some waiter told me about a DJ in an restaurant don't judge a man by his job...

Boo fucking hoo. I clicked through about 4 of those and if they are representative, then getting paid 60-70K right out of college at an "entry" level job is nothing to complain about, regardless of the "tough" working conditions (ceiling too low? CSR work? no windows? cubicle? oh the torture!!). I spent half my life to get a Ph.D. and will barely be making that as an asst professor at a major research university.

@Ioakim: Then why don't you apply for: Part-time guide, Mahalo

having trouble figuring out why the people at google were crying so much. wtf, mango lassi machine down or something?

@Ioakim:

Screw the PT Mahalo job, do what you're really worth, be a Wikipedia editor!

80 grand for an entry level job? Time to apply and kick those whiney losers out! Let's see how they feel about their new job bagging groceries at the Safeway.

Talking about worst tech entry level job, I'm in one of those. Currently working as a part timer, working as link submitting, blog commenter and etc. Earning 1.5USD per hour. Lol. Maybe the worst among all. But life gonna go on. Else no lunch for me. Good luck guys.

Wow. Sounds like my job.

Hmm... worst entry-level tech job... One word for you: Geeksquad. Period.

worst entry level tech job "Total Aquatic Technician" that happens to be what they call dishwasher's at the Italian restaurant i work at (I will not mention the name) basically this means that i am resposible for fixing old tech (i mean really old I hath fixed the dishwasher 3 or 4 times, i unclogged toilets on a daily basis and there were a few times where i would come in and would have to fix the P.O.S server that did the orders) I would consider that a pretty cruddy entry level "tech" job

@DozeUser: I spend more time making things work then actually washing dishes

I applied for all of these positions. I am going to be rich!

phew we almost didnt make the list!

My entry-level job as a newspaper reporter right out of college paid $20k, and I was working 80+ hours a week. I had to cover ridiculous water authority and school board meetings every night of the week and spent most Saturdays at lame festivals and parades shooting photos.

The worst part was that I had to listen to teachers making $43k straight out of school whine constantly about how THEY weren't getting paid enough. You think putting up with a classroom of 20 whiney ADD kids and having summers off is hard to do? Try hitting ridiculous deadlines and putting up with 100,000 whiney ADD readers and only having New Years Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day off.

Yeah, these are nowhere near the bottom of the barrel.

Try local ISP Tech Support, pissed off customers with PEBKAC errors and you're making $7.50 an hour in an un-airconditioned cubicle during the summer.

Hell, just about any Technical Support position is going to be worse than most of those jobs.

Or there's always Blue Current (they're a technology logistics contractor for Boeing). The way the job was billed: "Entry level tech position, involves setup, configuration, and installation of desktop and notebook computers." What it actually was: "Warehouse and delivery of IT related systems. You may occasionally see a computer but but actual tech related work tops out at imaging systems and connecting monitors." Pay : $10 an hour (UPS Warehouse pay in the same area: $15 an hour).

Hell, of the ones you listed there are only two that I wouldn't do, the one at Microsoft and the Executive Assistant gig... and if you upped the salary even those might change.

How is Valleywag writer not on that list?

@Ioakim: That's why I left my Ph.D. program.
Well, that and the realization that "political science" (as with other social sciences) can never be operationally scientific (only theoretically so) and that the real-world implications/usefulness of the research are very close to zero.

@Jordan Golson: That thought crossed my mind, too, but the basic HTML skills necessary for the position probably aren't "tech" enough. And it's not really a job you apply for, it's more like you're anointed from on high and elevated to staff writer/singled out for punishment and forced to blog by a cruel overlord. (Depends on the day.)

To be fair, though, Valleywag was far from the worst job I ever had. And I'd much rather repeat the stint here than go back to being an admin. Which reminds me: Where did Pete Cashmore get the funds to hire a full-time party scheduler?

I know plenty of people who turned a $7.50/hr job supporting dial up users into a six figure tech job in around 5 years. Problem is.. they'll be at the $100k-$150k mark for the next 10 years before they can break into a IT Director or similar role.. even then the ceiling is pretty stiff for tech's. Breaking through $125-$150 is no easy feat.

@Zoo: Ya, ya, that's a real problem. Cry me the fucking Mississippi.

What they're not saying is that most of these people's second jobs, which were kindasorta thrust upon them during the merger, is as $8.50 per hour baristas.

@jiindong are you serious? I'll pay yo $2.50/hr man....

Where do I leave my resume ?

Shut up and get back to work.

Yeah making 50,000 and working for a company like Google or Facebook right out of college sure would blow...

How is being a secretary or a financial analyst a "tech" job? Is it merely working for a tech company? If so, I would think cleaning the exploded, caked-on curry out of the 5th floor microwave would be on the list of worst entry-level tech jobs.

@tinyhands: Sorry about that curry. I forgot to cover it.

Harry "loves the curry - food that is" Wang

@paulrocks: What? The benefit of a PolySci degree is getting to bang campaign interns. And you really can't put a price on that.

Well, as someone who skipped college and basically screwed around from age 17 to 21, I can tell you that ANY of these jobs is much better than what's available to the unwashed masses.

On the other hand, i can brag that i've personally made over twenty five thousand pizzas.

@something_unique_and_descriptive: "Try local ISP Tech Support...just about any Technical Support position is going to be worse than most of those jobs."

Agreed. Seems to me that anyone getting $50-80k straight out of college should be happy.

"There are low ceilings in here! This isn't worth the $80,000 a year I'm being paid! Boo hoo!"

