In this post, I’ll talk what I think is the best job in the world. Actually, I’ll talk about 2 jobs, but to me, they’re pretty much the same thing.

Keep in mind this advice is only for those who don’t know what to do and have no current direction.

Disclaimer: If you’re highly passionate about a field, you shouldn’t let this post discourage you. If you’re gung-ho on becoming a doctor, don’t let this post all of a sudden wreck your passion in healing people and saving lives.

With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s talk about the best job in the world.

The Best Job In The World Is In Engineering

The best job is becoming either a software engineer, or hardware engineer. They are basically the same job because both require approximately the same skills. You need to know how to code, maintain documents, and communicate with socially awkward autists.

The only main difference is your coding language and set of tools you use.

Engineering jobs are very highly paid. In general, new graduates get 6-figures out of the gate. If you don’t get 6-figures out of the gate, the company is ripping you off. Find another one.

Software / hardware engineering jobs are the best in the world because they’re hard to replace. The technical problems are difficult enough that it’s very hard to even describe to an AI algorithm what it is that we want to solve.

In fact, if you’re worried about AI replacing your job as an engineering, consider this: the AI field needs people to build the AI. Guess who will need to build the AI? Engineers. If you’re smart enough to completely automate your own job away, you should be smart enough to work at a higher level and manage the AI. As AI will have both software (algorithmic) and hardware (chip-level) components to it, your career is safe for the long-term, either way.

In reality, AI and critical thinking from humans are going to be symbiotic. As an example, consider Palantir. They have one of the best AI in the world for their customers, but it’s up to their customers to think critically about the predictive information presented to them and be able to make huge financial decisions themselves.

There’s a few side benefits for hardware engineering specifically (compared to software engineering):

• Hardware will always be in demand, just like software. However, as of writing there’s a huge chip shortage and there’ll always be demand for newer and faster chip as AI progresses. Conversely, for software, we can see cases where it’s “good enough” and no new advancements are needed (i.e. emails are fast enough and you don’t necessarily need to upgrade that technology every 18 months).
• If you’re designing hardware, you can do remote work (just like software) especially in the digital logic field. This field is less “hype” than software engineering. As such, there’s less competition in terms of job applicants.

Last and most importantly, a job in engineering allows you to work remotely. Your entire job can literally be done in front of a computer screen. Working remote also provides a sense of freedom that you don’t get when your manager is literally breathing over your neck. If you know how to work the corporate world, you can even work 10-hour weeks while you grab your 6-figure income in a job with high career stability.

Jobs To Avoid

Here are some traps that you might think “this is the best job in the world!” when in fact, you should avoid the following class of jobs at all costs.

Try to avoid client facing service jobs, such as being a doctor, lawyer, or a realtor.

• Doctors and realtors could be automated away.
• Doctors: All they do is memorize a bunch of data in school. At work, they’ll take a bunch of inputs (by way of talking with patient and test results) and spit out an output (diagnosis). And they’re very inaccurate and kill tons of people each year. While charging ludicrous amounts of money. An AI can memorize data, take inputs, and spit out diagnoses much more accurately than any human could possibly do. Prime for disruption.
• Realtors: They do a few things. Too bad all of it is unnecessary or could be automated. They can find me houses to look at—but too bad I can already find suitable houses on Redfin. They can tell me what’s in the house during showings but last time I checked, I have eyes. Lastly, they can do a lot of paperwork. Since these are menial and can be done electronically. Even escrow will be disrupted with cryptocurrency one day. Prime for disruption.

These “high status quo,” high paying jobs like being a doctor or a laywer are a trap.

Reason is, you’ll always have to see clients and would never be able to work 100% fully remote.

You’ll always have to trade 1 unit of time for 1 unit of money and it’s very difficult to pull off a 10-hour workweek with these jobs. As such, it’s hard to create “extra time” for yourself to be able to invest or compound your money wisely (i.e. if you’re chasing very strong alphas in the stock or crypto market).

• Example: If you’re capable of working 60 hours/week max and your job requires all 60, you’ll have no energy left to do anything. But let’s say you’re an engineer that’s working 10 hours/week, you now have 50 extra hours/week as an edge against your competing investors. That 50 extra hours/week could be devoted to compounding your high paying job.

Also, a lot of these jobs require lots of trainings, refreshers, and tests.

An engineer can get out of college within 3-5 years and start earning without any extra tests.

Compare this to a lawyer where they need to take the ever-stressful BAR exam.

Or compare this to a med student might take 4 years of undergrad + 4 years medical school + 3-7 years in residency. Plus a bunch of tests.

Disclaimer, again: The exception to doing the “best job in the world” and avoiding these jobs is if you’re highly passionate. If you feel a strong calling to be a lawyer because you absolutely cannot digest injustice, become a lawyer. If you feel a strong calling to save lives and be important, be a doctor.

The advice here is only to the demographic that doesn’t know yet what they’d like to do with their career.

Choose The Best Job For *Your* Future

If you have no clue about what you want to do. Consider these factors when choosing a career path:

1. Remote work so you aren’t micromanaged and can get away with a 10-hour workweek.
2. More specifically, join a company with a culture of “as long as you get it done I don’t care how many hours you put in”. Not all engineering jobs are created equal, so be sure to vet a company’s culture before you join them.
3. Make sure the job is highly paid. This is obvious as this blog is called Good Money Good Life.
4. Hard to replace. Don’t do a manual labor job where the only real requirement is stamina. You want a job where you’ll have value well into the future. You want to be pick a career where there’s a high barrier of entry so it’s hard to replace. Engineering = high barrier of entry because the problems are hard to solve.

If I’ve convinced you to go the engineering route, here’s some resources to learn how to do software or hardware engineering:

• Youtube.
• Various coding bootcamps. These are generally in the 5-figure tuition fee, but they yield good results since large companies do frequently hire from these bootcamps.
• Coursera. You can get signed certificates so companies know you are actually competent. Much cheaper than coding bootcamps.
• If you want to avoid coding bootcamps, you can do a bunch of coursera and open source projects and present your code publicly on GitHub. This’ll let people see that you’re at least competent enough to interview.

If you don’t know what to do but still not convinced about engineering, then at least find a career that has those 4 factors I mentioned above.

If you’re super passionate about your career path, then you can discard this whole article. You’ve already got the best job in the world, because you love showing up to it everyday!