Trans-friendly Jobs and Careers?

[Death]

Hi! After having lurked on this site for a few years, I've decided to register Alright, now with that out of the way...

I've been thinking about it for a while, and I'm somewhat interested in what trans people do for a living. In particular, I'd like to compile a short list of trans-friendly jobs and careers, the kind that would make it easy someone in their early 20s to financially support a smooth transition.

Usually, when I think of a trans-friendly job, I imagine jobs which a) have a low barrier to entry, b) have a decent wage (at least $50K/yr), and c) composed of people who are broadly supportive of the GBLT community.

So far, I have this short list:

Programmer: programming has all three qualities:
a) lots of people are able to get their first programming job right out of high school, and its also wholly possible to have a long-term without ever having a degree.
b) pay is decent. With one or two years of experience, $60K/yr is very realistic.
c) programmers in general are very laid back, tend to lean toward the socially liberal side of things.

There are actually quite a few of us TG programmers in the IT communtiy.

Software Tester:
a) if you can use a mouse, use MS Excel, and have good writing skills, you will impress 95% of QA managers.
b) The low-end, median, and high-end wages are $15/hr, $25/hr, and $33/hr respectively.
c) like programmers, they tend to be very open and rarely judgmental -- at least in my own experience.

Brick-layer:
a) I don't know what skills or training you need to lay bricks, but a buddy of mine got his start taking a 3-day course.
b) For a blue-collar job, the pay is pretty awesome. With a year or more of experience, $20-30/hr is pretty typical. Aforementioned buddy earns $50K/yr laying bricks and performing restoration/renovation projects for the city.
c) Construction workers are generally of the "to each his own" type.

Human Guinea Pig:
a) I'll admit, this one is sorta tongue-in-cheek, but let's run with it anyway. As long as you're still alive, can endure headaches, don't mind being stuck with needles all the time, and can accept the risk of a drug turning your bright orange, you can volunteer your body to test clinical drugs.
b) Supplemental income depends on the risks and longevity of the tests. Frequently, you get $50-200 for participating in a study, but its not uncommon or unheard of for people to be compensated $3000, $5000, or $8000.
c) Doctors in general are very supportive of the trans community.

Software Demo-Giver-Person
a) Microsoft calls them Tech Evangelists, but they are basically peoiple who make a decent living giving software demos for a living. It does not require technical skills, so much as presentation and speaking skills.
b) Microsoft is probably an extraordinary example, but it pays its Evangelists $97-150K/yr.
c) Ditto everything already mentioned about IT community.

Recruiter / Headhunter
a) Your job is the find other people's job. Usually, you don't need a degree do be a headhunter.
b) Pay varies from place to place. Here in the midwest, its around $50K/yr base wage, probably a little more with commission.
c) If I can generalize my experience as a programmer who deals exclusively with IT recruiters, I'd say that most recruiters don't care one way or the other whether you're GBLT.


Those are just a few jobs I can think of offhand which have that good combination low barrier-to-entry, reasonable wage, and TG-friendly environment. Usually, when I meet young TGs who are struggling to finance their transition because they stock shelves / wait tables / deliver pizzas / cashier for a living, I recommend any of the above careers as an alternative.

Any feedback is appreciated, feel free to add other trans-friendly careers.

[DamagedChris]

A minor note about the programmer..yes you can do it with no degree, but more and more places are insisting you get a degree of some sort or take a hike. My father was actually one of the first laid off at his company because he didn't have a degree and most of his peers did.

Also, things like "brick layer" do tend to have male/female assumptions on who can do the job...so might raise questions later on if you plan going stealth as to how a pretty young woman got so well on in construction.

Myself, I'm aiming for game art and design, which would fall similarly to Programmer. With jobs like that though, they will want to see a decent practical resume and/or a demo reel.

[Cindy Stephens]

I am an accountant, in the construction industry.  I think you might find, at least for mtf, that bricklayer is not the most accepting of fields.  Maybe for ftm's.  Accounting can be a good area, but not the construction industry.  Most are small family run affairs with backwards looking policy manuals  I will have to change jobs to transition.  A lot of accounting firms and large accounting personnel using companies have very advanced, trans friendly policies-now.  Not when I started.  I suspect that it is a good area for a confident, intelligent, well-educated trans person. 

[Death]

A minor note about the programmer..yes you can do it with no degree, but more and more places are insisting you get a degree of some sort or take a hike. My father was actually one of the first laid off at his company because he didn't have a degree and most of his peers did.

