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[JoystickHero]

Fishing, fish cleaning and fish dissection.

Even back in 40d, fishing was just asking for your dwarf to get eaten by a carp, or a sturgeon, or a long-nose gar, and then half the fort would follow his body into the water for that one +spider silk sock+. And especially now that there's beekeeping, and egglaying, and planting, and proper animal raising...

In fact, I think my next challenge fort is going to be one that doesn't plant a single plump helmet, and perhaps without ever eating a single plant or its byproducts at all. The only problem I foresee, once I've got everything set up, is the dwarves getting tired of mead. Hm... Humans always have good booze. Do you think that would count?

Back on topic: Beekeeping is, in theory, an incredibly useful profession. It takes a massive industry to get anything worthwhile out of it, so it's kind of a long-term investment, though.

[jaxy15]

Animal and fish dissector.

[Kay12]

I usually "outlaw" fishing in my fort because I don't fishing as worth the hassle. I have this mental discussion with the immigrants everytime they come:

Name and pre-migration occupation.
Urist McFisherdwarf, I used to fish for living and was mighty good at that.
Ow, sorry about that, Urist, but we don't allow fishing here.
Aye, but how shall I sustain myself then?
*inhales* growinglyemakingsoapmakingmillingplantgatheringwoodcutting and most important, masonry. And hauling.
Oh my, it seems I'll be busy from now on.
If you want to slack off, we have positions open in the army as well! (fun fact - I actually picked my Captain of the Guard from a random immigrant wave!)


In general, I consider skills that only affect the speed, not outcome, worth much less than quality-affecting skills, with the exception of mining which is fairly important to get done fast early as there aren't enough pickaxes to compensate with extra workforce. I have enough idle labor to make everything happen fast and plentiful, but sometimes it's about quality and then you want to have a good dwarf doing that.

[Dorf3000]

Most useless job?  On Break.

Now, if you meant most useless labor...

<imagine trollface.jpg here>

..then it would be Crossbow-making.  I seem to get a disproportionate amount of Bowyer immigrants compared to the other, more useful professions.  Presumably they have left the mountainhome because nobody wants them there either.  Even plain Peasants are better, because it's easy to get them to dabbling in some moodable skill like armorsmithing and hope that they get a mood.

[DG]

People have mentioned beekeeping, how about those Wax Workers? You can't even make enough wax from beekeeping in one year to counter the skill rust on a wax worker.

Dwarven women haven't yet been culturally pressured into keeping themselves meticulously hairless otherwise waxing would be a boom industry. 

[Tanelorn]

I actually have two hauler classes: "Hauler" and "Laborer".  Haulers just have hauling, cleaning, and engraving enabled (for mass smoothing; when I want actual engravings, I disable the labor from haulers and let my stoneworkers do the rest

Engraving skill makes a hugh difference to the smoothing speed, and I would argue it is better to have a handful of highly skilled engravers, than an army of dabbling smoothers. Plus, as you pointed out, you don't want dabbling smoothers to engrave and it takes micro management to prevent it. I'd say it's better to have people who only haul, and people who only have engraving job enables (no hauling).

Back to the OP's question, fishing is both useless and dangerous (ambushes ...), dissection is useless, so is animal care.
Bee industry isn't very usefull either, since there are better substitutes.

[Mount]

I'm amazed at all the people who think that fishing is useless!  If I have an embark with a river, then a fisherdwarf is *critical* in my fortress.  A single competent fisher can keep a fortress of 20-30 dwarfs fed by himself. AND if you're getting shellfish or turtles, then he's also providing raw materials for the Crafting industry. 

Until the medical system went active, the most useless profession was "soapmaker" for me.  Right now, beekeeping is fairly useless to me.  Sure, mead is nice, but I typically have dwarfs doing herbalism for brewing materials, so it's kind of redundant.  Now... if I could get hives of africanized bees and use them as traps, THAT would make beekeeping practical to me.

[Noodz]

I too am impressed by the amount of people saying fishing is useless. I simply love fishing too much to give it up, and even when playing on terrifying embarks i still build walls/roofs and a grate over the brook/river to allow fisherdwarves to fish safely.

Maybe its a remnant of older versions where it seemed every artifact needed a turtle shell.

