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?

I'm a Database admin/sys admin, Bg Data coder, I work with petabytes of data.

I am the geek behind all the MN'ers who are data analysts, some wouldnt be able to get their data without me.

The thing that wrangles most people in the UK is that I didn't go to uni to get where I am

I would say i have a fairly niche job in an accounting practice. We are thousands of staff nationwide and less than 50 in my specialist group. There are other groups like us in other big professional services firms. It's not specialised in outside of the big firms although some might dabble. I also have the best part of 2 decades of experience doing it. I reckon you need 5 years to train up. On top of 3 years of accountancy training. There aren't that many people in the field. My options are limited but I'm in demand. It's well paid but I work PT so I could be paid more.

I have 2 friends who can only work in nuclear power. It's pretty niche. Add a specific PhD geared towards the job she now does, plus over 15 years experience and decades of going to academic conferences on her specialism, she's pretty niche. It's fairly well paid.

@ladygoingGaga

I’m a copper, not a niche job, but trained in specialist role as a hostage and crisis negotiator. Most of role is talking people down from high places, but also means I help track down kidnappers.

A friend of mine is a (now retired) cop with the same specialist training. He claimed it was often far duller than it sounded, involved a lot of ordering in fast food to try to get someone down off a church roof or out of a stand-off, and that the best person for the job was the opposite of the alpha male type it’s associated with in films, because the best thing you could do was to be boring, take the heat out of the situation. He said you don’t want Jason Statham, you want the guy who fixes the photocopier. Temperamentally.

I influence many thousands of people to buy things. Brands + companies pay me to do this.

I work in recruitment in a very un-niche role but there are roles like risk analyst, IT coding specialist etc which are rare (maybe be 150 in the uk) maybe not niche enough to world famous but would narrow them down somewhat if you knew them and recognised their post / what they were posting about.

All these jobs I know make 200k plus:

Judging and advising on whether companies fulfill ESG principles. One of the fastest growing industries and wish I had gone into it!

Most BD/Sales roles at startups if you have 5+ years of experience and they are venture backed, you're most likely on 120-150k as a base plus performance based bonus

Professors at universities that also run their own scientific labs make between 100-170k plus they typically receive royalties off their inventions and hand separate budgets for travel to conferences

Widget maker. A good family friend of mine has made millions supplying the armed forces with a specific type of widget they use in lockers at bases

@Oblomov21

We have discussed this. At a dinner party a long time ago. No one I know, nor Dh, nor anyone I know, knows anyone, anyone at ALL with a niche job. So say between me and my closest friends. Anyone they know, at all, and have met, even acquaintances, anyone. 20,000 people. No one knows anyone with a niche job.

So. I call bullshit.

Extraordinary how some people can't imagine anyone leading different lives to themselves.

In my own immediate circle there is an opera singer, someone who restores ancient (museum quality) books, a stain glass window artist, a professional poet, a children's author, an archbishop, and the manager at a world famous racehorse stud who collects stallion semen for a living.

I'm not one but Patent Attorney would be an example. Not a big field.

Years ago I knew a women who insured the insurance companies that insured those who were high profile against being kidnapped

She was one of very very few who had this role and flew all over the world for her job

Like a female James Bond (she had to check security)

In a previous job, I used to supervise disinterments. Mainly for repatriation of the remains, but occasionally for forensic purposes.

Yes lots of getting cold, and wet, getting up in middle of the night and staying sober while on call.
Best bit is I don’t get paid for doing it, tiny and I mean tiny on call rate, but then nothing beats the feeling of saving someone’s life.

Everyone thinks I’m good at talking, quite the opposite, I just listen, no room for ego’s so generally find women are quite good at it, although I’m only one of a handful in whole region.

A friends husband has a niche role in the oil industry. Only 12 of them in their huge company and they are all paid a huge amount and shipped off around the world to do their roles.

Probably HR. Nobody wants to admit to working in HR.

I contacted a lady with what I consider to be a niche job recently.

A concept planner. She is totally independent, and comes up with lovely designs for Kitchens/dining/lounge or bedrooms dressing rooms but working with you to do this, not just doing it and not including you like sales people do.

She's often mentioned on the property/DIY section of MN.

I'd like that job actually. If I was a bit better at space appreciation and had an eye for colour, and could work CAD, and know the regs for this sort of stuff . oh yeah ok then, maybe not, I'd be rubbish at it, that's why I called her.

@StealthPolarBear

But presumably someone must be able to carry out that function in Eg each region?

But I don’t think niche means you’re the only one in the country doing it? My take would be that it’s an unusual job, one not many people do? 🤷‍♀️

Yes fair point. I think on these sorts of posts I tend to read "very niche.... There are only two of us in the world"
But you're right this is about niche

I used to have a job where the advice was to check under my car after work for bombs.
I was paid 15k and there were literally hundreds of us

My job is pretty niche. I have a particular role in my company and to my knowledge very few other companies in the field have an identical role. Plenty of people with my qualifications could do my job, but not many would want to as it is a step away from the standard career path for that field. So yes my job is niche, but it's not special.

In my own immediate circle there is an opera singer, someone who restores ancient (museum quality) books, a stain glass window artist, a professional poet, a children's author, an archbishop, and the manager at a world famous racehorse stud who collects stallion semen for a living.

Sorry to be clear, I don't know for sure but I doubt any of them earn £200,000 a year. I was emphasising the variety of different professions, not the wage level.

@ladygoingGaga

I’m a copper, not a niche job, but trained in specialist role as a hostage and crisis negotiator. Most of role is talking people down from high places, but also means I help track down kidnappers.

oooo that sounds fab! I want your job! i know I know it can be harrowing but that is literally the job I dreamed about having as a child. i ended up a journalist so got the nosey parker part of policing out of my system!

I think I've used the word niche to describe my job. My job title is fairly generic - software engineer - but there aren't many people with the skills and experience to work with this particular piece of software. Although it's gradually increasing there are sub 25 people in the UK certified. It's why it can be very well paid, but it's mostly project work where I'm employed as a contractor/consultant so little job security.

Loads of these jobs I don't consider niche:
Kitchen planner? No.
Air traffic controller? No.

I was watching that Greg Wallace programme and he was talking to stonemasons. That's very niche.

@Monkeybusiness1960 “ I do MRI scans in veterinary. Don't get paid much though, less than the equivalent job in NHS” That’s a shame, as it costs a fortune to get one done for an animal owner! I paid £1500 just for the MRI my horse needed last year (and about the same again for 4 days nursing as an inpatient and associated treatment.) The woman who MRIed him was between international lecturing fixtures on her speciality (hooves) and was very highly skilled. She saved his life so I don’t begrudge the cost at all. Have had words with the horse though about where he puts his feet!

I'm a Governess specialising in Celebrity / VIP families.

I only work PT at the moment (Rota job), salary is £55k but when I worked FT I earned about £130k plus living expenses.

I got here by being prepared to work extremely long hours, by learning how to behave in ultra wealthy households, how to manage THEIR behaviour (often bizarre) and of course being confident with educating children in all the necessary things. It very much helps that I'm young (30 now) and well spoken.

Most people would hate doing my job, though they would like the salary and perks I'm sure.