of 2015. According to this year’s report, the best job is actuary.
An actuary is a professional in the economic sciences who specialises in developing products and assessing operations and organisations exposed to risks related to life insurance, general insurance, social security, and capital and commodity markets, by establishing conditions of actuarial balance within economic and financial planning processes.
According to Tony Lee, maths-related jobs are among the best in the country because they are “financially rewarding, offer plenty of opportunities for advancement, and give people the chance to do great work in a supportive environment”.
These are the 10 best jobs of 2015
1. Actuary.
2. Audiologist.
Diagnoses and treats hearing problems, working to find out the extent, nature and degree of a patient’s hearing function.
3. Mathematician.
4. Statistician.
Statistical analysis is increasingly important across a wide range of industries, so these professionals are in high demand.
5. Biomedical engineer.
Analyses and designs solutions to problems in biology and medicine, with the aim of improving the quality and effectiveness of patient care.
6. Data scientist.
Someone trained in mathematics and statistics who has mastered programming and its various languages, computer science and analytics.
7. Dental hygienist.
Most dental hygienists work part time. Besides cleaning teeth, they teach patients about proper oral hygiene.
8. Software engineer.
Software engineering is a discipline made up of a set of methods, tools and techniques used to develop computer programs. The software engineer handles the management of the whole project so it can be completed within a set time frame and on the planned budget.
9. Occupational therapist.
Develops individual programmes of mental, physical and emotional activity for people with developmental disabilities, to help them become self-sufficient.
10. Computer systems analyst.
Develops computer systems for businesses. This is one of the jobs with the strongest prospects until 2022. Systems analysts need to know about hardware, software and networks to make them work together, and to recommend the best systems for companies to use.
And these are the 10 worst professions
- Taxi driver
- Journalist
- Mail carrier
- Military personnel
- Radio broadcaster
- Chef
- Flight attendant
- Prison officer
- Lumberjack
- Refuse collector
Further reading
- 3 professions and businesses that could disappear as we know them
- 10 jobs and profitable businesses set to boom in 2020
Featured image: Department of Labor. 1913, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