As always, your mileage will vary

When my dad was a unix sys-admin, he was laid off simply for being the most recent hire, which is pretty typical working for the government. He was later rehired at the same company for another position, stayed there for 5 years. When the company had another round of layoffs, all the PhDs were let go because they were way too pricey.

And in my own experience, I got my first programming job when I was 19, followed by a year of contracting at 21, then I found a new position at 22. I just got my 4-year degree -- and as far as I'm concerned, its just a $20,000 bullet point at the bottom of my resume. Unless I apply at Microsoft, Google, or Apple, degree or no degree has no affects my employability or salary.

Relevancy of a degree is one of those iffy subjects in computer science. HR people swear by them, aHow important-is-having-bscs-as-minimum-requirement-for-new-programmer-hires programmers don't, some scientific studies show no correlation between experience and skill, anecdotal evidence indicates that even degree programmers can't write a FizzBuzz program.

Even still, it depends on what you do. A 4-year or higher degree is a prerequisite for compiler development, game engine design, design of real-time operating systems, telecom systems, driver verification software, automated theorem provers, commercial IDEs, Google Maps. However, a huge majority of programming, about 85%, is web development, CRUD apps, and line-of-business apps... not exactly very cerebral coding. If you can write a loop, know your OOP, query a database, and refer to curly braces as squigglies, you're employable somewhere.

Of course, I'm in Omaha. Things are probably very different here than on the coasts. YMMV.

Myself, I'm aiming for game art and design, which would fall similarly to Programmer.

Awesome++. Good luck with that

[insanitylives]

Maybe it's just me, but a LOT of these jobs are somehow related to technical and engineering skills.

I'd like to get into innovating or  programming, personally. Nice to know this stuff is more transfriendly

[rejennyrated]

Try almost anything in the broadcasting or entertainment industry. (my field of employment one way or another for the past 25 years or so.)

I've been in front of the cameras, behind them, in the edit suite, at the microphone and now I'm writing. Mind you, you do have to be quite lucky to get in.

[tekla]

The entertainment industry has all that, and often free lunch!  Really, anyone who says 'there's no such thing as a free lunch' has never been around the entertainment industry.  In our little radio concerts in Golden Gate Park and such the cooks are about the first thing to get set up, and they show up with coffee and doughnuts for us. 

The Academic stuff is pretty open, and there are lots of jobs at a college that are not teaching, and don't require PhDs, and they tend to be extremely pleasant places to work for the most part.

Really, anyplace that's full of bleeding hearts and artists pretty much.

I have seen a lot of TG persons over the years with jobs in the health care industry too.  Don't know much about it other than that, but there do seem to be some numbers there.

[DamagedChris]

I have seen a lot of TG persons over the years with jobs in the health care industry too.  Don't know much about it other than that, but there do seem to be some numbers there.

I actually owe my mother's newfound acceptance to two MtF nurses at her hospital. Surprised me to hear two MtFs working in the same little hospital in Alaska, considering her entire town consists of a gas station, a general store, and a half dozen houses.

[pheonix]

Recruiter / Headhunter
a) Your job is the find other people's job. Usually, you don't need a degree do be a headhunter.
b) Pay varies from place to place. Here in the midwest, its around $50K/yr base wage, probably a little more with commission.
c) If I can generalize my experience as a programmer who deals exclusively with IT recruiters, I'd say that most recruiters don't care one way or the other whether you're GBLT.

Unless you are stealth and 100% passable, not likely.  Recruiters are very appearance oriented.  It's also a high contact with clients which means not only does your company need to be trans friendly  but their client base needs to be as well.

[Eva Marie]

As far as being a programmer - you will most likely be competing with offshore labor for jobs, especially if they involve programming for a microsoft product or platform. And with the number of displaced american IT workers, the available, out of work talent pool is pretty large right now.

I only have a two year degree, but I have about 25 years of pretty hardcore experience with a particular vendor's computer system (I worked on the original model introduced in 1976, and every subsequent model thereafter). In my world real, hands on experience carries a lot of weight, and being a bit older is not necessarily an impediment. I'm actually working on a project representing that vendor at a customer site at the moment.

Meanwhile, with the newer technology, it's a young person's world. But getting your foot in the door is the first tough step.

I'm not trying to dissuade you from looking at the field, but the conditions are what they are, especially for someone trying to enter it as a newbie.

[logicallisa]

Hello,

I'm college drop out (yay), and have been working as a sysadmin for the passed few years.  It was a hard job to land, but I was able to get it by starting in Operations for a good sized shop. Most places promote good Operators to Sysadmin (its the natural progression).

