Why do we create a gold rush mentality around popular fields?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We fail to tell kids that unless they went to MIT, Stanford, Cornell, CMU or the likes they will have a hard time landing one of those coveted jobs.

But again it's the same in other countries. In France we have a few universities like in the US that if you don't have an engineering degree from there best of luck.

What coveted jobs? I know plenty in those fields who got great jobs who didn't go to those schools.

[Anonymous]

Because we live in hyper-capitalist society where everyone is chasing economic security.

In a more functional society with a more balanced economic structure (with some amount of quality of life balancing that will allow people in less lucrative fields to still have a reasonable quality of life), people would be more likely to choose professions that suit them rather than chase a "trendy" field where they (or more likely, their parents) think they can make a lot of money.

[Anonymous]

There was enormous demand for programmers focused on consumer products following the 2008 crash up until, what, a year or two ago? It wasn't apparent that was beginning in 2008 if you lived through it, but that's really where most of the $$$ products were being made. Anyone trying to break in from 2018 onward was just maintaining all the work that had already been done. Facebook, Netflix, Google, Amazon, etc all had mature consumer facing tech.

The 'bubble' would've corrected itself at that point, but unfortunately COVID and ZIRP happened. Tech needed a way to convince Wall St that it was growing again and took advantage, pumping up salaries and head counts to ridiculous levels. Now we're experiencing two bubbles popping at the same time.

Everyone will blame AI but really, AI is all you need when maintaining old code bases. Most of these companies don't have super interesting work anymore. Now there's plenty of really interesting development work out there that AI can't do, but, kids that went to $$$ schools just because they were promised riches don't want to do them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m so glad my kids didn’t major in CS.

My son graduated with a CS degree from UVA last summer. After a year searching for the high paying CS job without success, he is now looking for any job. Unfortunately he didn't have a minor or a double major. He is a pure CS major so his options are limited.

I think the CS market may be going through a transition I am not sure.

does he want to work in finance as middle office quant?
we have been hurting for warm bodies for 5 years lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m so glad my kids didn’t major in CS.

My son graduated with a CS degree from UVA last summer. After a year searching for the high paying CS job without success, he is now looking for any job. Unfortunately he didn't have a minor or a double major. He is a pure CS major so his options are limited.

I think the CS market may be going through a transition I am not sure.

Lots of hiring along the Silver Line. Might be able to help find a suitable place to work in CS.

Which specific upper level CS/ECE electives did he take?

[Anonymous]

I got into data science a few years after that awful "sexiest job" article, and I had a great seven years in it. Being in a rapidly-growing field made it easy to progress quickly, and when I saw that was changing, I started doing something else.

It's like the market for real estate or anything else. There aren't any guarantees and the conditions can change quickly.

[Anonymous]

We are becoming a country of haves/have nots and the middle class is shrinking. That’s why competition is so fierce for top colleges, majors, and jobs. At the same time, there’s no safety net. Social welfare programs are being slashed so there’s a feast or famine mindset. As a 50-something adult, I’m very worried about the future of our country and what it means for our children and grandchildren.

[Anonymous]

Elon Musk who many people revere is bat shit crazy. Many of these tech titans are insanely wealthy but are they any happier than many people less wealthy? Doesn’t seem like it. Money is great but only up to a point. Once you make it into the top 25% of wealth, other things in life determine happiness

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because we live in hyper-capitalist society where everyone is chasing economic security.

In a more functional society with a more balanced economic structure (with some amount of quality of life balancing that will allow people in less lucrative fields to still have a reasonable quality of life), people would be more likely to choose professions that suit them rather than chase a "trendy" field where they (or more likely, their parents) think they can make a lot of money.

You can keep saying this, but the fact is American wages are higher than other developed countries and our economy is stronger and more diversified.

[Anonymous]

Yeah take a look at the UK where the prices are the same as DC or NY and a senior software dev makes ....60k

[Anonymous]

I think that it is a shame you can’t make a good living as, say, a teacher anymore. That’s a critical job to society and should be able to yield you at least a middle class lifestyle. This is why people are not having kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are becoming a country of haves/have nots and the middle class is shrinking. That’s why competition is so fierce for top colleges, majors, and jobs. At the same time, there’s no safety net. Social welfare programs are being slashed so there’s a feast or famine mindset. As a 50-something adult, I’m very worried about the future of our country and what it means for our children and grandchildren.

I don't even think the school matters as much. When I graduated from business school in the 1980s, a Harvard MBA was the yellow brick road. Did you see how badly their placements were for the class of 2025? I know top MBAs who aren't working. Funny thing is, being a CPA means more job security.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are becoming a country of haves/have nots and the middle class is shrinking. That’s why competition is so fierce for top colleges, majors, and jobs. At the same time, there’s no safety net. Social welfare programs are being slashed so there’s a feast or famine mindset. As a 50-something adult, I’m very worried about the future of our country and what it means for our children and grandchildren.

I don't even think the school matters as much. When I graduated from business school in the 1980s, a Harvard MBA was the yellow brick road. Did you see how badly their placements were for the class of 2025? I know top MBAs who aren't working. Funny thing is, being a CPA means more job security.

Lots of Indian international students that didn’t get placed. That’s why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m so glad my kids didn’t major in CS.

My son graduated with a CS degree from UVA last summer. After a year searching for the high paying CS job without success, he is now looking for any job. Unfortunately he didn't have a minor or a double major. He is a pure CS major so his options are limited.

I think the CS market may be going through a transition I am not sure.

There’s always been a boom/bust cycle in tech. The tech companies over hired during Covid and things got a bit overheated in the job market in 2021-22, now we’re seeing a correction. The layoffs are happening in part due to higher interest rates and AI.

It’s important to note that AI hasn’t reached the point of actually replacing people’s jobs, but tech companies are investing billions into it and are trying to cut costs to pay for this investment which is more difficult in a higher rate environment, so a lot of fat trimming is going on. The labor market is flooded with experienced engineers who lost their jobs and this makes it much harder for new grads.

AI is pretty over hyped and I expect the pendulum to swing the other way in a couple years once the limitations are fully understood.

[Anonymous]

Finding gold created the gold rush mentality (the boom). It was inevitably followed by a bust. High pay in the tech sector caused the boom there. The bust was also inevitable. The pay too high and cheaper offshore talent exists, and not AI.