9 odd jobs you'll be glad no longer exist

Technology gave rise to better and faster ways of doing things. (Stocksnap.io)

In the wake of the digital age, many jobs no longer require manual labour. These are the jobs you could've applied for back in the day.

Believe it or not, 10, 20, 100 years ago these jobs were in existence. But thank heavens for technological advancements.

Would you switch your day job to one of these?

1. Human computers

Human Computer

(Source: Wikimedia)

Computers were people, mostly women, who were tasked with converting figures and crunching numbers by hand. The task, described as arduous, saw them using celluloid film and strips of oscillograph paper, slide rules, and electric calculators to reduce raw data into engineering units.

2. Ice Cutter

Ice cutter

(Source: sharenator.com)

Before the advent of ice cube trays and refrigerators, Ice Cutters were hired to cut through layers of ice from frozen lakes. The ice pieces would be given to the ice delivery men.

3. Lamp Lighters

Lamp Lighters

(Source: lamplighterswooster.com)

Lamp lighters would walk along the street lighting or extinguishing street lamps. Today, switching on street lights has largely become automated.

4. Knocker-upper

Knocker-up

(Source: imgur.com)

In other words, the human alarm clock. Before alarms were invented, it was the Knocker-upper’s job to tap on windows with long sticks or by shooting peas at windows of those who had requested their service.

5. Daguerreotypist

Daguerreotypist

(Source: Wikimedia)

The very first publicly available photos were silver-polished images called daguerreotypes. Daguerreotypists, most popular in the 1840s, took pictures and developed them – another arduous process. Fast forward a couple of years and selfie has been added to the dictionary.

The picture depicts an Advertisement for a traveling Daguerreotype photographer. Note the blank spaces are where a different location would be filled in for each town he or she visited. 

6. Lungs

Lungs

(Source: The University of Edinburgh)

Lungs were employed to fan the fire in alchemist shops. Ironically, the actual lungs of lungs gave in easily because of the excessive exposure to materials floating about in the labs.

7. Bowling Alley Pinsetter

Bowling Alley Pinsetter

(Source: wikimedia.org)

In bowling alleys, there were once people who manually collected and packed the bowling pins correctly. It was also their job to send the balls back after each turn.

The job is said to have been physically demanding.

The picture depicts Pin Boys working in Subway Bowling Alleys in Brooklyn, New York. 

8. Lector

Lector

(Source: the cigarmaker.net)

A Lector is simply someone who reads. They were often hired with money pooled from workers to read to large rooms full of manual labourers to keep them entertained. They read anything like newspapers and magazines.

In the picture, a Lector is reading out to cigar workers in Key West, Florida in 1930. As you can see, they usually stood or sat on elevated platforms.

9. Switchboard Operator

Switchboard operator

(Source: catalog.archives.gov/id/1633445)

Switchboard Operators were needed to connect people telephonically. They had to connect long-distance calls and do other things that are now done digitally. With telephones being mobile, even 8 year olds are able to dial any number from anywhere to anywhere themselves.

The picture depicts a large Bell System international switchboard in 1943.

Although great, technological developments also have their disadvantages as artificial intelligence (AI) machines threaten job losses. Could your job be in jeopardy?