8 MOST EXTREME JOBS Hi everyone, it’s Chris from World List!
From diving in dangerous places to chasing tornadoes, here are 8 of the most extreme
jobs in the world.
8.
CAVE DIVER Being a cave diver sounds like a really cool
job right?
Their purpose is to assist in mankind’s quest to learn by carrying out scientific
investigations.
The profession involves diving into bodies of water, searching for openings, and entering
submerged caves.
Cave diving is the most intense and extreme forms of scuba diving there is, and is almost
always done for technical purposes, rather than recreation.
If you are not seriously trained, you should not be doing this!
Cave divers made headlines last year when they rescued a youth soccer team from the
Tham Luang cave system.
It was a massive operation and even a very experienced diver lost his life.
Cave diving requires extensive training and certification.
Many involved in the search and rescue were Navy Seals or retired military.
Professionals insist that it’s also important to have top-quality gear and equipment.
In a December 2013 article for the Tampa Bay Times, writer Terry Tomalin likened cave diving
to ice skating on a freshly frozen pond.
In his words, “You don’t know you’re in trouble until the ice cracks.”
He also explained that open-water scuba diving is like getting a driver’s license - it
doesn’t make you a professional racer.
Even experienced cave divers take risks when they do their job.
It’s pitch dark, and one wrong move could kick up sediment and render a diver’s light
essentially useless.
Due to the dangers of cave diving, a diver must swim with twice the amount of equipment
as an open-water diver, including various duplicate items in case one stops working.
Salaries for commercial diving jobs vary depending on demand and level of danger.
A typical diver can expect to make around $60,000 annually.
7.
SKYDIVING INSTRUCTOR This job is perfect for someone who loves
skydiving and wants to do it frequently (and cheaper!).
Skydiving is an expensive hobby, but as an instructor, it’s part of the job!
A skydiving instructor teaches people the basics of skydiving and accompanies them on
their jump from an airplane several miles in the sky.
Skydiving is very safe, but it’s undoubtedly also extreme, and safety is of utmost importance.
Therefore, becoming an instructor is a process that requires some patience and can also be
costly.
The first step to becoming a skydiving instructor is to attend a skydiving school, where you’ll
learn everything you need to know in both a classroom environment and by doing a jump
from an airplane flying at an altitude of between two and three miles.
Next, you need to earn skydiving licenses, which will ultimately allow you to become
an instructor.
Before becoming an instructor, you must log 500 jumps and three hours of freefall.
You must also be a member of the United States Parachute Association.
It’s common for people to begin their skydiving careers part-time, especially since it’s
a weather-dependent weekend activity.
An instructor will probably only work up to ten months out of the year.
Someone who wants to work year-round as an instructor will most likely have to seek employment
in a warm place like southern California.
Most drop zones pay per jump, but some pay hourly.
Full-time skydivers usually make somewhere between $20,000 and $40,000 annually.
It’s definitely a career someone pursues more out of passion than for money.
6.
STUNT PERSON Being a stuntman - or woman - is dangerous
for obvious reasons.
While it’s becoming more common to use special effects and other technology to create a dramatic
scene, stuntmen are still sometimes needed.
Stunts are designed to be as safe as possible, but the work comes with inevitable risks,
and is extremely physically demanding, and requires highly-trained, physically fit professionals.
Becoming a stunt person is complicated because there’s no formal method of approach to
doing so.
Usually, someone who aspires to become a stunt person learns their trade through an experienced
professional or through a lengthy apprenticeship.
Either way, there’s no established system for gaining the training necessary to become
a stunt person.
In other words, it’s not something just anyone can sign up for.
In order to work, a stunt person must be a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), the
union that governs all on-screen film performers.
To become a member of the Screen Actors Guild, a person must have, at the very least, some
on-camera experience working as an extra.
By working frequently as an extra, someone hoping to become a stunt person can familiarize
themselves with movie sets and stunt coordinators.
It also provides the opportunity for the hopeful individual to spark up a conversation with
a stunt coordinator during one of their rare free moments, and to maybe even offer their
resume and headshot, in hopes that the stunt coordinator will pass their information along
to potential employers.
Getting one’s foot in the door is half the battle.
Once a wishful candidate receives a call, they’ll still probably start out as a gopher
and have to work their way up.
Stunt work, especially at the lower skill levels, is both unsteady and competitive.
The average salary for a stunt person is $70,000 per year.
5.
MINERS Working in the mining industry tends to pay
very well, especially when the prices of minerals and metals are doing well.
