At a certain point, you realize that you are going to have to work for most of your life. For most people, this means working forty hours a week or more. If you are doing something that you love, this can be a blessing rather than a curse. Fortunately, it is possible to work in a career that you find fun, rewarding, and lucrative. If you can manage to find this combination, you’ve more or less settled into the perfect job.
The perfect job is not universal. Everyone has different passions, hobbies, and interests, so the perfect career is different for everyone. That said, it seems clear that some career options have a higher fun factor and are more likely to appeal to a wide range of people than others. For instance, who wouldn’t want to be a professional ice cream taster?
For that reason, we have decided to put together a great guide to some of the most fun jobs and career paths open to you right now. We’ve also taken a look at current trends to see what may be popular in the future, finding areas where cool and exciting careers are likely to develop, and we included some of these insights in our guide as well.
First, we’re going to cover some of the most fun jobs available that also pay well. The combination of fun and salary gives you some idea of the viability of these career choices. For most people, a job isn’t simply a way to pass the time. It is a necessity. They help us to pay our bills, house ourselves, and feed our families. If a fun job doesn’t come with any real financial support, it isn’t a valid option.
Next, we look at some of the coolest jobs that are likely to become available soon. These positions come from our survey of current job growth, fields that are undergoing innovative transformation, and a little bit of imagination. This section will help you figure out where you could be five, ten years, or even twenty years. If you are planning your post-secondary education, it can help to look ahead.
Next, we return to the present day and review some of the best jobs in the world in terms of fun. This section will help you to reimagine your career goals. How most people measure success depends upon the dominant ideas of what it means to be successful. These are ideas cultivated in media, entertainment, and education. Of course, success can mean a lot of different things. For many other people, successful life is an enjoyable one.
Finally, we take a look at some of the most fun jobs available for a person with a bachelor’s degree. This section ties it all together, going through some of the most fun, most well paid, and most attainable jobs out there. It is targeted at university students, recent graduates, or high school students. If you are trying to make a realistic plan for the future, it is important to take stock of your options. The information we present might help you to do so with a little different perspective.
As we mentioned earlier, life can be a lot more rewarding when you love what you do. Plain and simple, one of the best ways to love what you do is to get paid a lot of money to do something that you enjoy. In short, this means finding a fun job that pays well.
There is no one size fits all fun job. For most people, a fun job is one that offers an environment in which they feel comfortable, enjoyable tasks, and rewarding experiences. The specifics of this will differ depending upon your personality, your interests, and your hobbies.
Of course, some jobs are more widely recognized as being fun. A number of these jobs are listed and explored below. Before we get into that, it is worth quickly exploring the concept a little more broadly.
What makes a job fun?
Figuring out what makes a job fun isn’t easy. The answer is so subjective that it can be difficult to state anything definitively. Depending upon the individual in question, the most fun jobs possible will vary widely. However, some jobs seem far more likely to be fun for most people than others. As a result, this guide will focus on these positions.
For the most part, people enjoy work when it allows them to be themselves, feel comfortable, and participate in work that they feel is important or enjoyable. For this reason, fun jobs might not come immediately to mind. If somebody cares passionately about the environment, for instance, they might enjoy working on environmental protection policy.
To determine what career is best suited to you, it can be a great idea to think about what activities you like to do. It is your interests that determine how fun a job will be to you. What’s fun for you might not be fun for someone else. For instance, if somebody is very interested in a little-known professional sport, such as snooker, they might love to work as a snooker official, a snooker reporter, or even as an assistant at snooker matches. However, if somebody else has no interest in snooker, these jobs might seem tedious and boring.
What are some fun jobs with high salaries?
It is possible to find employment that is not only entertaining but also pays very well. If your work is both financially lucrative and personally rewarding, you’ve hit the jackpot.
If we’re being honest, some really fun jobs that pay well are a bit of a long shot. For instance, a top tier actor or hockey player might make millions of dollars a year and probably loves what they do. Same for a professional poker player. For most people, though, attaining this type of work is simply not in the realm of possibility.
On the other hand, some jobs are not only more easily attainable but might be even more fun. With or without a degree, many people can find work in anything from video games to entertainment.
Some examples of fun jobs that pay well include:
- Voice actor: For people who enjoy acting, becoming a voice actor can be a very enjoyable career path. Voice actors often find work in commercials, animated tv shows, in the film industry, in video games, as narrators, in translation work, or voice-overs. Voice actors make an average of about $76,000 a year.
- Pilot: Unless you have a fear of flying, the idea of soaring over mountains, fields, and oceans sounds pretty great. The sensation of freedom must be incredible. As you likely already know, pilots are also compensated very well. The median airline pilot salary in the United States was about $175,000 in 2019.
- Video game designer: For a gamer, it is hard to think of a better career path than creating video games. Video game designers work with game production companies to design the various aspects of video games. These aspects include game concepts and game mechanics.
- Radio host: If you love music, broadcasting, or the sound of your voice, becoming a radio host might be the career path for you. Radio hosts can have a lot of fun as they work. Often, they have a degree of control over the content they present. They might also get to interview celebrities, politicians, or experts in various fields. Some of the more well-known radio hosts can also make quite a bit of money. For some, this could be a dream job.
