Millennials are often thought to be stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to their career paths. We millennials were born between two eras. One; where hard work, long hours and graft was the only way to forge a successful career and two; an era were technology took over – generation z: those who grew up technologically literate with mobile phones, iPad’s, etc in a technologically superior world.

Millennials are currently the largest generation in America. Some are flourishing, others are not. Millennials receive much heavy criticisms. Known in some circles as the me, me, me generation, we are seen as lazy, arrogant and entitled. But for us millennials, the world as we knew it changed rapidly just as we were about to forge out our careers. Technology took off, the recession hit, housing prices sky rocketed, unemployment rose to its highest level in years and during all this we were trying to establish careers for ourselves.

But what doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger. We have adapted to the changing world and are determined to come out on top. Here are four potential career opportunities for millennials, all of which are fun and can be financially; extremely rewarding.

Esports athlete

For millennials who grew up spending hours upon hours in their bedrooms playing computer games, then this career will be right up your street. The past decade has seen competitive video gaming become a multi-million-dollar industry. Esports, as they are popularly known, have a fan base of hundreds of millions of people from across the world and this number continues to rise. Since the turn of the millennium, esports have become the epitome of a modern day sport, whilst the top esports athletes have become modern day rock stars. Earning millions of dollars, traveling the world, being an idol to fans from the USA to South Korea, esports athletes really are living the dream. The average age of an esports athlete is less than 20 years old. By this age, the best athletes have spent between 10,000 and 20,000 hours playing their chosen game – it is best to start young if you want a career as an esports athlete. Fortunately, us millennials love our video games.

The esports world is extremely diverse; there are a variety of different esports games/franchises that players can choose from. The most popular esports are; League of Legends, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, and Hearthstone, amongst others. But sports games such as FIFA 17 have an esports scene – currently, one of the showpiece events in the FIFA esports calendar – the FIFA Interactive World Cup – is being broadcast live on Twitch and British sports TV channel – Sky Sports.

Simply use Google to check out if there’s an esports scene near you. Current esports athletes started within their local scene before branching out when they realized just how good they were. As aforementioned, esports athletes are young and they start even younger. If you’re above the age of 30 then don’t even bother thinking that you can earn millions as an esports pro. Pro gaming requires reflexes similar to that of a fighter pilot, whilst it has been proven that the older you get, the worse your reflexes become. Around 99% of the current top 100 esports athletes in their respective fields started playing their specific esport franchise between the ages of 10 and 13.

There are even rumors that esports will be introduced into the Olympics as a medal event in 2024. If these rumors turn out to be true, the idea that video gaming is a nerdy past time for sun shy teenagers will be well and truly extinguished.

Social Media Marketing Manager

Social media is used by companies worldwide. From local cafés and restaurants to big corporations such as Apple and Samsung. Social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Reddit are used by companies to promote themselves to the world. The spread of social media is something millennials will be well aware of. Millennials will have spent their teenage years on Myspace, Tumblr, Facebook and perhaps even Beebo. A social media presence is vital for most if not all businesses and companies in the 21st century. A lot of jobs were created thanks to the rise of social media. They are more important now than ever. If you need any more proof of the power that social media holds, simply take a look at President Trump’s US presidential campaign.

Professional football gambler

Gambling is risky and can become addictive to certain people – that goes without saying. But if you do your research, clue yourself up to the odds and likelihoods of certain bets, then gambling can go from highly risky to highly profitable. Professional football has never been easier to gamble on nor research. Football matches from all four corners of the world are free game for betting and there has never been more online information surrounding football leagues, players and teams. If you do your research and only bet within your means, then there is money to be made.

Millennials have grown up within a sports betting culture and in an environment where sports, especially soccer, have never been easier to watch thanks to satellite television. Die hard millennial soccer fans have an opportunity to win money based on their soccer knowledge – and any information that they don’t have is out there; they just need to utilize it.

If you can predict, within reason, whether a specific team is more likely to score the first goal, or keep a clean sheet then you may be able to profit from soccer betting. Of course, research is key to this. Thanks to soccer data banks and the internet, you can find out, based on the stats, how many yellow cards, on average, a team receives per game, whether they’re more likely to score in the first half or the second half and a whole host of other statistics.

Football betting markets are billion dollar industries – this is due to the fact that most people lose, however, do your research, bet within your means and there’s no reason why you can’t be highly profitable from becoming a professional football gambler. If you are a fan of the aforementioned esports but aren’t good enough to be a pro, you can use your esports knowledge to bet on matches and tournaments.

Contemporary artist

Of course, the art world is a notoriously difficult one to enter, there’s no doubt about that. Nobody becomes an artist because they are looking for fame and fortune. On the other hand, 21st century art is different to, say, renaissance art where you had to be skilled at drawing or painting or sculpturing. Contemporary art is different; it is about original thinking. Art has historically been used as a method of expressing emotion. Renaissance art expressed the perfection of the human being after years of suppression courtesy of organized religion where god was seen supreme compared to the lesser human form. Other forms of art express political agendas – Banksy is just one example of an artist using art in order to criticize modern day society.

Contemporary art provides an opportunity to reflect on issues relevant to ourselves and the world around us. Millennials have a chance to express their feelings of today through the medium of art. They can help reflect what we as humans are right now. Any human living right now can contribute to this art movement. When it comes to art, nobody is above another due to their social ranking or wealth. The Saatchi Gallery in London is one such postmodern art museum, it even contains a social media section.

Of course, if you are struggling to find a job, the best thing you can do is to try and follow your passions. Do whatever you can in order to get a job doing something that you love and remember, no matter what job you have or will have, you are not stuck to it for the rest of your life, there is always a way out and other career prospects.