ai

So many of us are either looking for extra easy ways to make income, or searching for more lucrative and secure career paths to pivot to altogether. But with so much "advancement" being thrown at us, it’s hard to know if a path we are considering will even be around long enough for us to pursue it, and which ones will go the way of the robots.

After all, according to a study from Microsoft, dozens of jobs are highly at risk of being replaced by AI, particularly those involving language, analysis, and communication, such as translators, historians, writers (rest assured…a bot did not write this piece…yet!).

However, when someone on Reddit asked, “What industry is booming way more than people think?” people gave a ton of insight into which jobs might have actual potential. Many prospects are in utilities—things to do with essential services like electricity, natural gas, water, etc.—which makes a lot of sense. But there are also some rather surprising niche sectors in there as well.

Of course, take this all with a grain of salt, but perhaps a quick scroll could provide you with some inspiration about thinking outside the box when it comes to making money moves.

Check out these surprisingly “booming” industries…

1. Wastewater treatment

“S*** doesn’t go away.”

“I work in the Civil Engineering industry. Wastewater treatment is not only a booming industry, but it’s insanely hard to find wastewater engineers! I think they’ve got like a .5% unemployment rate or something insane, maybe even lower.”

“Civil 3D designer here working on water projects. Between raw water pipelines and treatment facilities, I feel pretty damn secure in my career. Water always needs to be moved somewhere.”

“Environmental & Safety Director here. Can confirm. We pay wastewater operators very well in our company and they can be tough to come by!”

2. Electricity storage

“Grid-scale battery storage, used to store excess electricity from wind and solar farms for use during peak demand. This industry is huge and is growing exponentially, especially as the cost of batteries continues to drop and demand increases.”

“I used to develop BESS systems [Battery Energy Storage Systems] for a renewables developer...We are in need of a lot of electrical & civil engineers, accountants, and people to build the damn things.”

“Energy, particularly electricity, due to AI demand. Electricity demand has been pretty slow and steady the past couple of decades due to better efficiency, but now AI has caused a huge spike.”

3. Data centers

“I worked for a utility company near Atlanta and all in just about 3-5 years the data centers became the largest load on electricity by a long shot. Before it was hospitals and shopping centers but the data centers started pulling WAY more load.”

“I work for a major transformer supplier as an engineer, and I design the pad-mounted ones. We are pumping out transformers as fast as we physically can, but our order backlog is so long that it is being measured in YEARS. Imagine ordering a PS5 and the projected shipping date is 2-4 years later.”

“Doing some data center work one day. Ask what the 8 smaller buildings outside are for, cuz they look like generator houses. They were way bigger than the mines, and there were 8 of them. The utility literally cannot supply them with enough power, so they’re just gonna make their own. Blew my mind.”

4. E-Commerce packaging

“Packaging in general with e-commerce. Problem is it’s almost at a commodity level, so it’s a price and cost over design and performance.”

5. Pest Control

“Pest control, quietly, has a 5-11% growth year over year."

6. HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) Installation

“More areas where you used to get by just fine with an open window and a box fan are getting unbearably hot in the summers.”

“I’ve installed 3 for myself and a bunch for other, have the vacuum pump and the electrical needed is super easy too, but with a certification I can charge a lot more. I even use real wood trim to cover the line sets instead of that crap plastic.”

“Hand over fist money to be had in NYC doing that.”

- YouTube youtube.com

7. Creating mobile games

“$92.5 billion made in 2024, half of the entire video game industry.”

“The bored SAHM in her 40s that's spending money on Candy Crush when she wants a break from watching Bravo isn't going to take up console/PC gaming looking for something more complex and engaging, the simple phone screen game is plenty. Or the 8 year old that can get his hands on mom's credit card through her phone game but can't get his hands on a gaming PC.”

“94% of kids today prefer mobile for gaming compared to any console or PC.”

- YouTube youtube.com

8. Loneliness Remedies

"Any industry that fills the void left by having a partner and friends. People are lonelier than ever. So pets, porn, entertainment/distractions, dumb*** consumables (looking at you, labubu)."

9. Debt Collection

"I'm in the legal services industry related to debt collection. Bankruptcy filings are up double-digits each month, year over year. And they have been for approx. 12 out of the last 18 months. If you're a new attorney, it's a great field to get into because it's only getting busier and it's cyclical; Once this wave passes it'll be another 6 or 8 years and there's going to be another wave. Ride those waves to retirement!"

10. Pet cremation

“I never thought I'd do this because when my pets have died I've always just taken them to the veterinarian with my parents and idk what he does with them, but we lost our almost 15yo dog who belonged to my late mom so I thought it made sense to cremate him and spread his ashes in the same place we spread our mom's.”

“Just had to do this for the first time. It's awful, but I'm thankful to have something to hold instead of burying her”

- YouTube youtube.com

11. Any and all pet care, actually

“If you know how to source it you’ll make bank selling in western markets.”

“It’s catching on in the East, too. I went to a restaurant in downtown Tokyo and there were dogs in strollers and dresses all over. In fact, my baby’s stroller company makes doggy strollers. For over ¥80,000! ($550 USD). “

“People have so much information and most pet owners want their pet to live a long happy life and will spend on them. People didn’t used to care less, but the information and supplies just weren’t there. Despite the world going to shit in so many ways we’re in a golden age of pet ownership, and if anything the stress of life is making people more fixated on their animal companions as therapy and comfort creatures.”

12. Sports betting

“As a big sports fan, I can’t believe how out of control it’s become. 10 years ago, it felt like it was a niche thing that your weird uncle did; now, you cannot go anywhere that has sports and not have it be a massive point of discussion. A large group of people, mostly men, are completely incapable of watching a sport now without having money on something or yammering about their parlay.”

13. Making board games

“Plastic minis and war games. Seriously, Games Workshop [board game company] generates more revenue for the British economy than the entire fishing industry. It’s actually mad how much people will pay for that stuff when it’s so very cheap to make.”

14. Digital therapy

“Mental health and wellness technology, e.g., digital therapy apps, telepsychiatry, and wellness platforms.”

“Good one. I work for a behavioral health company that is fully telehealth…We book out several weeks with 40 full time providers.”

15. Selling secondhand clothes

“The second-hand clothing resale industry. Everyone talks about fast fashion, but Vinted and thrift stores are quietly driving a huge economy.”

16. …or secondhand cars…

“The used car market. I work on the back end in the commercial lending side for car dealerships. The tariffs (or threat of) on new cars have pushed used car prices towards ridiculous numbers. I occasionally show up at auctions to gauge market trends, and a 2017 VW Jetta with 133k miles hammered at $11k. Plus auction fees and transport, it’ll be $12k, and that’s before the dealer has done any repairs or made a dollar of profit. Pre-COVID, an 8-year-old Jetta would be $2k tops. But people keep paying it. My market share has risen about 40% since January.”

17. Storage Rentals

“We’re basically paying rent for our junk to live a better life than we do.”

“At my old company shortly after we'd all gone remote in 2020, a group of a few employees all quit at the same time to form a partnership and buy this little chain of storage units from an old guy who wanted to retire. Most of us thought they were insane for giving up great stable corporate careers to own some storage units. They're laughing at us now, in five years they've grown it several times over into one of the largest storage businesses in the metro area of millions of people.”

18. Mortuary Services

"Dead people. There are more dead people than ever."

"A family member is a Mortician by education, and though he has since retired out, he made great money doing it."