Useless jobs and skills that won't earn you an income before, during and after SHTF

[UERISIMILITUDO]

So like the title says, discuss what are jobs and skills that will not be useful nor earn you an income during a collapse or SHTF.

I don't think lolcow watching will be in much demand in such a scenario.

 

[P R O X Y]

It really depends on how much "SHTF".

It is total world apocalypse where everyone is pretty much fucked and we resort to a mad max lifestyle. I actually think people with decent hardware/tech skills can still be useful. Solar power, and even backup generators (rely on fuel) can still be used to make a low-tech lifestyle to ease some of the needs of people in an apocalypse scenario. How well that actually works when society breaks down I couldn't say.

I think Academics would be the most useless. We already know people aren't logical in catastrophic scenarios, so they won't listen to reason but only people with an iron fist of sorts. I know you could argue that they have a lot of knowledge that could be helpful but in my experience people with academic knowledge lack the actual application knowledge of what they study/teach.

 

[God of Nothing]

People do not upstand logistics and infrastructure. The people you look down keep shit running. You can be the best heart/brain surgeon in the world. but without some one to make tools you need, you are useless. Imagine not having those level people around who make surgical stitching around.

unfortunately those people aren't paid shit
practically inevitable it all goes down because we don't value what is actually productive in our society

 

[Montalbane]

Buckbreaking will be the only skill you will need apocalypse.

 

[Sebben Crudele II]

I understand software engineer is dead with the state of AI now, and I know software engineer who haven't found work for 6+ months before a crises even happen. that and IT being outsourced to foreign workers for cheaper pay.

Software engineering isn't dead. LLMs aren't able to program by themselves with no user input, are very prone to error, and will hallucinate at the smallest opportunity. I work in ai engineering and artificial "intelligence" is way way more retarded and breakable than people realize, in fact, a big part of the work when implementing LLMs on a project is tardwrangling them, slapping them constantly so they don't do stupid shit, and preventing exploits from script kiddies.

Computers are very stupid and ain't replacing anybody. If anything they will generate more tardwangling jobs.

 

[Dawdler]

In a post collapse, nobody is going to be guarding those old mothballed oil wells and there will be no EPA agent to stop you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L99EybPORKk

You can run crude straight with a few minor modifications to even a simple lawnmower engine, a lot of the old tractors were built to run on number 1 fuel oil which is very easy to extract from crude.

While a valid solution on texas sweet oil, you are forgetting the insane amount of wear on the engine. There's a good reason that old engines that can run on hfo or gasoline have huge displacements, it's because of low fuel quality and very high sulfur content which makes low hp. With high sulfur you can also say goodbye to a catalytic converter and a lot of aluminium blocks that would wear out prematurely. Steel is king in this aspect.
Modern car engines won't run on direct filtered oil and would even struggle with simple distillate due to very low octane rating. Diesel engines however would be really happy with even crudest of distillates. You could use ethanol-water injection to raise up octane number, but you will wear out engine even faster.

Using wood gas in an conventional engine drops it's output by 80% and you would struggle to maintain highway speeds with 2.0 NA engine.

You want a diesel tractor. You use it to grow an oil crop. The oil crops differ from region to region, but most will do 100 gallons of vegetable oil per acre.

Oil crops will be reduced to nothing without modern hybridization. You also don't have all the chemical inventory that's required today to maintain high yields. Most of farmland is completely devoid of nutrients for plants.
Only viable option is to convert wood into fuel (Steam or gas), since the oil yield may be so low to basically net an energy equivalent of 0.

The reaction itself isn't particularly challenging.

You also obtain glycerol which is quite valuable as well as similar process can be used to make soap (Also valuable). Lye can be obtained from wood ash. Such events will mean a very tight control on resources. Even modern chainsaws won't run without gas and at a certain point, you are better off using hydro for cutting wood etc.

Though ultimately unworkable, bacon grease as engine oil is probably superior to the shit you buy at NAPA or Advanced Auto parts:

Animal fats were used a lot in steam engine era. They provide superior performance to the conventional oils and given the glycerine group in fats, they are miscible with water to some extent.

Castor (bean) oil might be the correct direction for engine oil substitute.

It is still used today for high performance toy engines. Nothing beats it. It is very very expensive however.

There are elements of the newest models that are just not compatible with longevity, but these are often electronics-and-software based features that farmers are salivating over, even demanding.

That raises a valid point. However, modern combines/plows/tractors can run autonomously and even call a fuel cistern for refueling, so the farmer can spend the day doing something else.
Without electronics, wage rate would drop low, making regular farming possible. However, people wouldn't like it.

And every single one of us reading this, we'll be lucky if we can get ahold of 20 acres, and we'll be even luckier if we manage to cultivate more than that were we to somehow get it.

Even if you get it, all your effort may be gone as food gets stolen. So we return to basically milk industries for any amount of protein and fat intake and keep close eye on the herd.

If you can swing it, find one of those fat old assholes you seem to hate, and learn from him whatever he's willing to teach. He likely has 100+ years of institutional knowledge. All this seems like retard work to some of you, but there are subtle details that if you get wrong then you'll get to see what your kids' ribs look like through their skin. A day late, a day early on some of this shit makes all the difference. Trying to gauge whether you should use the water you have now to irrigate, or just take the 30% lower harvest and keep it for something more important.

A very sobering fact.
Irrigation however isn't viable without a stable energy source or diversion of water. Well water is usually just used for domestic purposes and is a non issue outside cities.
The best example of post apocalyptic society is N.Korea. Everyone is infested with parasites, life expectancy is low and there's a lot of manual labor.

It is total world apocalypse where everyone is pretty much fucked and we resort to a mad max lifestyle. I actually think people with decent hardware/tech skills can still be useful. Solar power, and even backup generators (rely on fuel) can still be used to make a low-tech lifestyle to ease some of the needs of people in an apocalypse scenario. How well that actually works when society breaks down I couldn't say.

There's enough solar to just live of the scraps comfortable for basic electronics like radio which will be in high demand.
The non hospitable regions and cities will most likely be completely emptied. Transportation will become very scarce, to the levels of indians on train. Horse-ox carts will rule the world again and will transport just enough oil to keep lights on.
All easy resources have already been scraped and people are in for trouble as things turn for the worse. Modern man is not made for levels of labour survival in the wild demands. People are simply too big for food available.

 

[P R O X Y]

A really stupid question but maybe someone can point me to some resources. I'm considering buying some of those solar powered portable batteries off Amazon for an emergency. How shit are these things, can they last a while? How hard is it to repair solar panels like this? I'm actually really interested now since even though solar hasn't taken off greatly, I do think its a great thing in a survival situation.

 

[ArnoldPalmer]

Expect an average lifespan of five years, an absolute maximum of 12, but realistically, maybe two and a half if you top up and discharge the battery when it needs it. Lithium Ion batteries are only as good as your ability to keep them in a regular duty cycle. Solar panels are a decade item, you'll most likely have to replace them by the 20 year mark, but they're noticeably less efficient at 7-10 years. Cheaper solar panels usually have a shorter lifespan, especially the "flexible" ones that aren't actually flexible.

 

[Dawdler]

A really stupid question but maybe someone can point me to some resources. I'm considering buying some of those solar powered portable batteries off Amazon for an emergency. How shit are these things, can they last a while? How hard is it to repair solar panels like this? I'm actually really interested now since even though solar hasn't taken off greatly, I do think its a great thing in a survival situation.

It will sit on shelf until battery swells and you toss it away. You are better off just getting an inverter running off car's alternator