STEM Delusions

[Anonymous]

For pharma research post doc is the norm. Yeah you are going to be grinding awhile for a field where AI is rapidly taking over all research. I would reconsider.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC wants to go into chemistry, with the ultimate goal of something like pharma/drug development or cosmeceuticals. Bad plan, considering everyone here seem to be saying Bio/chem have high unemployment levels?

Be prepared to evolve as tech changes industries. That's for all kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All this is relevant to something my own brother (a US-born engineer) realized early on: there will be a lot of colleagues who are smart but not great at communicating//not great at communicating in English. If our US-born kids go into STEM, their ability to communicate science or engineering or business value could keep them relevant even as positions around them are filled by hardworking and smart immigrants.

SO: tell your STEM-interested children they better be good at communicating! It can't just be heads-down, do your math and submit on paper, because that can be done by a non-English speaking engineer/scientist/etc., with AI bridging basic gaps like translation.

The "communicators" work on the sales and marketing teams.

[Anonymous]

There is a surplus of CS majors with skills like scripting, web programming, and general IT / sysadmin skills. Those jobs are easier to move offshore.

There is a chronic shortage of CS folks who took the more difficult electives like compilers, embedded systems, real-time systems, kernel programming / OS internals, assembly (especially for ARM; x86 is dying), and have good C programming skills and debugger skills on UNIX (including Linux, MacOS).

Rigor matters. People who take more rigorous CS upper level electives are the shortage category.

[Anonymous]

I was a female STEM major in the late 80s-early 90s. Not very common.

In our school district it’s been nothing but STEM since my firstborn (2005). Writing fell to the wayside. Reading is down due to iPhone/social media usage. Schools aren’t even requiring full novels to be read. Most exams are multiple choice only on a laptop.

We put our kids in Jesuit high schools - left public. They are equally as strong in STEM and English/humanities/languages. I am such a huge proponent of a true liberal arts education. Look at these big tech billionaires with zero ethics or empathy. A lot of that is STEM only focus.

Most kids were told STEM is the only employable field and everyone got the memo and that’s the field (and finance) everyone is headed for. It’s saturated.

Without knowledge of other cultures, religions, history, literature we get the dystopian world we are currently living in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a female STEM major in the late 80s-early 90s. Not very common.

In our school district it’s been nothing but STEM since my firstborn (2005). Writing fell to the wayside. Reading is down due to iPhone/social media usage. Schools aren’t even requiring full novels to be read. Most exams are multiple choice only on a laptop.

We put our kids in Jesuit high schools - left public. They are equally as strong in STEM and English/humanities/languages. I am such a huge proponent of a true liberal arts education. Look at these big tech billionaires with zero ethics or empathy. A lot of that is STEM only focus.

Most kids were told STEM is the only employable field and everyone got the memo and that’s the field (and finance) everyone is headed for. It’s saturated.

Without knowledge of other cultures, religions, history, literature we get the dystopian world we are currently living in.

SLACs are realizing that they can't offer that stem component that students are being told is necessary to be employed so the slacs are teaming up with other universities to build a stem pathway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a female STEM major in the late 80s-early 90s. Not very common.

In our school district it’s been nothing but STEM since my firstborn (2005). Writing fell to the wayside. Reading is down due to iPhone/social media usage. Schools aren’t even requiring full novels to be read. Most exams are multiple choice only on a laptop.

We put our kids in Jesuit high schools - left public. They are equally as strong in STEM and English/humanities/languages. I am such a huge proponent of a true liberal arts education. Look at these big tech billionaires with zero ethics or empathy. A lot of that is STEM only focus.

Most kids were told STEM is the only employable field and everyone got the memo and that’s the field (and finance) everyone is headed for. It’s saturated.

Without knowledge of other cultures, religions, history, literature we get the dystopian world we are currently living in.

Me too! I yearn for a world where we used to have high child mortality, low life expectancy, low literacy, high poverty, and lots of everyday violence.

You know, the good old days!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC wants to go into chemistry, with the ultimate goal of something like pharma/drug development or cosmeceuticals. Bad plan, considering everyone here seem to be saying Bio/chem have high unemployment levels?

