Rank your important PA careers

P

[PCE]el_Prez

Vault Fossil
Was having a similar discussion on a different board and I didn't know if we've ever done this:

Rank the top 5 most important people (regarding their professions) to have around in a PA society

This is what I was thinking:

1. Heath care professionals (doctors, nurses, etc.)
2. Engineers
3. Farmers
4. Soldiers
5. Respected Authority Figure (Mayor, Police chief, etc. - also, you only need 1 of these per X amount of people)

What do you guys think?
 
From a perspective of "first thing you have to do is rebuild society", I'd say the top 5 (in no particular order) would be:

Farmers and agricultural experts: you need food.

Honest builders and engineers: you need housing. Engineers need to have practical knowledge to scavenge old tech, though, and the builders will actually have to know how to build. In today's expert world, these are hard to find.

Natural leaders: so the world doesn't turn to shit.

Medical experts: yeah

Outdoorsmen: this depends on what kind of apocalypse you have. If apocalyptic, you'd probably need experts on living with as little as possible. If some kind of natural, you'd need wild-life experts.

Soldiers aren't actually needed for anything. Anyone can learn to use a gun, and a soldier's expert knowledge wouldn't come in handy except in scavenging weaponry.

But all of the above depends on what kind of apocalypse.
 
[PCE said:
el_Prez]
5. Respected Authority Figure (Mayor, Police chief, etc. - also, you only need 1 of these per X amount of people)
Click to expand...

Ideally, I'd say that "respected authority figures" should also have expertise in some of the other areas that you list as important. There's no reason that a leader can't help out in another way, as well.

Also, it might be nice to have some educators around. You know - just to make sure that the current generation of people with technical skills and such doesn't turn out to be the last.
 
Brother None said:
Outdoorsmen: this depends on what kind of apocalypse you have. If apocalyptic, you'd probably need experts on living with as little as possible. If some kind of natural, you'd need wild-life experts.

Soldiers aren't actually needed for anything. Anyone can learn to use a gun, and a soldier's expert knowledge wouldn't come in handy except in scavenging weaponry.
Click to expand...

Well, I'd guess that most outdoorsmen have a different job but use their outdoorsmen skills in their leisure time. I'm sure there are a lot of guys who live out in the sticks and have great outdoorsman skills - but there are very few of those guys in relation to random people who have outdoorsmen skills.

Also, I said 'soldiers' but I was referring to someone who actually spent significant time in the military (like it was their career). Not just for protection purposes - but because a lot of those guys have viable skills outside shooting a rifle; plus at the very least they have some amount of survival/combat training. So when I say 'soldier' I don't just mean Johnny the 18 yr old whos tough as nails and a deadeye from 200 yards - I also mean Bill whos a 50 yr old retired Navy Seal and has survived for weeks by himself in enemy territory.


Brother None said:
But all of the above depends on what kind of apocalypse.
Click to expand...
True. Also, how many people your with comes into play. If your in a party of 4 a nurse is probably more valuable than an engineer. But if your in a town of 200 - now an engineer is top priority
 
Dougly said:
[PCE said:
el_Prez]
5. Respected Authority Figure (Mayor, Police chief, etc. - also, you only need 1 of these per X amount of people)
Click to expand...

Ideally, I'd say that "respected authority figures" should also have expertise in some of the other areas that you list as important. There's no reason that a leader can't help out in another way, as well.
Click to expand...
Yep. Like I said in reply to Brother None - How many people in your party comes into play. If you just have 10-20 people - you might not need someone with authoritative experience. But when your in a town of 200+ - you need someone with experience that people trust to run things.


Dougly said:
Also, it might be nice to have some educators around. You know - just to make sure that the current generation of people with technical skills and such doesn't turn out to be the last.
Click to expand...
Well, in todays society - teachers have a pretty important role. After the apocalypse - their gonna have to take the back seat for a while. First of all, people with viable skills will become teachers themselves. Instead of learning alebra - little suzie will be learning how to dress wounds. Instead of learning language arts - little johnny is going to learn how to drive a tractor. Only after a society becomes fully functioning (which will probably take a WHILE) will teaching standard subjects becoming important again.
 
