Most Valuable White Collar Profession in T2K

[Raellus]

These are careers that traditionally require at least a bachelor's degree from a four-year university. Farmers, strictly-speaking, do not, but there are four-year Ag programs here in the US, at least, so I'm including them on the list. There's another poll for careers that don't require Uni degrees (i.e trades).

Please share your reasoning in the comments.

-

[swaghauler]

I'd pull boilermaker from the vocational list and put farmer there. Farming IS technical, but not quite chemist or engineer technical.

The only issue being that it will skew the results of that poll. The other option is too just admit that farming is tops in importance and delete it from both polls.

[Milano]

I am going with Farmer/Rancher. As a Rancher, we know a bit about everything. Mechanics, Farming, Construction, Veterinary Medicine (which helps 2 legged patients also), Small arms, Tracking, Meteorology, just to name a few NECISSARY skills. Just my opinion, but I look forward to others thoughts.

EDIT ... I was writing my answer as Swag was doing his! Coincidental? 6th sense? Either way, Raellus, you do with as you would like with the poll. I would agree though to an extent. Farming is years of, experience and trial and error learning more than say a traditional college Education.

[Raellus]

@Milano and Swag: I agree with your points re Farmer. I included it in this poll, in part, to make sure Medical Doctor didn't run away with it, and because I think Farmer would dominate the Trades poll if it were included there. I don't think I can edit the polls to remove, Farmer though, so we'll have to see how it plays out in this one.

-

[Vespers War]

From listening to multiple sources within the ag industry, farmers are going to be highly variable in usefulness. There are some that spend time figuring out soil fertility, irrigation and drainage rates, ways to combine crops on fields to increase yields and reduce weed and parasite incidence, and otherwise act as good stewards of the land.

Then there are those that just follow the instructions from seed and pesticide companies and farm-by-number. They'd be much less valuable without the massive chemical infrastructure they depend on to tell them what to do.

[CDAT]

Here I am going for MD, on the other one I was one of those who went for Farmer. Yes you can get your degree in Ag, but that does not make you a farmer if you ask me. When you get the dirt on you hands and under your nails now you can call yourself a farmer. I worked on farms (Potato mostly) as a kid, also some on the orchards (Apple and Cherry with a bit of Pears), my father and grand father were farmers, none of us have a degree in Ag (father and myself have degrees in other things, grand father had a 2nd grade education). My niece is going for her degree in Ag, so she can be an Ag teacher in high school. So I am not saying that there is not a lot of skill involved, but I do not see it as a white collar profession. MD on the other hand, very much so, and I am not sure which of the two I would say is the most important, but one for blue, other for white.

[Enfield]

Originally Posted by CDAT

Here I am going for MD, on the other one I was one of those who went for Farmer. Yes you can get your degree in Ag, but that does not make you a farmer if you ask me. When you get the dirt on you hands and under your nails now you can call yourself a farmer. I worked on farms (Potato mostly) as a kid, also some on the orchards (Apple and Cherry with a bit of Pears), my father and grand father were farmers, none of us have a degree in Ag (father and myself have degrees in other things, grand father had a 2nd grade education). My niece is going for her degree in Ag, so she can be an Ag teacher in high school. So I am not saying that there is not a lot of skill involved, but I do not see it as a white collar profession. MD on the other hand, very much so, and I am not sure which of the two I would say is the most important, but one for blue, other for white.

Agriculturalist is a white collar profession. Farmer is skilled labour.

[CDAT]

Originally Posted by Enfield

Agriculturalist is a white collar profession. Farmer is skilled labour.

How do you figure?

[Vespers War]

Originally Posted by Enfield

Agriculturalist is a white collar profession. Farmer is skilled labour.

Farmer is owner/management. Farmworker is labor.

[CDAT]

Originally Posted by Vespers War

Farmer is owner/management. Farmworker is labor.

I have to disagree then, growing up on a farm, my grandfather owned and worked the land, then passed it on to my father and uncle who owned and worked it, someday it will pass on to there kids. I do not know any farmers who do not work the land, the corporate farms owners do not call themself farmers they are CEO's, CFO's and the such, there managers do but they also work the land.

[Vespers War]

Originally Posted by CDAT

I have to disagree then, growing up on a farm, my grandfather owned and worked the land, then passed it on to my father and uncle who owned and worked it, someday it will pass on to there kids. I do not know any farmers who do not work the land, the corporate farms owners do not call themself farmers they are CEO's, CFO's and the such, there managers do but they also work the land.

You're welcome to take it up with the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, as that's their definition of each occupation.

Edit to add: if someone owns the land and works it, they're a farmer. Someone who works land without owning it is a farmworker. I think there are more non-landworking farmers when you get into animal farming, even at moderate (for that side of farming) scales.

[pmulcahy11b]

While some could be done without entirely (lawyer, business administrator to name two), the rest are all important.

[Ursus Maior]

Actually, both, lawyers and business administrators will be useful in T2K, depending on the locale. T2K isn't taking place in a world so broken that laws don't exist and memories of them have already faded. There are still quite a few governments or their remnants working, which make lawyers useful on many occasions.

Likewise, running businesses will be important for these entities. It's different for the players of course, but I could see both skill sets valuable in Krakow or while interacting with MilGov/CivGov in the remnants of America.

[B.T.]

I think, it depends on the region you play in.
If the group is based in a region, where you have universities, institutions for further education and the like, a librarian could come in handy. Especially if said person was working in this library for a longer time, he can find lots of older books, thereby lending a helping hand for all the other professions

I doubt, that such a character would be fun to play, but such a person would be a great NPC, IMHO.

[Raellus]

Good call, B.T.

I think the answer to the poll question depends on whether one is thinking about it from an immediate survival perspective, or one focusing on long-term recovery. If it's the former, then a medical doctor or farmer is hard to pick against.

However, in the case of the latter, librarians could definitely come in handy- thanks to the internet, it's easy to forget how to find answers to questions without it. Accountants would also be important in any rebuilding process. Accountants are one of the first civilized professions. Historians and archaeologists believe that the first writing systems (Sumerian cuneiform, for example) were developed to keep records of tax levies. You need money (or food- ancient taxes often took the form of products or services) to pay for materials and workers to rebuild. You need someone keeping track of all of the incoming and outgoing resources or there's going to be a lot of inefficiency and waste.

-

I'd like to change my answer to farmer...

[swaghauler]

I know why Farmer is here, but it really is a "blue-collar" profession. We need three of these professions equally to rebuild... The Doctor, The Chemist, and The Engineer. In a "salvage economy," the Engineer and Chemist become important for rebuilding and resetting manufacturing. The Doctor is obvious.

[pmulcahy11b]

How about Auto Technician? (Not Mechanic, but Technician.) He might be able to get some of those trucks and cars working that were immobilized by EMP. He might also be able to fix some electrical devices that were also damaged by EMP. (Probably couldn't fix something like a computer, though.)