My DD is on this path. She’s a rising sophomore at Penn state and already in research group. She is going to double major or minor in math or engineering but so far she is seeing a lot of opportunities in private sector. One of her TAs just graduated with a chem degree and had multiple job offers after attending one of the onsite career fairs. She will be working at pharmaceutical company.

[Anonymous]

Now we cannot even get Smallpox. Damn the STEM majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a female STEM major in the late 80s-early 90s. Not very common.

In our school district it’s been nothing but STEM since my firstborn (2005). Writing fell to the wayside. Reading is down due to iPhone/social media usage. Schools aren’t even requiring full novels to be read. Most exams are multiple choice only on a laptop.

We put our kids in Jesuit high schools - left public. They are equally as strong in STEM and English/humanities/languages. I am such a huge proponent of a true liberal arts education. Look at these big tech billionaires with zero ethics or empathy. A lot of that is STEM only focus.

Most kids were told STEM is the only employable field and everyone got the memo and that’s the field (and finance) everyone is headed for. It’s saturated.

Without knowledge of other cultures, religions, history, literature we get the dystopian world we are currently living in.

Me too! I yearn for a world where we used to have high child mortality, low life expectancy, low literacy, high poverty, and lots of everyday violence.

You know, the good old days!

Yes. That’s what Trump and RFK JR are handing to you—the 1800s.

You can’t see the forest for the trees. An organic chemist, a microbiologist, a geneticist are all part of a liberal arts education at top colleges.

They are intertwined.
Signed, a molecular biologist with a liberal arts undergrad whi applied much of that liberal arts education in the work I do today (philosophy, history, writing, analyzing)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a surplus of CS majors with skills like scripting, web programming, and general IT / sysadmin skills. Those jobs are easier to move offshore.

There is a chronic shortage of CS folks who took the more difficult electives like compilers, embedded systems, real-time systems, kernel programming / OS internals, assembly (especially for ARM; x86 is dying), and have good C programming skills and debugger skills on UNIX (including Linux, MacOS).

Rigor matters. People who take more rigorous CS upper level electives are the shortage category.

X86 is far from dying. Otherwise this is a good synopsis of CS. Deep tech and low level skills are in high demand. Full stack, front end is doomed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a female STEM major in the late 80s-early 90s. Not very common.

In our school district it’s been nothing but STEM since my firstborn (2005). Writing fell to the wayside. Reading is down due to iPhone/social media usage. Schools aren’t even requiring full novels to be read. Most exams are multiple choice only on a laptop.

We put our kids in Jesuit high schools - left public. They are equally as strong in STEM and English/humanities/languages. I am such a huge proponent of a true liberal arts education. Look at these big tech billionaires with zero ethics or empathy. A lot of that is STEM only focus.

Most kids were told STEM is the only employable field and everyone got the memo and that’s the field (and finance) everyone is headed for. It’s saturated.

Without knowledge of other cultures, religions, history, literature we get the dystopian world we are currently living in.

SLACs are realizing that they can't offer that stem component that students are being told is necessary to be employed so the slacs are teaming up with other universities to build a stem pathway.

Care to elaborate? Top SLACs are very strong in Science and Math just not engineering. Their CS programs also place better than many R1 fans would like to admit as well.

[Anonymous]

HVAC is the new STEM brah!

[Anonymous]

With AI advancing rapidly, the U.S. should focus on developing and supporting highly/truly qualified American STEM students.

I disagree with the idea that American STEM talent is inferior or that the solution is simply to rely more heavily on international hiring. The top students are pretty capable. In many cases, outsourcing and contractor-heavy models are primarily used to suppress compensation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a female STEM major in the late 80s-early 90s. Not very common.

In our school district it’s been nothing but STEM since my firstborn (2005). Writing fell to the wayside. Reading is down due to iPhone/social media usage. Schools aren’t even requiring full novels to be read. Most exams are multiple choice only on a laptop.

We put our kids in Jesuit high schools - left public. They are equally as strong in STEM and English/humanities/languages. I am such a huge proponent of a true liberal arts education. Look at these big tech billionaires with zero ethics or empathy. A lot of that is STEM only focus.

Most kids were told STEM is the only employable field and everyone got the memo and that’s the field (and finance) everyone is headed for. It’s saturated.

Without knowledge of other cultures, religions, history, literature we get the dystopian world we are currently living in.

Amen, sister!