It’s also a very demanding and dangerous job, however.
The conditions of a mining environment requires workers to be psychologically sound and in
good physical health.
Shifts often last 12 hours, and a worker can typically expect to be underground the entire
time.
Mining workers often work many days in a row, with minimal days off.
Some mining operations are remote, requiring workers to leave home for months at a time
to stay at the mining camp.
Workers are usually expected to perform heavy physical labor in just about any weather conditions,
which are often less-than-ideal.
For example, underground mines are often dark, hot, noisy, and wet.
Mine workers often have to do their jobs in cramped and confined spaces that require them
to labor on their hands and knees, backs, and stomachs.
There are several serious emergencies that can happen on the jobsite, including cave-ins,
mine fires, explosions, and exposure to harmful gases and dust.
Miners are at an elevated risk for two serious lung diseases: pneumoconiosis, or “black
lung disease,” and silicosis.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average yearly salary for a mine worker
is $62,620.
3.
STORM CHASER Storm chasers pursue a variety of severe weather
conditions.
The single biggest objective for most chasers is to witness a tornado, but they’re also
known to go after other types of storms.
Storm chasing is primarily a recreational activity to most.
However, chasers sometimes work in cooperation with universities or the government to conduct
scientific work.
They are also often the first to alert relevant authorities to dangerous storm conditions.
This type of help benefits real-time warnings through the provision of ground-truth information.
These types of reports from storm chasers also contribute toward making severe storm
databases more reliable, which also helps to improve forecast and warning skill.
Chasing storms is a time-consuming process that often involves driving several thousands
of miles to reach a destination, in hopes of witnessing an event that occurs over a
relatively short window of time.
Once the chasers arrive at the site of the expected storm, they must wait for it to hopefully
happen.
It’s not unusual for a storm chaser to invest their time, effort, and resources into pursuing
a severe weather event and instead coming up empty-handed.
Pursuing hazardous weather is inherently dangerous.
Not only can the weather itself harm a storm chaser, they also have to worry about things
like downed power lines, animals in the road, and reduced visibility due to heavy rain.
By exercising caution and situational awareness, most risks can be avoided.
Storm chasers also tend to get distracted behind the wheel, although teams of chasers
usually coordinate their mission to avoid the driver having to multitask.
2.
OIL RIG WORKER When it comes to some jobs, danger is unavoidable.
These unsung heroes of the world work 12-hour shifts out in the middle of a body of water,
while trying to extract an element from the Earth below that can combust if something
goes wrong.
Even walking the platform of a rig is a big risk - take the wrong step somewhere, and
you can get swept out into the oceans, or fall onto another part of the rig and sustain
serious injuries.
Then, there's the worst case scenario - the possibility of the rig exploding.
Anyone who's seen Man of Steel or Deepwater Horizon knows how dangerous and violent it
can get when oil combusts, and even if the Coast Guard immediately receives the call
for help, getting to the rig is a race against the clock that may not be won.
When you get your oil changed or fill the gas tank of your vehicle, remember that there
are hard working people doing an extreme job so you can get around.
1.
BERING SEA FISHERMAN In the Bering Sea, many fishermen and women
have disappeared and perished trying to obtain their catch.
The long-running Discovery Channel series The Deadliest Catch showcases the hunt for
crabs in treacherous waters.
The Bering Sea is notorious for having some of the worst weather in the world.
One day, the water is calm and flat, with seagulls flying peacefully overhead.
Then, the next day, there are rough, 30-foot waves crashing constantly.
The longer a fishing vessel spends on the water, catching crabs, the more dangerous
the situation becomes.
A recent Deadliest Catch special discussed a part of the Bering Sea where 200 ships have
sunk.
This area is known as the Bering Sea Triangle, and it's a terror for fisherman to be in,
but it has an abundance of crabs.
During winter, fishermen have to fight freezing spray that can add 2,000 pounds of ice to
the boat per minutes.
They must also be careful to avoid getting caught in the “ice pack,” a miles-long
sheet of ice that descends onto the crab grounds.
Because where the Bering Sea is situated relative to Alaska, the only hope for rescue that fisherman
have are either from other boats or the US Coast Guard, both of which might be too far
away to reach a distressed vessel in time to rescue its occupants.
This job is dangerous, but has the potential to pay large sums over a short amount of time.
A few weeks on the Bering Sea in the right boat can earn someone tens of thousands of
dollars, if not more.
Thanks for watching!
Would you consider getting any of these extreme jobs?
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