Hi

The following quests are available at Vex and Delvin in Thieves Guild. I am really confused about how many I should make of each "job" in order to acquire the final quest that leads to me becoming the guild master. Do I need to make them in specific order, or how does this system work exactly?

• http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/The_Bedlam_Job
  
• http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/The_Fishing_Job
  
• http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/The_Numbers_Job
  
• http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/The_Burglary_Job
  
• http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/The_Heist_Job
  
• http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/The_Shill_Job
  
• http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/The_Sweep_Job

After performing five jobs of any kind in Whiterun, Markath, Solitude and Windhelm, Delvin'll give you a sixth 'special' job in each hold designed to restore the Thieves Guild's influence there. Do those four 'special' jobs and then you're good to go.

in Whiterun, Markath, Solitude and Windhelm <-- but how do I control in which of these towns my quest will take place?

You dont. just keep selecting jobs and count how many you have in each hold. The hardest part is getting the last special job but the easiest way to do that is keep turning down jobs for other holds until you get the ones you want. personally i just kept doing them to level up my sneak/pickpocket and eventually got all the jobs.

Sounds like a big waste of time. Better to watch the outcome of final quest on Youtube, as I am not interrested in few useless rewards and a title.

Thanks anyway.

Well, the trick is to start these quests early on instead of just right after Darkness Returns. If you start them early, you can fabulously combine them with the other business you've got in these towns anyway.

You can also turn down jobs from Delvin and Vex with no consequences (other than their irritating remarks ).
So try to get both jobs in the same city. If you're trying to do it fast, concentrate on the Numbers jobs from Delvin - they're usually not much of an effort.
But yes, it's kind of annoying that you can't see your progress anywhere.

In my opinion, it's not really a waste of time to do the Radiant Quests. I actually felt like I deserved leadership by the time I was through...unlike all the Companions, Dark Brotherhood, and College quest lines. Those were waaay too short (unless you join them at a low level and do misc. quests in between, and don't go running off to countless areas that you can fast travel to); which basically means that you sacrifice interacting with 2/3rds of the game world. *facepalms*

I have discovered that jobs are not predetermined so just make a save before you ask for a job and if its in a wrong city load your save before you asked.