Hottest Salary List Is Ice Cold

Why do lists like "The Hottest Salaries" get "dugg" so frequently?  I can understand lists that give you a fighting chance, a la, up and coming cities, etc.  But this recent Business 2.0 list does not deserve the front page of Digg.

First off. the info is culled from '05 and '06.  That means, by the time you say "hey, lemme give that a try" - the career choice is already flooded and likely on the decline dollar-wise.

Secondly, what the heck is HOT about these?

HR coordinator = $40,200
(anyone can plan the company picnic)

Restaurant general manager = $49,800
(crazy hours, mad stress, little payoff)

Assistant store manager = $39,100
(this will never be HOT to anyone with a degree)

The list is filled will holes.  Yet, all the career blogs are all over it. Why does the career genre on the Web herd people around like sheep?  Why do we follow?  I don;t always succeed but I will always try to give you a fresh take - so please subscribe.

I can be wrong about this but if I had to pick hot careers for the future, I'm going with:

Optometry
(you're staring at a computer screen reading this, right?)

Security
(malls, schools, apartment complexes and large office buildings are not safe enough)

Career Counselor
(responsibility rises as salaries stay the same. we all are desperate for answers.)

Verge of extinction?

Travel Agents
(who needs to pay so much more for human contact?)

Radio Sound Engineers
(anyone can pitch a voice and make a sweeper)

Librarian
(I don't buy the hype - they're not needed. shhhhh!)

Ok, this was part rant and 100% off the cuff.  I just get irritated seeing these slapped together lists sweep the Web.  Now it's your turn. This is like predicting the weather - no one expects you to be that accurate.  What careers do you think are on the way up?  And what careers do you think are on the way down?

Comments

[Duane]

While I agree with you on the staleness of the magazine article, Andrew, I think you'll find that some of your "verging on extinct" careers still have lots of time to evolve into something useful. For instance take travel agents. I worked at an online travel place for 3 years, as a parent of toddlers I can tell you that it sucked. There are special things that parents have to take into consideration when travelling ranging from "what is there for my kids to do that is age appropriate" to "does the hotel have an indoor pool" and "by suite do you mean two rooms with a door or do you mean a bed at one end of the room and a couch at the other with a coffee table in between?" Despite where I worked, every trip I plan involved calling a travel agent.

I think people with sound engineering experience will find some life consulting for the new podcasting world. Hire yourself out to get people up and running, or to do training, write books, or build "set up your own home studio" kits. There'll be a huge market for that stuff as podcasting finds the medium between "anybody with a $10 radioshack microphone" and "NPR putting all their stuff online".

[Jacob Share]

The front page of Digg isn't holy. If you have a good title and 20-30 'friends' that can Digg an article for you at the right time of day, the momentum can carry an article to the top in a few hours.