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[quote=Anonymous][quote]stem has a oversupply. don't believe what the immigration shills tell you (i want comp immigration but not because of 'we need more h1bs')[/quote]

STEM definitely has an oversupply, especially in areas that involve a lot of "wet" benchwork (molecular biology, organic chemistry, biochemistry), because graduate students and post-docs are basically cheap labor for professors (hands).  As someone who has been in a PhD program in one of these areas, I will tell you that the first 2-3 years are actually learning/mastering your field.  The next 2-3 years are just pumping out results with your hands so that your advisor will let you graduate.  Some professors don't even let their students write up their results, they just want them to set up the reactions, purify the molecules, set up the assays, etc.

There is a huge dearth of jobs compared to the number of PhD students that come out.  Especially jobs that pay reasonably well with benefits (well enough to merit 9 years of higher education).  While we have a comparative advantage of coming out with no educational debt (most STEM PhD programs are paid...albeit you can be in your late 20s/30s making 25K in an expensive area), the earning potential is not great since the market is so saturated.  It is a great way if you are from China or India to get a visa as a student or postdoc.  And because there are so many people trying to get visas, there are always going to be people willing to work for lower wages for companies that hire molecular biologists, chemists, and biochemists.  And since much of the work is manual labor, there is incentives for professors and biotech companies to hire these types.  Of course, a few really talented, brilliant people make it through and become the "ideas" person, but those are few and far between.

I think things are a little better in the tech industry for those who do programming/engineering, but only if you are really talented.  I know more people who are in CS/software engineering/IT who are in their late 20s/early 30s making six figures.  But if you major in CS and are a mediocre programmer, you're not really any better off than anyone else.

I think STEM is really only lucrative if you are really talented.  Just as law is only lucrative if you are really talented.  There is no ticket to making the big bucks other than being talented and well connected.[/quote]

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