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Strong employment prospects. There are shortages of science workers throughout the world, according to the consulting firm ManpowerGroup. In fact, engineering workers are the third most in-demand occupational field in the world. Technicians rank fourth, and computer and information technology professionals rank sixth. There’s a shortage of software engineers in more than twenty countries, including in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and the United Kingdom, according to the recruitment firm Michael Page. Other science careers where there is a shortage of workers include electronics engineers (nineteen countries), electrical engineers (sixteen countries), data analysts (eleven countries), and hardware engineers (six countries), among other workers. The USDL predicts that employment of computer and information technology professionals in the United States will grow by 13 percent during the next decade. Career opportunities for those in life, physical, and social science occupations will grow by 10 percent. Both of these career fields are growing faster than the average for all careers. The outlook is also good for engineering professionals. Employment is expected to grow by 7 percent during the next decade. The strongest opportunities will be found in renewable energy and robotics. By 2026, the USDL predicts that there will be more than 876,000 new jobs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. Rewarding work environment and many career options. A career in science is fulfilling because you get to use both your creative and practical sides to develop new technologies (or improve existing ones), solve problems, and make the world a better place. There’s a common misconception that science workers spend most of their time in dreary, windowless laboratories. While they do spend lots of time in the laboratory, they also spend time in the field, testing, troubleshooting, and trying out their inventions or discoveries. In the renewable energy sector, solar power and wind technicians spend much of their workday

8 COOL CAREERS IN SCIENCE: RENEWABLE ENERGY WORKERS