- Fire chief: Across the world, children dream of becoming firefighters. These are real-world heroes who respond to dangerous situations, from car crashes to structure fires. Though this position is highly stressful, it is also exciting and fulfilling. Fire chiefs can make anywhere from $40,000 to $120,000.
- Cruise Ship Entertainer: Working as a professional musician or dancer can seem like a pipedream. However, many talented prospects find work on cruise ships as entertainers. Not only does this position come with a great paycheck, but it also means that the talent’s downtime is spent on the ocean, with all the perks associated with a luxury cruise.
- Professional e-sport player: This one requires a lot of talent and a lot of luck. If you’re good at video games, it might be worth looking into tournaments. Professional e-sport players get to play their favorite games for days on end. They can also make as much as seven million dollars a year.
- Architect: Designing is fun. As children, many people sketch up houses, buildings, and cities. Well, by becoming an architect, it is possible to do this for a living. There are a few more hoops to jump through in the real world, but the essence of the project is kind of the same. Also, architects can make an average salary of between $40,000 to $100,000 a year.
- Park Ranger: If you love the great outdoors, finding work outside is a huge benefit. Breathing fresh air, watching open streams, and working with wildlife can be thrilling, relaxing, and rewarding. Park rangers work in the nation’s national parks and make sure that they are well preserved, protected, and maintained. On top of that, the median annual wage for park rangers is up to $80,000.
- Critic: There are countless different kinds of critics out there. These critics include film, literary, and food critics. If you love to watch movies, eat great food, or read excellent books, working as a critic might be the right path for you. According to some estimates, the average salary of a critic is about $80,000 a year.
What is the easiest job that pays the most?
This depends upon the specific jobs. For the average person, the highest paying jobs that are within reach are generally in the medical field. At the top tier level, medical professionals can make millions. However, medical work is not easy.
In the rankings beside medical professionals are business executives. Of course, many business execs work long and hard hours. Crunching numbers for days on end may not be the most fun thing in the world. On the other hand, high-ranking business professionals can make millions or even billions of dollars. In contrast to the same number of hours put into other work, such as sanitation or service, crunching numbers doesn’t seem so bad. Also, the highest-ranking members of a corporation do not always work as hard as those on the lower rungs. Sometimes, CEOs can sit back and rake in the dough after they have reached a certain level of success. That said, fun is subjective and not everyone would want this type of career, regardless of how much it pays.
Cool Jobs You Could Have In The Future
It’s no secret that the world is changing. Things seem to be moving faster than ever at the moment. Corporations grow, technology transforms, and urban sprawl escalates. As this change occurs, new career paths unfold. Where industrialists once lorded over the business, social media companies and techies have taken over.
In this brave new world, some of the jobs available to you are pretty cool. These jobs include working with artificial technology, robots, and lasers. Some of the career paths opening just over the horizon are even better. In the future, nobody knows what to predict. Preparing yourself for a cool job that accounts for social and technological transformation is a great way to set yourself up for success. Just think about those geniuses who got into computer science in the 80s.
When you think of the future, you tend to think of technological advancement. Of course, many of the most lucrative jobs opening up in the future are related to technology. The Silicon Valley gold rush has proven this, and we haven’t seen anything yet. That said, many of the jobs that will open up in the future will be dependent upon social transformation related to technological innovation and transformation, but they will not necessarily be directly involved in tech work.
To help you get a sense of some of the possibilities out there, we’ve imagined a few scenarios.
What kind of cool new jobs will be available in the future?
As times change, some things stay static. It seems fair to say that many jobs will not be going anywhere anytime soon. For instance, it seems unlikely that doctors, nurses, firefighters, or support workers will be out of work soon. However, some jobs will be replaced. Others will change drastically.
Let’s think about some of the technologies that exist right now that might lead to innovative change.
- Artificial intelligence
- Sustainable energy
- 3D printing
- Virtual reality
- Automated vehicles
Now, think about how these things are likely to change employment. Without engaging in wild speculation, it is possible to make a hypothesis regarding the change. For instance, if we happen to stop driving manually because vehicles all become self-driving, there will be a sudden loss of employment for drivers across the globe. However, this will also lead to the development of new and important positions.
Self-driving cars will require intelligent designers to transform roads, cities, and highways to account for these vehicles and their paths. It will also require specialized service technicians who can deal with the fallout when these cars inevitably have issues. It will also require tech designers, city planners, and a wealth of other positions.
Innovation in sustainable energy, 3D printing, and virtual reality are likely to create a huge number of new jobs. For instance, the advent of print on demand shopping, virtual reality entertainment, and gaming, and the schematics regarding solar or wind energy are likely to lead to a surge in relevant employment.
How can you prepare for cool future jobs?
To prepare for the cool jobs of the future, it helps to look at the past, present, and future. For example, looking at our current era and examining trends in technological development, urban growth, and employment can help get a sense of the paths likely to unfold. Looking back can help us to analyze the way that this kind of transformation has happened historically.
