Examples of "niche" jobs

[Poptart4]

Everyone on MN seems to work in a very niche job that very few people could actually do. Earning lots of money of course. But they can never say what this job is as that would be very outing

So out of curiosity, can someone please list a few of these niche jobs?

scentedgeranium

It is quite cool, and I do love it, especially if I turn up at an armed siege usually in my jeans and a hoody, with all the big burly cops, and their kit, and i get them to walk out after an hour.
They think it’s some sort of ninja speak, I don’t let on it’s not

@sausagerollcake

Horse penis cleaner.

Don't laugh, it's a job!

Does that make you a bean counter of sorts?

@HunkyPunk

'Niche job' always makes me think of a sagger maker's bottom knocker, which was reportedly the most obscure occupation ever to feature on the programme 'What's My Line?'

Soupy Sales! I remember What's My Line as a kid

A former lab colleague of mine used to be one of about three people in the world who worked with a particular organism (a rather obscure archaea). Not exactly the road to fame and furtune, but certainly niche.

"Loads of jobs are niche with skill sets than command higher than 'working in Tescos' pay'"

@Gamble66 are you struggling with the term "minimum wage" or did you just use that as an opportunity to remind people who work in Tesco exactly where they stand?

An equine sheath cleaner/horse willy washer. I used one recently to clean my horses sheath and she did another 6 horses on my yard that day.

Fairly niche I'd say!

Lego designer
Translater/interpreter for a language that is rarely spoken where they live
Writing for a magazine for an unusual hobby/interest

@elliejjtiny

Lego designer Translater/interpreter for a language that is rarely spoken where they live Writing for a magazine for an unusual hobby/interest

You've just reminded me that a friend of a friend is someone who recruits interpreters for minority languages for the International Criminal Court -- her job can involve actually going out to wherever the language is spoken and finding someone to come to The Hague.

Gawd, I'm an MN cliche.

I'm married to a man whose job was one, along with a few other people, all working for the same company, doing a very niche training role. And yes, I did help him with some basic stuff at home. Retired now & sharing the mental load!

We live in a very ordinary small Midlands town and know some people in very niche careers. One breeds world renowned birds of prey for mega rich Arabs. One is a stunt man who did a lot of GoT and was actually a named character in the most recent Tarzan.
DH knows lots of ex military who do niche jobs. One has a collection of miltary vehicles he rents out for films and tv. One is high up in the Met Vice squad. One is a close protection bodyguard. One is an armourer on fim sets.

If i stated my profession, and the specific client group within that profession, and you could work out from my other posts that I am in South East Wales; there would be a pool of approximately 60 people I could be (if you knew/had connections with what I do). If I mentioned my level of seniority, that probably reduces to 15 or so. If you were really set on weaselling me out, you coukd probably go through my posts, look at how many chikdren i have mwntioned ive got etc and work out who i am.

I wouldnt describe my role as niche as such, but it is a professional role requiring approximately ten years training to qualify in.

I think many professions would be similar.

Does digital artist count? 😂

I lecture on the origins of penitentiary and theories of violence. That and only that. I don’t know if that counts as niche though.

I once met a chicken sexer. He had one longish finger nail which he painted with nail hardener.

I always think when it comes to hobbies it’s something geographically identifiable like surfing (many people can say they ‘surf’ if it’s once a year on holiday. If you, partner or children do it multiple times a week in the UK it’s quite obvious the area / counties you do (or especially don’t) live in. Likewise if you were a surf instructor or a UK based ski instructor?

@SamoyedPrince

An equine sheath cleaner/horse willy washer. I used one recently to clean my horses sheath and she did another 6 horses on my yard that day.

Fairly niche I'd say!

I saw a video on this, getting all the big lumps of smeg out. Iirc female horses also sometimes need lumps of gunk removing from their orifices. I rode horses for over 20 years and never knew anyone who did this so not sure if horses in the past were neglected or if I was oblivious. 😁

More often needed with geldings, @NuclearDH -- were you mostly riding mares?

• The point is, when people are posting about things in their life on here, they don't want to give away too much that could be identifying. So if you are a teacher, or a Police officer or a nurse or a plumber or a hairdresser, it doesn't really identify you, but if you know you are the only person to do your specific job in your Health Authority or your County Council or in the whole of Scotland or even your region of England, then telling people what you do is going to be pretty 'outing' so you would be quite guarded. Doesn't mean it is any more special than anyone else, just identifying*

I just want to reiterate this. I work in a smallish field of a very big sector. My job title is nicely generic, but my job isn’t. There are perhaps a few hundred of us in the UK. I have twice identified (and PMd) individuals on here from details posted, and been able to name conferences we would have met at.

I aren’t certain, but you can probably count the number of females in my exact role in the UK on one hand. And yep, I’m not irreplaceable; like the lawyer upthread. Anyone sufficiently qualified and experienced in the sector can do my job, it’s just that they don’t.

There are lots of niche jobs in the heritage crafts sector in the uk
There are 3 to 4 independent clog makers and 1 larger firm
1 sieve and riddle maker
2 ash split basketry makers
2 oak splint basketry makers
1 drum carder maker

(Those figures are off the top of my head so i am not certain they are exactly correct but you get the gist)

@UhtredRagnarson

I often suspect these people are talking out of their bums

Well I suppose that would be considered a niche skill

Precisely what I was thinking!! Surely there's a gap in the market there!

Being in a niche role doesn’t make you irreplaceable but finding or training a replacement can be time consuming or expensive.

There are lots of fields in academia, science, medicine, law etc where it takes years to build your knowledge - you might be the only person researching a particular area. Everyone within the ‘community’ knows each other.
Similarly in the arts, there are many highly specialised roles - for example in ballet there are very few tutu makers. Saying you work for a dance company narrows it down to a couple of thousand. Saying you’re a pointe shoe room head for a dance company and that’s less than 10.

My job is niche in that I'm the only person who does anything like it in the kind of organisation I'm in. It's a department there used to be more of but now it's pretty much just my organisation still doing this. My job is particularly odd because it was two people's jobs combined into one when the department downsized.

Someone else could do my job but probably not as well for a few years due to the experience I've built up.

We are quite a successful group but all the funding now goes to larger organisations so I'm not sure how much longer we can scrape by.

My job is a fairly specific role in engineering. Most engineers could probably do it it they wanted to, but not many do. Hence it could be considered fairly niche.

The best not about this is all the replies by people claiming to be niche and STILL reply massively vague about what they do, thus validating the post made by OP.
Example reply “I’m in a niche role in engineering, no one but me can do that role” ....you learned it so they can, but again don’t specify why it’s niche.

Arf ! Arf !