US News and World report has listed "Usability/User Experience Specialist" as one of the best careers for 2008. I couldn't agree more!

Just a couple of notes comparing the US market to the Australian market, though:

• First the bad news: I'm not sure the pay is quite as good here on average (at least in salaried positions).
• Then the good news: here in Australia user experience people are much more likely to be involved in designing user experiences, rather than just doing evaluation.

One of the things I've always loved about this field is that it continues to attract people from a vast range of backgrounds. In my career I've worked with user experience people who come from technical writing, philosophy, fashion design, anthropology, graphic design, psychology, computer science, urban planning, teaching, industrial design, project management... the list goes on!