Jobs that find more interesting jobs

July 8, 2013 8:42 PM

I just finished a marathon of the first season of Elementary. It got me to thinking, what kinds of jobs could someone have that would give them close contact with interesting individuals with interesting occupations, and a path into one of those engaging careers, via being exposed by their current job and deciding to change into the new job, either through a connection made or via apprenticeship? Minor spoilers contained inside, arguably.

In Elementary, Joan Watson is hired as Sherlock Holmes's live-in sober companion, to keep a constant eye on him after rehab, and provide support to keep him from relapsing now that he's back in public society. It gives her constant, close interaction with Sherlock as he goes through his consulting work, and allows her (also as he allows her) to contribute her expertise (as a former surgeon) to his work, later giving up the sober companion work and becoming his partner-in-training.

I'm sure I've seen other stories where something similar happens, specifically involving a career that brings one individual in sudden, close work with another; where the former abandons his or her former career in exchange for the more exciting work of the latter - not counting the original (and many recreations of) Dr. John Watson, who was only looking for a flatshare, and got caught up with Sherlock simply by living with him.

I don't want to change my job or my career path. But, hypothetically, if in the future I wanted to chase the crazy dream of experiencing some of the most varied lives and livelihoods out there (and assuming I remotely had the people skills to do so), what jobs would bring me in close, constant contact with a wide range of possibly interesting people, including on their jobs, officially or unofficially?

posted by WasabiFlux to Work & Money (11 answers total)

I would imagine being a consultant developing software could get you this sort of exposure. One of the things I like about being a software engineer is that software often does something for people who are something other than other software engineers. I've had to dip my toes into small business accounting, sales tax codes, and all kinds of weird advertising niches as a software engineer. Working for big companies, my exposure to our end users is pretty minimal, but if I were, say, a one-woman consultancy that developed smartphone apps for clients, I bet I'd run across all kinds of interesting people who had an idea for a specialized app but none of the technical knowhow.

Perhaps also bookkeeping, and it's easier to learn to keep books than it is to learn to write code.
posted by town of cats at 8:46 PM on July 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Police officer, FBI special agent, private detective, or other law enforcement. Anthropologist or other social scientist who does naturalistic research. Journalist.
posted by shivohum at 8:58 PM on July 8, 2013

Best answer: Journalism - especially depth work.
posted by Miko at 9:00 PM on July 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Personal assistant
posted by Jacqueline at 9:02 PM on July 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

Its less about the job and more about connections. Watson doesn't do what it takes for the job she is in. She is passive. The one thing she does do though is she works through some sort of agency. She is blessed by the connections she has. If you want the same thing in life - it is a question of 'The Talented Mr. Ripley'. You have to make and work your connections. You have to prove yourself invaluable and desirable. You have to sell yourself without obviously selling yourself.

To have those connections - its a question of learning. What motivates those around me that I am interested in, and what do I have to offer that expands their vision and/or eases their burden? Who does this person know that I need to or want to know? Do that for everybody. An experience with a dishwasher may be just as useful as an experience through your local British sounding ex-patriot.
posted by Nanukthedog at 9:32 PM on July 8, 2013

Best answer: Oh, thought of another one - my friend worked as a location scout and ended up developing relationships with tons of people with really fancy houses in Los Angeles, many of whom had got their fancy houses doing interesting work. I'm sure you could get the same exposure doing lots of other things that tend to attract wealthy folks - skippering yachts, walking dogs in nice neighborhoods, private tutoring, etc.
posted by town of cats at 10:19 PM on July 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

Political campaigns. You'll meet lots of different people from very different backgrounds.
posted by brookeb at 10:40 PM on July 8, 2013

Journalist. Bonus: you'll soon find yourself in need of a new career.
posted by dekathelon at 11:36 PM on July 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

Spouse of a politician.
posted by empath at 11:40 PM on July 8, 2013

Note: Joan Watson was not originally a live-in sober companion. She had her own place until Sherlock's dad fired her. Then Sherlock had her move in.
posted by Cranberry at 12:50 PM on July 9, 2013

Response by poster: Some good ideas here. I hadn't thought of anything like a location scout.

Also note: Joan Watson had her own apartment, but she lived with Sherlock from the beginning as part of the job. All those scenes that started with Sherlock walking inappropriately and loudly into Joan's room to wake her up. The alarm clock debacle in the first episode.
posted by WasabiFlux at 1:31 AM on July 10, 2013