Technology rules for top jobs of 2014

Elliott Adams

Forbes has released a list of the top jobs of 2014, those professions that have seen an increase in both employment rates and wages.

The list, which was compiled from a study by CareerBuilder, features 12 jobs that have seen at least a 7 percent increase in employment in recent years and also produce a wage of $22 per hour or more.

Topping the list with an 11 percent employment growth since 2010 and an average hourly pay of $45.06 are jobs involved in software development and computer manufacturing industries.

Karl B. Zerangue, a computer science professor at MCC, said he is not surprised this field of work is labeled a top job.

“The field of computer science is always working on new things. Anything that’s invented can have software in it so the material is always in demand,” Zerangue said. “The job is perfect for people who like puzzles and math challenges and it gives you a good opportunity to work with both people and computers.”

 Coming in second on the list is the field of market research and analysis.

These jobs have seen a 14 percent increase since 2010, and are expected to increase 41 percent by 2020.

The career of a petroleum engineer is one that is clearly high in demand its employment rate rose by 21 percent over the course of three years and whose median hourly earnings is $63.67.

Though not as significant as the growth of the engineering job opportunities, the field of event planning is also in high demand with a total employment of 87,082 jobs in 2013 as well as a median hourly earning of $22.56.

Alexa Hernandez, a student at both MCC and CGCC, is currently in pursuit of a job in the field of event planning and coordinating and is happy to see her career choice listed as a top job this year.

“I’m very excited about this because I love planning events for other people and really think it’s a strong suit of mine,” Hernandez said. “I researched this career while ago and saw that a bachelor’s degree in business or public relations is more helpful in getting into the event planning career, so that’s what I’m aiming for right now.”

Besides this top job requiring a bachelor’s degree and good organizational skills, it also require’s a skilled hand in the area of stress management.

According to another list compiled by Forbes, whose data was collected by CareerCast, event planning is the fifth most stressful job of 2014.

The data was collected according to which jobs provoked the most stress in workers, due to factors like travel, competition, physical demands, environmental conditions and risk of one’s life.

“Honestly I do feel a bit worried that it’s listed as number five for most stressful jobs,” Hernandez said.      ” I can see that this career is very time consuming but I actually prefer to be busy and work ahead of time so I can definitely see myself in this particular career.”

  • Mesa Legend Staff

    These are archived stories from Mesa Legend editions before Fall 2018. See article for corresponding author.

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