That being said for the passed four years I've been doing freelance coding to make extra cash (which is much needed these days).   A lot of people told me things like: you'll never compete with overseas coders, you'll need a degree,  the work pool for coders is to big, etc.  I'd like to say that I've never had a shortage of work.  In fact when the economy stinks I find I get more work creating things that will replace someones job, or fixing a system that was run by someone who was laid off.

A note on working with microsoft products: the market is flooded, the pay is meh, and its not worth it if your working for yourself.  Stick with GNU/Linux and Unix based systems if your going to be going freelance, its where the real money is at.

Of course its not all sunshine and rainbows, you have to put yourself out there.  Work hard, be innovative and not give up even when it looks like things are nothing but doom & gloom.

Also want to say, the best part of being a coder? never having to talk to a client face to face.

Just my 2cents
~Lisa

[jesse]

anouther good field is coding for medical industry (not Computers) this is a 1 year degree the pay is excellent at least in U.S. and you can work from home alot of insurance companies farm this out rather then pay in house as do most doctors offices and small clinics
jessica

[Shana A]

I don't believe there are specific trans friendly jobs, it really comes down to the individual job situation. Some people are able to transition on the job, others have to find new careers. We still don't have ENDA w protections for gender identity and expression, so until that happens, we're subject to being fired (or not hired) based on an employer's prejudices.

Z

[tekla]

Fired is one thing, but in an economy like this it's all but impossible to prove non-hire claims.  Just too many people applying.

[Muffin]

I'm not that bad with computers I've done simple programming in the past without any issues but I can't stand being in the same place every day, same people same four walls etc.
I used to work for a records management company before I started HRT and it was not bad.. money was ok as well. I gained experience with high security access so I have a trust worthy background which helps with being the outcast that I am! I'm considering doing something similar, delivering pharmaceuticals to hospitals, clinics, GPs, pharmacy's etc. I love the ever changing scenery of driving.. only meeting people for a split second per day.. and best of all my mind can be else where and not be stressed out when I finish each day.
I'm only weeks away for getting back out there, I cant wait! ^_^
s~

[yabby]

Software Tester:
a) if you can use a mouse, use MS Excel, and have good writing skills, you will impress 95% of QA managers.

If you don't know what is unti-testing, name a few frame work, have used a few tools for automated testing, wrote test case, and know the different between white and black box test techniques i wouldn't be impressed.

Maybe at many jobs the entry level is low but QA and testing is far more complex  than EXCEL sheet and good english.

b) The low-end, median, and high-end wages are $15/hr, $25/hr, and $33/hr respectively.

15-25$ for an IT job is not much.

[gothique11]

I need a job. LOL I don't know what, although. I mostly have been a cashier (pay sux, and standing all day sux). It's boring, too.

The only other job experience I have is co-owning a magazine. That was fun. I did a lot of lay-out, design, photography, as well as editing. Those are things I can do.

Finding jobs like that here, much harder. I tried getting into a few print places, and I was going to be hired to do print coordination (basically, making sure things are printing out correctly, blah, blah). Anyway, pay would of been decent $25/h starting. But, I was having problems lifting things at the time (still do), so I couldn't get the job. Then, they ended up laying off a lot of people a month later and the month after 'cause of the economy. So, even if I did get the job, I might have been laid off anyway.

I keep thinking about starting my own company up again, although the print world is very iffy at the moment. For my magazine, it made it past the year mark (1 in a 1000 make it that far). That's something to be proud of.

At the moment I'm trying to get myself organized more so I can move on and figure out what I'm going to do next. No job at the moment, and I'm just on disability. Even trying to find a cashier job is difficult now - although, at this point I don't think I can sit there and stand for 8 hours... that's how I ended up leaving my old job.

[EveMarie]

The only other job experience I have is co-owning a magazine. That was fun. I did a lot of lay-out, design, photography, as well as editing. Those are things I can do.

Finding jobs like that here, much harder. I tried getting into a few print places, and I was going to be hired to do print coordination (basically, making sure things are printing out correctly, blah, blah). Anyway, pay would of been decent $25/h starting.

I'm very similar to Gothique, but I've been in commercial printing for over 40 years, started as a (no puns here) stripper, but moved on to scanner operator, then when the computer revolution started I got into desktop publishing in '88 with one of the first Macs and "QuarkXpress v2.8" 
A good prepress manager (depending on the area) can make around $30+/hr and up.
I also do my own graphics layout and prepress design out of my home (third party stuff) for a little extra cash here and there, and being the photographer I am it helps with the whole package.