[lanceleoghauni]

Beekeeping, every animal skill besides training (trapping gets a pass if I want to make a zoo or aquarium, but otherwise useless), fish dissection, glazing (I don't bother with any clay except fire clay, since I can make rock pots and jugs without a fuel source just as easily, I don't need an extra step), and pump operators (I only enable this labor when I need a pump temporarily used, so a dedicated pumper is pointless, or to give my soldiers some exercise).

Strand Extraction only has one purpose, but a novice or dabbling extracting is so damned SLOW.  I want those strands extracted YESTERDAY, dammit!  However, only really need one good one, dabblers or novices can support the one good one easily enough.

Since it seems a better Furnace Operator smelts faster, I actually love legendary ones.  Three legendary smelters can turn a humble pair of magma furnaces into a full-tilt foundry, and keep a bustling metalworking industry thriving.

The same goes for other sorta-useless skills: milker, spinner, shearer, and so on.  I want those jobs done fast, so one highly skilled one is a boon in a larger fortress (I like to play with over 100 dwarves), as a legendary shearer can keep massive flock under control.  All that yarn keeps me in bags so my rock nut pressing and sand collecting never stop.

Lye maker and soap maker are often the same dwarf; only if I get one REALLY good lye maker and one REALLY good soaper will I bother with two (again, purely out of a desire to crank out soap quickly).

I actually use potash maker sometimes (since I like clear glass for display cases and arenas and skylights), but it's not something I need a dedicated dwarf for.  I usually take one, repurpose him as a hauler, and leave it enabled for when the time comes. 

I actually have two hauler classes: "Hauler" and "Laborer".  Haulers just have hauling, cleaning, and engraving enabled (for mass smoothing; when I want actual engravings, I disable the labor from haulers and let my stoneworkers do the rest), and are always the cannon fodder for my city guard and soldiers.  Laborers are haulers, but with one or two other semi-useless labors highly skilled and therefore enabled (like Potash Maker or Milker).  The distinction is there purely so I don't accidentally draft my Legendary Lye-Maker/Soaper, and get him killed and get stuck taking forever to make soap again.  However, I'll be damned if I let a Legendary Potash Maker loaf around the dining hall, getting high social skills and elected mayor.  No no, grab some refuse and get hauling, buddy!  I'll call you when there's potash to bake.

EDIT TO AVOID DOUBLE POST: Also, had to point this out:

What, no mention of Alchemy?

Uhh...

Potash making and the two dissections. I've used every skill at some point but those and alchemy (and alchemy in some mods).

Hadn't noticed that one, whoops 

[Nameless Archon]

Fish dissection. Animal dissection. Wax working.

Useless, useless, and so marginal it's not worth worrying about.

[simonthedwarf]

I loathe beekeepers. Once you get a few hives going, they seem to spam cancels related to hives.

[peskyninja]

For me the most useles job is the administrator one,I dunno why all my crippled  or retired militias aways are adiministrators

[crekit]

Fishing is completely autonomous. Put up a fishery and put a unprepared fish stockpile around it. Free shells for that all powerful shell armor.

Most useless skill really depends where you are. Well, other than for a few select skills like... pump operator. Does that skill even effect how fast a dwarf pumps? Wax working. Fish and animal dissection.

Based on who gets drafted, glazer and cheesmaker skills are military skills.

[Gergination]

Maybe I'm weird this way but I generally have 1-3 dwarves for each job and that's all they do.  Dwarves that don't come into the fortress with any useful skill get masonry enabled and are left as haulers.  I have about 15-25 dwarves that have no jobs enabled other than the one thing they're really good at.  When I queue a job up, I know it's gonna get done and get done fast because the dwarf responsible isn't doing anything else (partying excluded).

Course, my fortresses also have 200+ dwarves in them so I can afford to have 20 idlers sitting around and still get everything done.

[Sutremaine]

For me the most useles job is the administrator one,I dunno why all my crippled  or retired militias aways are adiministrators

Something to do with their organisational or leader skills, I think. I wonder if it staves off the bad thought from being released from duty with no civilian skills?

Well, other than for a few select skills like... pump operator. Does that skill even effect how fast a dwarf pumps?

It affects how quickly they get tired.