Professions that were once highly respected but are now dwindling

CHANGE they say, is the only constant thing in life. It doesn’t matter from which angle you look at it, change is inevitable. This week on Whatsapp Conversations, we take a tour of professions that used to be highly respected but can only cope with dwindling influence as the world moves on.

 

Rachel Haruna

Graphics designer; yes, there are design agencies and creatives out there who are getting good pay but generally, the industry has degenerated. It used to be glamorous to come up with designs, create logos and do print work. Now it’s competing with a possible clients cousin who “has a copy of Photoshop,” fighting random internet strangers use your logo in their portfolio or having to constantly defend your pricing because someone  feels you should be doing it for free.

 

Nosa Ezinwa

Teaching isn’t a complete joke yet, but it isn’t what it was.

There was a time when people respected teachers; they might be the only person in town with a degree. They made money and sometimes even got a rent-free residence to go with the school. They were respected and looked up to.

Now degrees are much more common place, and many jobs pay better than teaching.

Some people think teachers are underachievers: “you have a degree in math or physics or chem, but you teach? Guess nobody wanted you. You must have been on the low end of the scale.”

 

Ayomide Akanno

Bank managers were on the same tier as doctors and lawyers back in the days. Now, they are sales team leaders pushing credit cards and cross-selling accounts to customers who don’t need them.

That is because it was one of the first high-status job to be automated away by computers.

Back in the day, a bank manager was in charge of all the lending decisions for his branch. They decided who got a mortgage or a loan, and they had to be skilled at knowing their customers and assessing the credit worthiness of all of their regular customers.

Then, we discovered credit scoring, and it turned out that one department of guys with computers at head office could write an application form that would find your “good” customers more accurately than all the subjective, face-to- face work in branches. So the bank manager role turned into what it is now.

 

Ezekiel Iregbu

Stockbroker/Advisor

Buying stocks, mutual funds and other investment tools used to be fairly murky water. The research was difficult and folks in the profession felt more like gatekeepers than professionals. But they were necessary because you couldn’t just climb on the internet and buy an investment/financial product. I’m biased, because I’m in the industry, but while stockbrokers have become irrelevant, financial advisors/planners are still very much relevant. Not everyone can/want to educate themselves on everything related to personal finance, particularly those too busy in their own careers to concern themselves with it or those who simply find it too cumbersome.

Also, just because you can go online and buy many investment products doesn’t mean you should if you don’t know what you’re doing. Every product has a different directive, and if you don’t know how to sift through all of that info, you could set yourself up for failure pretty quickly.

 

Tosin Awoniyi

Medicine was once a profession that was highly respected back in the days but I don’t think It is so any longer. The reason being that most of our medical students graduating from the university these days find It difficult in securing a job in  reputable hospitals, not to talk of practising what they studied in the university. At times, most of them would want to establish a hospital but all would be to no avail when there is no capital.

 

Bianca Ugwu

High elevation photographers and videographers.

Back in the days, before drones became commonplace, not only were high elevation photography very profitable, it was also seen as a badge of honour to be in such exclusive profession. Today, 11 year olds can fly a drone, taking a picture or video  that would take a bit before a high elevation photographer would nail it down.

How do we cope with change, should we be scared? Should we take action? If yes, what type of actions? Next week on WhatsApp conversation, there will be an article titled in the preparation  for change.

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