[spacial]

Just a comment on brick laying and construction generally.

It is often assumed that these are low skill jobs for thick people.

Be warned. Brick laying, besides needing a lot of physical strength and stamana is highly skilled.

You might look at a wall and assume it's not a lot different from lego. No it isn't. Basic brick laying, where each level is offset by half a brick is perhaps the simplist. Every layer of mortor needs to be placed with almost identical thickness. Every brick needs to be placed in exactly the right position. And most importantly, every brick needs to be exactly level and straight. Speed is part of the job. Finish the job, go home.

Then there's bracing, which won't be seen on the finish product. Get that wrong and the wall falls over.

You will need to understand the different types of mortor, which mix to use, which type of sand, there are at least 5 different one in common use, the right type of cement, there are 2 main ones.

Get any of these wrong and at best, you will be chased off the job. At worst, the wall can fall over, killing someone and landing you in prison.

Construction workers may seem individuals but in reality, their day is filled with banter, generally to relieve the tedium. That banter means making often very cruel jokes and jibes about each other.

Any percieved weakness will be mercilessly picked upon by everyone. Having an opinion is..well...Just don't.

Each of the different trades has their own sub-culture. Electricans for example, tend to be rather high brow, while plasterers tend to be sullen. Annoy a scaffolder and don't make plans for the evening.

Bricklayers tend to be overly tough. each is generally expected to demonstrate how tough they are.

Sorry to take a serious note here. Especially if you were being lighthearted.

[tekla]

I'm down with the construction remarks.  And, a lot of it in the trade unions is a family deal.  And yeah:
Construction workers ... their day is filled with banter, generally to relieve the tedium. That banter means making often very cruel jokes and jibes about each other.  And I'm not even sure about the tedium, but it does help pass the time, in what I do, which is a very highly specialized form of construction/electrical work by another name, thin-skinned people generally don't make it to the first coffee break.  You learn to give and get, it's part of the deal.

I think it's from the fact that there is so little margin for error that we have to take the work much more seriously than most people have to take their jobs, as a result we take ourselves and each other much less seriously - in that it's pretty much the reverse of academia.  Even a 1% error rate is far too high, it has to be right 100% of the time. (I used to rig about 100 sound systems a year, that's flying two stacks of about a half-ton of speakers up in the air over a live crowd, even one failure would be way too much.  I saw someone once dump a Midas Soundboard, opps, that a $150,000 mistake.  My apprentice dropped a moving light, $14,000, so sorry.)  And the work itself is often very dangerous.  What's the worst that can happen at your cubicle?  A paper cut?  Ever year we lose a few brothers to these huge touring stages (like Madonna, U2 and the Rolling Stones use) collapsing (always when they are coming down, its far more dangerous to take them apart than it is to put them together).  People have been electrocuted as we're dealing with 'power from the pole' pretty much, and its not very forgiving.  And, unlike things where you can all sit down with doughnuts and org-charts and take a meeting, we don't have that luxury, this is going down tonight, one night only.  It has to work right the first time.  So given that level of perfect and serious, we have to be light-hearted about something, turns out that's ourselves and each other.  However, just because you hear us talking like that to each other, do not presume you can walk up and talk to us like that, that would be bad.  We get away with it because we often have to trust our lives and heath to each other, and that trust has to be absolute.  Outsiders, not so much.  But, once you're in, you are in like Flynn, and that is not too bad.

As much as college is pushed, I bet the average IBEW electrician, UBC carpenters, bricklayers, pipe&steam guys, and IATSE^* people make more than the average college graduate ten years out. And, unlike college, you get paid to learn and don't have a huge debt load.

But: Having an opinion is..well...Just don't.  That's not right, we all have opinions, matter of fact I get more opinions from a stage crew then in the faculty lounge.  Matter of fact it's kind of like the old joke about if you want three opinions, just ask any two of us.





* My current boss (technical director, and most tech directors for real big-time theaters are also C-10 contractors, they have to be) has a railroad car.  Not a model train set mind you, a 1935 Vista Dome club car from the Wabash Railroad.  My boss before him drove a 1972 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, now that's a party wagon.  We'd pull up to some fancy hotel or site to work, and the doormen would be out opening the door and we'd pile out in our work-clothes looking all scurffy and pull our tools out of the trunk.  Great visual if nothing else.