>>> finance
>>
>> Wouldn't I need extensive finance qualifications to do that?
>
> Being good with numbers is a qualification for being able to do finance,
> and you're demonstrably good with numbers.

Ironically, I'm really quite bad with numbers. I'm good with /equations/...

>>> crypto/security
>>
>> Seriously, almost *nobody* actually does that.
>
> Bullshit.  I'm presently working with two teams that are knee-deep in
> crypto and security work.  Identity management, authentication, etc - all
> use that extensively.

You're telling me there are more than three people on Earth who actually 
design ciphers?

>>> data mining
>>
>> Does anybody actually do that? I thought it was just a fashionable
>> middle management buzzword.
>
> Yes.  See "Business Intelligence".  Data-driven decision making is
> something that a lot of businesses do, and they tend to be successful.

I would have thought that querying the data to get the numbers you want 
is the /easy/ part. The hard part, surely, is figuring out what 
questions to ask in the first place. And that is out of my league.

>>> robotics
>>
>> Is there any commercial application for that?
>
> Manufacturing uses robotics in a huge way.

OK. But those robots already exist. Why would you ever need to design more?

>>> communications
>>
>>    From what I've seen, installing comms equipment doesn't require a great
>> deal of technical skill - you just need to be good at carrying stuff
>> around and running cables.
>
> I'll be sure to tell the highly-paid network engineers I've worked with
> that you said that. ;)

OK.

>>> marketing
>>
>> There's technical expertise in that?
>
> Yes.  Writing marketing copy that actually convinces technical people
> requires technical expertise.

You must be looking at very different "marketing copy" than the stuff 
I've seen.

Typically you get a picture of something expensive - a server, a disk 
enclosure, whatever - and a paragraph of fancy middle management 
power-word bullocks about how the company offer you "synergistic 
solutions" to "streamline" your operations and "leverage" legacy assets 
with their "revolutionary innovations" - hell no, I can't even type this 
stuff! >_<

In particular, such material is utterly devoid of even the slightest 
hint of technical detail. Lots of hand-waving about "total cost of 
ownership" and "return on investment" and so forth, but no technical 
specifications, and no prices.

>>> disaster response
>>
>> What kind of disaster response requires technical skill?
>
> Your data center has burned to the ground.  Recover it.
>
> Yeah, that takes a lot of technical skill - and ability to use those
> skills quickly to get the services running as soon as possible.

Or rather, it requires technical skill to design the data center 
correctly in the first place. By the time a disaster actually occurs, it 
should be easy enough that a trained monkey could do the actual recovery 
part...

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