What's the "best" major/career path?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have no idea what you want to do for a living, Economics. Can’t go wrong. An understanding of economics helps you with everything.

My kid chose Econ + Data Science minor.

It's a great combination, but school prestige matters a bit for econ.

I have to agree that school prestige matters. Econ from Chicago or Harvard or MIT is going to be viewed very differently than random econ degree.

Econ may be the one field where the low key consensus is you shouldn't major in it if you want to do grad work in it, but major in math instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is early in her high school career but we recently had a discussion around majors/career paths and I am looking for input. What are some of the best major/career paths that balance income with quality of life?

Daughter wants to obviously make good money but doesn't want to do 8-10 years of schooling. She's good at math so we've talked about CS, finance, engineering, accounting (which of course are super competitive) but what career paths are traditionally high-earning but still have a "good" quality of life component to it. I know it's subjective but we define good income as mid $100s within 5-7 years or so of graduation and quality of life as work/life balance, job security, satisfaction, low stress, etc. What career paths have you talked to your kids about that balance the two?

Based on your definition of "a good income", consider plumbing or becoming a bus driver in a major city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is early in her high school career but we recently had a discussion around majors/career paths and I am looking for input. What are some of the best major/career paths that balance income with quality of life?

Daughter wants to obviously make good money but doesn't want to do 8-10 years of schooling. She's good at math so we've talked about CS, finance, engineering, accounting (which of course are super competitive) but what career paths are traditionally high-earning but still have a "good" quality of life component to it. I know it's subjective but we define good income as mid $100s within 5-7 years or so of graduation and quality of life as work/life balance, job security, satisfaction, low stress, etc. What career paths have you talked to your kids about that balance the two?

Based on your definition of "a good income", consider plumbing or becoming a bus driver in a major city.

read the whole thing

quality of life, work/life balance, satisfaction, etc.

yea you can argue you still can get those with plumbing or bus driver, but there are better options

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have no idea what you want to do for a living, Economics. Can’t go wrong. An understanding of economics helps you with everything.

My kid chose Econ + Data Science minor.

It's a great combination, but school prestige matters a bit for econ.

I have to agree that school prestige matters. Econ from Chicago or Harvard or MIT is going to be viewed very differently than random econ degree.

Econ may be the one field where the low key consensus is you shouldn't major in it if you want to do grad work in it, but major in math instead.

Agree. Major in math and minor in econ. If you go to a school with a strong stats program or applied math program, you can also major in those and minor in econ.

[Anonymous]

Following- accounting and finance are being offshored. Air traffic controller? Good salary and she will be retired at 58.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With AI around the corner, a high degree of abstraction is a good bet. You can't beat the SCAMP majors (Statistics, Computer science, Applied math, Math, and Physics).

To elaborate a little, friends I've known in these fields have had found it easy to blaze a path because they are constantly bombarded with job offers from both expected and unexpected places. It's a whole different ballgame of job searching when people actually want you. I know physicists who have been quants, actuaries, worked at chip makers and high end instrumentation makers, taught for a few years and then done something more remunerative, etc. Totally different than my experience as a humanities major. I'm throwing things against the wall to see what sticks - they are the wall. And the job prospects for applied math and CS are if anything even better than physics.

If you don't want to do engineering, a high level quanty major opens up a lot of doors.

[Anonymous]

I would say anything Math related, knowing some CS doesn't hurt. The key is to flexible on career options, I read that successful people change careers multiple times- function of luck, economy, interest and availability of high value jobs.

The key is to take hard courses to prepare her to solve hard problems, whether in business or technology.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am 50 years old (for the context). I was always good at math, so 30+ years ago when I was making my choices, everyone urged me to go into CS.

One very wise woman who was in CS and was in her 40s at the time steered me a different way. She told me that the key to a good life work-wise is to pick a job with relatively high barriers to entry and, especially for a woman, where your age adds to your value. Basically something where you can't mint a bunch of qualified people in a couple of years, and where what you knew 10 years ago is beneficial to your work. CS is failing spectacularly on both counts.

I became an actuary. This will not work for your daughter since she doesn't want additional study, but I seriously urge her to consider what my mentor said.

I'm 51 years old.
CS was high barrier field for woman at the time, and still is for many people.
It's hard to even get into the major these days.

I'm a database developer/engineer highly respected in the field making close to $200K
Working from home full time.

Different people have different perspectives.

+1.

You still need to enjoy your job. For many, being an actuary would be "boring".

To OP, have your DD think about what areas she likes. Explore what jobs are available if you get a degree in X.
IMO, data science is a great field as it is used by so many different areas. But it depends if your kid likes it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Following- accounting and finance are being offshored. Air traffic controller? Good salary and she will be retired at 58.

That’s literally the most stressful job there is! Thousands of lives in your hand every minute of every shift.

[Anonymous]

I recommend CS or if thats too hard IS/IT. don't specialize in a data science, databases, software etc, because that can all change and may go away w/ ai, have a foundation technology/math degree and maybe some management if you are looking to go that route.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am 50 years old (for the context). I was always good at math, so 30+ years ago when I was making my choices, everyone urged me to go into CS.

One very wise woman who was in CS and was in her 40s at the time steered me a different way. She told me that the key to a good life work-wise is to pick a job with relatively high barriers to entry and, especially for a woman, where your age adds to your value. Basically something where you can't mint a bunch of qualified people in a couple of years, and where what you knew 10 years ago is beneficial to your work. CS is failing spectacularly on both counts.

I became an actuary. This will not work for your daughter since she doesn't want additional study, but I seriously urge her to consider what my mentor said.

LOL actuary is probably one of the first jobs going away with AI

Do you even know what we do? Or what the regulations around that are?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am 50 years old (for the context). I was always good at math, so 30+ years ago when I was making my choices, everyone urged me to go into CS.

One very wise woman who was in CS and was in her 40s at the time steered me a different way. She told me that the key to a good life work-wise is to pick a job with relatively high barriers to entry and, especially for a woman, where your age adds to your value. Basically something where you can't mint a bunch of qualified people in a couple of years, and where what you knew 10 years ago is beneficial to your work. CS is failing spectacularly on both counts.

I became an actuary. This will not work for your daughter since she doesn't want additional study, but I seriously urge her to consider what my mentor said.

What is your day to day life like as an actuary? Do you work long hours? Do you work alone? Do you need good people skills? How much stress to you have? How much do you earn?

[Anonymous]

Actuary exams are no joke you fools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am 50 years old (for the context). I was always good at math, so 30+ years ago when I was making my choices, everyone urged me to go into CS.

One very wise woman who was in CS and was in her 40s at the time steered me a different way. She told me that the key to a good life work-wise is to pick a job with relatively high barriers to entry and, especially for a woman, where your age adds to your value. Basically something where you can't mint a bunch of qualified people in a couple of years, and where what you knew 10 years ago is beneficial to your work. CS is failing spectacularly on both counts.

I became an actuary. This will not work for your daughter since she doesn't want additional study, but I seriously urge her to consider what my mentor said.

I'm 51 years old.
CS was high barrier field for woman at the time, and still is for many people.
It's hard to even get into the major these days.

I'm a database developer/engineer highly respected in the field making close to $200K
Working from home full time.

Different people have different perspectives.

PP. It was absolutely not. In the mid- to late 1990s, you would be hired on the spot if you had anything to do with programming. People went to 4 months for profit schools and emerged with job offers. All my friends who graduated with degrees in CS had employers fighting for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actuary exams are no joke you fools

Yeah, I would only recommend this path for a good test-taker. I do know several people who are actuaries but they were all the type that were great test takers.