I think the importance of armed protection is underestimated, often people who have become leaderless and have little left to live for, can become bandits (just like the Raiders). Every town in such a changed world would probably have to fight to maintain peace within the settlement, but most importantly from the outsiders.

As an answer to the original question:

1 - Food collectors (agriculture, but also hunters, people who get water, etc.)
2 - Engineers & builders (including the people who get building materials)
3 - Guards or soldiers
4 - Small scale industry (you need chairs, tables, etc.)
5 - A leader

I left out doctors since I think that a settlement would pay more attention to the development of the town since anyone can treat a small wound. If something like an epidemic would occur, a doctor would not have the materials to counter it anyway.
 
It really depends on whats going on and where you are.

A diverse group of skills and abilities is better than listing out 5 or so types.

Engineers really aren't necessary unless your building large projects. Which you won't.

So, lets give out a scenario for this little apocalypse, shall we?
 
It's relatively easy to make a mental connection between a PA future and the first colonists. You don't really need soldiers, as such - violence is the nature of man and it's the easiest thing to do. People tend to learn the things they need to survive really quickly, so the most important career would that of the doctor, for his is the only knowledge that cannot be reinvented easily from scratch for a few generations. Engineers? Most modern people are intelligent enough to figure out how things work, after reassembling them and there will always be people with a knack for technical stuff.
 
Soldiers would depend on where you live. Here in utah, I doubt there would be much need. The culture here would be more of helping people around you than, take what you need to survive. Also most people here have stores of food and supplies. You'd still need a police force but they'd be there more as a deterrent than protection.

I regret to say it but places like Oregon, California, would have a greater problem with people looting and raiding because they don't have a cohesive culture and they don't generally have supplies already stored.

Unless a great majority of the population has a common culture and supplies stored. There will be violence, raiding and looting.
 
I think it would be important to have entertainers of sort too, to keep the people away from giving into madness and insanity, to keep the morale high.

Probably a hardcore psychiatrist, too. What good are a bunch of tough-as-nails combatants and engineers, if all they do is think about all that's lost, and weighting on if they should just end their misery. I would imagine the end of the world is a tough thing to swallow, even the hardest men could break mentally.

Ideally, there would be some kind of community-wide events, like theatrical plays and such.

Of course, none of the mentioned above is a first priority. Shelter, food, protection and health care are definitely above that. But later on, when the dust has settled, and the community is getting on their feet, in my opinion they would prove very important (still, it depends on how wide-spread the apocalypse would be, and what kind of a society are we talking about).
 
patriot_41 said:
Engineers? Most modern people are intelligent enough to figure out how things work, after reassembling them and there will always be people with a knack for technical stuff.
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure about that one. Some people are intelligent and can figure things out - but I'd guess the majority of people aren't. I mean - some average joe off the street doesn't know how to run a power plant. Most people know next to nothing about how water is taken from a source, treated, and then sent through different pipelines to eventually arrive at their house - all they know is when they turn the faucet they get water.

I mean sure, a society can survive w/out engineers - but it would be a lot tougher.


Madbringer said:
Probably a hardcore psychiatrist, too. What good are a bunch of tough-as-nails combatants and engineers, if all they do is think about all that's lost, and weighting on if they should just end their misery. I would imagine the end of the world is a tough thing to swallow, even the hardest men could break mentally.
Click to expand...
Having a shrink would be nice - but I'd assume that treating depression in a post apocalyptic world would be pretty damn tough :)

Psychotherapy isn't really going to do much - It would almost be better if they didn't have that luxury. If you didn't have therapy, people would be forced to develop the kind of mental toughness needed to live life in such harsh environment.
 
[PCE said:
el_Prez]
Having a shrink would be nice - but I'd assume that treating depression in a post apocalyptic world would be pretty damn tough :)
Click to expand...

"OK, mister Super-Duper-Mutant, I understand you're having problems with your sex life and an uncontrollable urge to destroy everything, but your proneness to use that plasma rifle and hold it close to you may be because it reminds you of your father's penis"

Psychiatrist was critically hit for 263 damage, but he is too busy feeling the rush on his brain to notice death approaching. Psychiatrist was killed.

