25 Once Booming Professions That Are Slowly Dying

1.

I work in radio and it's definitely radio

2.

Scientific glass blowing! I work in a lab that uses tons of custom glass parts for our sampling flasks and analysis racks, and anything that breaks needs to be repaired quickly and precisely! Young people go into glass blowing to make bongs and sculptures and chandeliers but never the technical stuff. All the scientific glassblowers in my area are 70+ with health issues and they can’t find apprentices. Crazy thing is that you can charge $15k for a cannabis film still and it’s only about $2k in raw glass parts, so there’s a huge untapped market out there. And shipping glass long distance is obviously risky so we need these guys localized and knowledgeable.

3.

Sewing machine technicians. The two older gents that service mine are amazing, been doing it most of their lives. They're lovely people and extraordinarily knowledgeable but they're wanting to retire and there's no one to take on their business. They've tried to find apprentices but no one is interested despite them being in pretty high demand. The precision engineering in my industrial and domestic machines is extraordinary and it makes me so sad that if they go wrong I might never find anyone to fix them.

4.

English teaching in Asia. No money in it anymore.

5.

Parking lot attendants and toll booth operators. Went to a doctor's office with paid parking the other day and was shocked that the only way out was via an attendant. Feel like it’s become 1 of several options with machines as the more common option.

6.

Traditional art. I just got into it, looking forward to improving, but now, it seems there's more digital than traditional. I wish to make comics and posters with handwriting, sketching, but in digital, this can be done without time constraints.

7.

Printing press repair. One of my friends travels the country repairing presses and is one of only a handful in the industry.

8.

We are wildly short on truck drivers. The media is talking about it now, a little, but I learned the job a little over two years ago, and in training, we were shown a map of the US where we had more freight to move than drivers who could move it. The entire map was solid red, not a spec of white on it. The driver shortage predates Covid. The best I can figure is people: A) don't want to be gone all the time, B) Don't know you can drive locally and be home daily while still making good money, C) share in the negative stigma that exists around truckers these days, D) some combination of the above. But there is a growing shortage, and with drivers aging out and younger people not replacing them, the problem is set to get much worse. "Everything you own arrived on a truck," but what happens when no one is driving the trucks?

9.

Video player repair people

10.

I can't think of the last time I saw a watchmaker workshop. I used to see 2 - 3 in every town when I was younger.

11.

Airline desk attendants who help you reschedule your missed flight. Some airlines now have mobile apps that let you book your own flight and even divert to a different airport. They'll show you which ones are available and your choice will immediately go into their computer system. And chances are if you have a basic knowledge of which airports are where and their transportation options, you'll do a better job than them.

12.

Every single person/professional who got replaced by an answering machine "if you were stupid enough to call here and waste your time and energy, please press 1"Gawd I hate these...

13.

Bookbinders. I always wanted to become one but it's all done by machines now

14.

Believe it or not, carpet installers. Sure people still put carpet in, but a lot less. With the rise in popularity of things like LVT, and trends changing, people are remodeling or building new with less and less carpet. In a typical residential setting, you're lucky if the bedrooms have carpet. This means there is less work available overall, and what there is available is only small rooms. The installers are needed less, and they make less. This has been going on for a few years, and it's getting harder to get guys to come in and install the stuff.

15.

Up until a couple of years ago, I was a cobbler. It was my favorite job I ever had. When I left they shut it down(they also sell shoes and boots there) because it takes quite a long time to teach someone the skills.

16.

I used to be a hotel concierge. My knowledge of who to see and what to do in our city was replaced with the likes of Google Reviews and Trip Advisor. I remember a guest wanting to go somewhere to eat, I suggested an authentic place, which they turned down as “Yelp” rated it 3 stars. They opted to go to a 5 star one. I had never heard of it. Then came back to complain the restaurant was a £30 taxi each way, as it wasn’t in the city and the restaurant was actually a take-away. But Yelp knows better.

17.

I've been doing door dash part-time. Doesn't seem sustainable. I think the delivery apps won't last more than 5 years. The drivers get screwed the customers get screwed restaurants get screwed. People commit fraud. I think it will be a ghost kitchen and regular sit down soon

18.

Not exactly dying but it's losing its prestige: being a teacher.

19.

Elevator operator

20.

Engineering drafting, I’ve seen my job change from drawing with pencils to becoming a full-time 3D modeling career. It’s not a bad thing since the job has changed and no one has lost work but it’s sad in the context that drafting is an art and the old school drafting before computers is absolutely beautiful.

21.

Internal medicine and it's really problematic for people with broad diseases that affect multiple parts of your body. Doctors are increasingly specialized and it's nearly impossible to find a good internist who isn't beyond swamped.

22.

Journalist. That's not a sarcastic, edgy comment. They are legitimately being replaced by content creators. The advertisements don't even read 'Journalist' or 'Reporter' 60% of the time. The distinction is important too because the job of a Journalist is to report the truth, whereas a Content Creator simply matches a brief suited to the publication's biases, alignments, and interests.

23.

Land Surveyors. In my State (USA), there were stats put out a few years ago that there were about 2,600 licensed surveyors in the State and about 40% of those were above the age of 60. It’s an incredibly important field, but no one talks about it as a “career” when you’re in high school. Depending on which sector you get into, you can make the same amount as civil engineers would but with way more job security.

24.

Machinists. More advanced CNC machinery is being created and becoming more cost-effective each day. Can make hundreds of parts in the time it takes someone to make one.

25.

Photo Lab Technician. I've worked in a few different photo labs and with the move to digital, there really isn't a need for people who work with film.