Today’s employment market would be unrecognisable to anyone who worked 100 years ago. As technology, market trends, consumer desires, and legislation evolves, some jobs become unnecessary and new ones are created to take their place. 

For example, we no longer employ people to reset the pins in bowling alleys or drive cities and manually switch on all of the street lights. We also don’t employ people to walk along the streets to wake everyone up. We have machines, sensors, and alarm clocks to take care of all these tasks. 

Your great grandfather also wouldn’t have been able to get a job as a digital marketing manager, a C++ programmer, or a rocket scientist. Of course, there are some jobs that he would have been able to get then and now, including many within healthcare. For the most part though, things look very different today than they did 100 years ago. 

If you’ve been in the jobs market for a few decades, many new career paths have likely opened up since you first began earning paychecks. So if you fancy a new job, then why not consider one of these interesting options. 

Netflix Tagger

Have you ever spent the day in bed binge-watching shows on Netflix, wishing you could get paid for it. Well, believe it or not, there are some people who make money this way. 

One of the things that makes Netflix so successful is its ability to suggest shows that you’ll want to watch. It uses your watch history to find other box sets and movies that have been enjoyed.

But to make this magic work, Netflix needs all of the content to be tagged and categorised. The company does this by employing “taggers” who have to watch everything in Netflix’s vast library and assign tags to each movie and episode. 

While this may seem like a great job, it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. While you’ll get to watch all of the movies and TV shows you like, you’ll also need to watch ones that aren’t up your street. 

Professional Poker Player

Poker is a game that’s been played for hundreds of years but didn’t become the worldwide phenomenon that it is today until the early 2000s. The internet has made it possible for millions of people to come together and compete in games of Texas hold ‘em and razz from mobile devices, computers, and even virtual reality headsets. Some of the biggest platforms now host regular tournaments that players can enter for free, one of the longest-running competitions is PokerStars’ Sunday Billion, which has been running since at least 2014, with one billion play chips given out each time. 

Although anyone can now take part in these games, the most talented poker players play professionally, earning money by finishing in top positions in tournaments and signing sponsorship deals with online poker platforms and brands that want to be associated with the sport. 

Just like the Netflix tagger job, playing poker professionally isn’t without its downsides. Sure, you’ll get to travel the world so that you can take part in tournaments in Las Vegas, Monaco, Barcelona, and Macau, but it’s also hard work. Poker tournaments can span several days, running from first thing in the morning until late at night. 

That means there’s no time for partying since you’ll need to get plenty of sleep to be sure you’re mentally sharp the following morning. 

Dog Food Taster

Most people would gag at the thought of having to eat dog food, but there are people who actually make their living this way. Dog food is perfectly safe for humans to eat, though it doesn’t usually look particularly appetising. 

Their job is to check the taste and texture of new products, ensuring they meet the standards that the manufacturer was aiming for. They’ll also compare them to competitor brands to see how they measure up. 

The taster will need to ensure the new dog food is consistent, rather than having some bits that taste great and others that don’t. Thankfully for them, tasters don’t actually need to eat the food, so they’ll usually spit it out after they’ve done all their tests. 

For many dog owners, the smell that dog food leaves in their home is also important, so the taster will also be testing this. 

It can pay quite well, with some tasters apparently able to earn as much as $100,000 per year, which should be enough to pay for all the mouthwash and breath mints that they’ll need.