For example, looking back now, it seems evident that getting into computing in the 80s, 90s, and 00s, would have been a very good move. Investing in computer companies, massive internet firms, and online shopping at that time has led to immense wealth for certain people. In terms of enjoyment, people recognized that coding, game design, and AI tech had potential. For people who enjoyed playing in these areas, this meant great career paths.
If you are planning your post-secondary education, it might help to examine which fields seem to be burgeoning, which are time tested and assured, and which fields are likely to disappear. Doing so can help you to prepare for the largely unpredictable state of change.
How important will remote work be in the future?
At the moment, we are seeing an unprecedented explosion of remote work. Difficult times and changing technologies have made remote work a necessity, in many cases, and a possibility in others. As a result, more people than ever are working from home. Many large corporations and employers have decided to transition to more remote work options permanently.
Though it is impossible to predict, it seems highly unlikely that remote work will become less common as time goes on.
Best Professions In The World for Having Fun
There are many different ways to measure what the best job in the world is. For some, this is the best paying one, or the easiest one, or the most socially beneficial one. For some people, the best job in the world is simply the one that lets them have the most fun.
When evaluating jobs based on fun alone, the potential career paths are far broader than you might imagine. For instance, you can become anything from an ethical hacker to a Ferrari driving instructor.
Here’s what we’ve found when looking at some of the most fun jobs in the world:
- Ethical hacker: Ethical hackers essentially hack into businesses, organizations, and corporations to find flaws in their systems. These flaws are then addressed by security professionals. In short, it’s hacking without the dubious morals and shady legal ground.
- Ferrari driving instructor: This is exactly what it sounds like. In this job, you drive Ferraris for a living. Then you teach other people how to drive them, which, of course, means driving more Ferraris. The position even pays well.
- Unexploded ordnance technician: This one might not be fun if you don’t like explosions. If you happen to like explosions, however, this is the role for you. In short, you are assigned to unexploded devices and you blow them up… safely.
- Flavor guru: This is a professional ice cream taster. A flavor guru tests and designs flavors. If you have a very sophisticated sweet tooth, this is the path for you.
- Private island caretaker: The ultra-rich buy private islands. Often, these islands are used just a few times a year. For the rest of the year, the island has to be cared for by somebody. This role lets you enjoy luxurious islands, oceans, and palm trees.
- Luxury bed tester: This one might not be fun, per se. It is, however, a pretty good gig. As a luxury bed tester, you simply test out and rate luxury beds. This is a job that a machine still can’t quite pull off.
- Theme park engineer: Once again, this is just what it sounds like. Theme park engineers might just work on existing rides at theme parks. They might also get to design, create, and materialize their amusement park rides.
Most Fun Jobs For College Graduates
Odds are, many of our readers are recent graduates, college students, or high school students. If you’re entering or exiting college, you’ve likely wondered about the next step. Career planning tends to focus on a range of practical matters that are vitally important. It often forgets that life should be fun, though.
For that reason, we’ve taken a look at some of the most fun jobs available to grads.
What are the best jobs to have while you’re in college?
Many college students work while they study to make extra money. This can be in the form of a summer job, part time job, or even a full time job. School is stressful enough without adding a difficult work environment into the mix, so as a college student, choosing a cool job is a great choice.
Here are some of the best jobs to have while you study:
- Library assistant
- Barista
- Part-time writer
- Sports facility attendant
- Lifeguard
What fun jobs are available for college graduates?
Many of the jobs listed in the earlier sections require a bachelor’s degree. Others require technical training or significant work experience. For example, becoming an unexploded ordnance technician, an ethical hacker, or a pilot will require specialized education. With a college degree, there is no shortage of work options.
Some fun jobs that college graduates can find include:
- Marine biologist
- Chef
- AI developer
- Urban planner
- Animator
- Advertiser
- Film editor
- Astronomer
- Conservationist
How will your choice of degree program affect your ability to land a fun job when you graduate?
The degree you complete has a lot to do with the career paths open to you. Of course, you will need some education to become a researcher in a laser lab. It is important to remember, though, that your degree is not as restrictive as many people think. It is often possible to go back to school and pursue a master’s degree or find your way into a career based upon work experience.
If there is a specific area you’re interested in, look into the requirements of that field. It is a lot easier to break into an area when you are well qualified for than one that you are not. If you don’t have all of the necessary qualifications, it’s time to re-evaluate. Is it worth going back to school to get the experience and the degree you need? There are a lot of factors that affect this decision, but ultimately, you have to decide whether the investment is worth the possibility of getting a fun job that you’re passionate about in the end.
Conclusion
Working is a lot more fun when you enjoy what you do. Thankfully, there are career paths in just about any area that you can imagine. If you have an interest in a certain area, it is worth doing a little digging to see exactly what career paths are available in that field.
As the wheels of time go on, the nature of work changes. Accounting for technological transformation and social change can help us to predict some of the likely changes in employment over the next few decades. Doing so can be a great way to set yourself up for a fun and lucrative career path.
By planning, it is possible to find a career path that will not only sustain you and fill your time but will also be something genuinely enjoyable. Hopefully, you’ve come away from this with a better understanding of the options available!