Sorry, I just had to. :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
I'd say having at least a few trained soldiers to serve as the core of a militia are essential. Sure anyone can learn to shoot, but tactics require study and chances are there are going to be people out there that think banding together and preying on others beats digging their hands in the dirt.

Medical professionals are an obvious pick.

Engineers may come in handy, but short term won't be essential for survival. Depending on the form of apoc there may very well be plenty of intact structures lying around. Eventually you'll need someone who can design some basic defensive structures as well as additional housing as needed. If we had a factory nearby, however, I'd want all I could get and start converting it to making something useful.

There are too many what ifs though to answer this properly. Farmers are essential for food, but what if there is a large farming establishment nearby or your land simply isn't suitable to raise crops. You may need to rely on trade for the majority of food.

I'd say leadership is pretty essential, especially at the beginning. People will be completely at a loss and unprepared. Someone that can think on their feet and is a good planner/organizer will mean the difference between a community forming and a ragtag group of scattered survivors looking out for themselves.

If I had to rank them in order of importance I'd vote:
1. Leadership
2. trained soldiers
3/4. Engineers/Farmers *ranking dependant on locale
5. Medical professionals (depending on the what's happened with the world these will not be as useful as they are now. Limited access to medicine and technology will make only the basic treatments possible)
 
1. Leaders - nothing can be done without one
2. Doctors - first you gotta treat the wounded and make sure no one gets sick
3. farmers - so that food can be grown, somewhere underground with the help of
4. engineers - who can build stuff for farmers to work with
5. prostitutes - for the brave men from 1 to 4...
 
Top 10 Most Important Jobs in the Post Apoc

What do you guys personally think the ten most important jobs would be in the Post Apocalyptic world?

1. Surgeon
2. Doctor/Medic (General Practitioner)
3. Teacher
4. Engineer
5. Builder
6. Soldier
7. Electrical Engineer
8. Mechanic
9. Gunsmith
10. Metallurgist
 
Farmers would be necessary for long-term survival, but you could live off preserved food for a long time, if you were near a grocery store or something. Still, eventually, you would have to either start growing food, or try to find another source of food.

Engineers/Scientists/Programmers would be pretty high up on the list, as they could get a lot of the advanced pre-war tech to work, so you might be able to do something like in Gecko, and get a nuclear power plant up and running. Also would provide you with a major tactical advantage against the looters/raiders that would inevitably crop up after an apocalypse scenario.

Doctors would be very useful if you wanted to expand your group, settle down, and build a town, but if it's only a few people and you're trying to find a safe place to stay, then all you'd need would be a first aid kit for minor wounds.

Leaders(politicians, mayors, etc) would be almost completely useless, as they would have no necessary skills, and any group large enough to need a mayor would most likely have someone in it already that would be good for that job.

Teachers would be necessary eventually, when civilization began to appear again, but otherwise, it would be the people with useful skills' job to transfer those skills to the next generation.

TheLostOne said:
I'd say having at least a few trained soldiers to serve as the core of a militia are essential. Sure anyone can learn to shoot, but tactics require study and chances are there are going to be people out there that think banding together and preying on others beats digging their hands in the dirt.
Click to expand...
I don't think they would teach advanced tactics to grunts. They would know more about them than the average person, but not by much. They would be kind of useful, but in a town, there would always be the risk that they might take control, as they would be the only people who knew how to use the guns.

Entertainers would help keep morale up, but all you'd need to do the same thing would be plenty of books and holovids.
 
given a post-industrial society going p.a., id say a lot of doctors would have to adapt a LOT to be worth their money. i myself cant imagine to do even minor surgery without the equipment and the environment. if you have a doc at hand who did some "medicines sans frontieres" work, well thats another story. i learned a lot from one guy who did that in cape town in south africa (using foley catheters for nearly everything, e.g.)

otoh, learning to do minor to major everyday surgery and internal medicine is quite easily learned, since there are at maximum 50 diagnosises to work on.

so id say, its all about adaptation. especially surgery is much more craftmanship than science, so id wager everybody with talented hands given correct lecturing and practice can do the job.

alsoplustoo, when you are down on numbers, people will "accumulate" jobs; the "leader" figure might be a surgeon who was, in his earlier life, a mechanic in his spare time, and so on.

interesting fred.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top