Ten worst entry-level jobs? Not hardly.

quit complaining and go spend that disposable income that suddenly fell into your lap.

goog lord man I started back in the day at a world leading RnD outfit and my office was a portacabin next to where they used to test the executive jets engines after maintainace.

This list should have been titled "The 10 Lamest Complaints From People Who Work For Pretty Great Companies On Higher-Than-Average Salaries."

Geez! These salaries are very high for entry-level in that line of work, without even counting the big boost to your CV from having Google, Facebook or Microsoft as your previous employer!

I'd have to agree with the GeekSquad or ISP tech support being the worst - been there done that.

@godospoons: You mean poli sci. Poly would suggested you sciences and poli is short for political.

Sorry. That's always driven me nuts.

Maybe you guys should quit complaining about how "high paying" these positions are and actually study computer science or other engineering fields. Then you'll understand why some of these jobs might suck.

Computer Science is not a trivial field of study. Admission to the top 10 CS programs/schools in the country is very competitive--I was extremely fortunate to have gotten into one of them. Graduating isn't a walk in the park either. You spend seemingly endless nights working on tough homework and projects, without hope of a social life. And in my case, try adding a prof who makes inappropriate advances toward you, and then gives you a near-failing grade when you complain to your school. Not to mention the chauvinistic men in your major who treat you like crap simply because you're female.

Is it too much to expect at least a job that treats decently after all the crap I've gone through? It's simply not enough to just get paid $50k+.

My point is.. in tech work.. you get paid large.. and go up the ranks quickly.. only to find you've reach the top floor quite quickly. Where as in sales, and many other positions you continue to grow with the companies you work for..

That and by the time your an expert in anything the technology is obsolete and someone 5 years your junior will take your position for $7.50/hr..

Secondly I was suggesting that while these jobs may seem low paid to some they can quickly turn into a high paying job in only a few years. With the exception of maybe Mahalo.

@dangster:

So basically, exactly the same experience as most other college students? I had to stay up all night on many projects as well, but my field has nothing to do with Computer Science. Fuck, my college probably isn't even in the top 10 of the field I'm in. But, I still had to write a full computer program in a senior level class within my major. REMINDER: I AM NOT A COMP SCI STUDENT. You know how long that took? How much stress was involved? Again, I am NOT a comp sci student. What makes you think you had it so tough? I'm not really sure why you think CS people are special and deserve more.

I CANNOT believe that Dell Gold Technical Support is not #1. How about management that throws around phrases like "I wish to convey a sense of appreciation", or " Once again Team XXXX has achieved differentiated results"! not enough? If you're 15 minutes early to work, you can't be at your desk; if you are, you have to be logged in and taking calls. And don't even think about being late. Or how about management making daily changes to how things are done? For crying out loud, Dell's been making, selling, and servicing computers for how many years? Haven't they pretty much figured out the workflow yet? One friend who lasted longer than I had to move to completely different parts of the building 5 times in 6 months, doing the exact same job (Gold Technical Support). Oh, and you HAVE to follow Dell's guided troubleshooting to arrive at a solution, even if you know why it's broken; if you don't you can't get a part dispatched, and even then management is all over your case for taking too long coaching that 85 year old grandmother in disassembling and reassembling her computer 10 times because the hard drive is dead.

OK, I'll get off the box now. I couldn't WAIT to get out of there. And none of my friends would shoot me, either.

@dangster: "Just" 50k is A LOT for an ENTRY-level job, in pretty much every field not requiring a master's degree.

@Zoo ... sorry, your follow-up still didn't win me back after that incredulous first post.

While I respect the fact that the article responsibly points out that not every job at Google is a golden gig, if ever there was a textbook example of Millennials and their ever-growing sense of entitlement, here's Exhibit A. Certainly heard heaps of it while recently hiring for a junior coder. I showed this article to a large handful of tech colleagues & pros, all of them sending unprompted replies containing various iterations of 'whiny,' - not terribly surprising since many of them started with much worse and relatively much lower-paying first gigs. Back to reality, Valleywag.

QA Bug Tester for Electronic Arts not on the list?

@DanLar75: They exist? :D

@dangster: You do realize you're not the only person in history to go to college, right?

@DanLar75: I think any position at EA would qualify, not just QA...

I started out with much worse digs than what the current set of whiners are complaining about. Then again, no one was hiring at the time and you just took whatever you could.

Having worked my way from the bottom, if you're complaining about the pay on your first job out school, just STFU. A little humility is good for you...

Alright, jobs that are 50k or above should be removed from this list.

Try working a Support role like the Amazon position, but with 40k and on Graveyard or Swing-shift. Oh memories...

Hilarious Article! We have all been there

I don't know where you are that the teachers make $43K right out of school. I just so happen to be right out of school as a teacher, and I am scrambling and filling out every application in the Seattle area just to TRY and get a chance to interview for a job that lists its starting pay at about $33K/year.
I would give ANYTHING to have one of these "crappy" jobs that at least let you go home, and pay me a living wage. If I was not married, I wouldn't be able to eat on my teaching wages in Seattle.

I did enjoy the descriptions (and the whining); it took me down a few dark, dank memory lanes that I was parked on (in gridlocked traffic) for the first decade after college.

But I agree with several posters here who are a bit surprised that most of these jobs are still at the level the bulk of us would have preferred (big-time!) to what we went through in our own less-than-stellar formative years.

For me, the worst part was as a gateway controller at a major mortgage bank, where my piddly responsibility was to double-check that home loans written by people would be accepted by the proprietary computer system -- truly a job bereft of need (The account executives were already typing the applications into their PCs, why did they need me?). It was my job to 'inform' the 6-figure executives when something was wrong with their $300K loan written for an o