Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So he basically wants money but doesn’t want to work hard? Isn’t that what you are really saying, OP?

So, he’s smart?

Wanting something has nothing to do with how smart/dumb someone is.

Realizing at a young age that your career path affects your happiness, long-term health, ability to have a family, etc is pretty smart. He's way ahead of the kids who want to do 90 hours a week designing video games and the kids who want to bottle feed orphaned seals.

Many people graduate wanting a ton of money for as few hours as possible. It’s not original or smart but it’s common. If you are lucky enough to find a job you love and it’s a worthwhile job you won’t be watching the clock. That’s a nice goal to have. N

+1 I tell my kids, the goal in your 20s should be to work your ass off. Work hard, build your skills and connections, get the graduate degree even if it means doing it PT on top of a FT job. That's what puts you in a good position in your 30s to have a better choice of jobs and the reputation to let you have more flexibility to deal with life once you start having a family.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With respect to major, consider data science. The many branches of career opportunities available from this major can be explored as this student progresses through his undergraduate studies.

I have been told that just having a Bachelor's degree in data science won't cut it. Kids need to have at the very least a Master's degree. Not in the field so I don't know if it's true. Anyone cares to weigh in?

You can get started in the field with a BS, but you need a master's to advance, which I'd say is true in many fields these days. DS did a data science-type major and his first job has the title "data scientist." Good new grad salary, easy 9-5 hours (mostly in office but with some WAH), and his company will help pay for grad school. He plans to work for a couple of years before starting that.

From my observations, financial advisors seem to have the easiest jobs that make some money. They seem to work about four hours a day. There's a lot of golf. There's a lot of expense account meals. A lot of happy hours. The work is not remotely difficult. It seems to reward outgoing and social people, especially those coming from a private school background. It's a lot of networking among high net worth people. And not much else.

I applaud the idea of wanting to make money AND do something you like.

As a Gen Xer was told "follow your passion" but, my parents were teachers and knew nothing of the business world. My image of someone wanting to focus on business and making money was Gordon Gecko in Wall Street - greedy beyond belief. Wanting to make money as a focus for your job search was crass.

Luckily I figured out in my 20s that making at least enough money to not worry about paying the bills is an important part of your career choice. Look up "Ikigai" as a career model from the Japanese - one of the criteria is "what will society PAY me to do" that like.

My husband works for a bank and very much has work life balance. I such finance, data science, etc. Or human resources and then pick your company wisely.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So he basically wants money but doesn’t want to work hard? Isn’t that what you are really saying, OP?

So, he’s smart?

No he’s literally every millennial—too precious for hard work.

You realize that the kid in question is 15 years old in 2026. He's not a Millennial. He's at the youngest end of Gen Z, and the Gen Alphas are nipping at their heels.

Millennials, meanwhile, are currently busy helping their second-graders cut 30 Valentines out of pink craft paper and gluing little googly eyes on them, while sending out applications for their third or fourth professional job (and being sad about the house that they now can't afford because they bought one slice of avocado toast in 2012).

Your generational stereotypes need some updating!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So he basically wants money but doesn’t want to work hard? Isn’t that what you are really saying, OP?

So, he’s smart?

No he’s literally every millennial—too precious for hard work.

Drop dead, boomer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With respect to major, consider data science. The many branches of career opportunities available from this major can be explored as this student progresses through his undergraduate studies.

I have been told that just having a Bachelor's degree in data science won't cut it. Kids need to have at the very least a Master's degree. Not in the field so I don't know if it's true. Anyone cares to weigh in?

This is generally true unless the kid is "cracked" (top school, graduate coursework, DS/AI/ML internships at reputable companies, Kaggle awards, etc)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With respect to major, consider data science. The many branches of career opportunities available from this major can be explored as this student progresses through his undergraduate studies.

I have been told that just having a Bachelor's degree in data science won't cut it. Kids need to have at the very least a Master's degree. Not in the field so I don't know if it's true. Anyone cares to weigh in?

I think that's fair but the other issue is that someone with a masters or phd in physics or computational biology can likely do everything a data scientist can do and more. You don't have to have a data scientist-specific background for data science jobs, at least not now.

You definitely do need a background in the current job market. No one will choose to hire a PhD without prior experience who arrogantly believes they're a higher being who this doesn't need specific skills over someone who has the skills and experience you're looking for.

There's also no reason to assume data scientists are vastly dumber than physics/comp bio grad students - indeed, CS programs are more competitive at every level, and CS is the typical data science degree.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So he basically wants money but doesn’t want to work hard? Isn’t that what you are really saying, OP?

So, he’s smart?

Wanting something has nothing to do with how smart/dumb someone is.

Realizing at a young age that your career path affects your happiness, long-term health, ability to have a family, etc is pretty smart. He's way ahead of the kids who want to do 90 hours a week designing video games and the kids who want to bottle feed orphaned seals.

Many people graduate wanting a ton of money for as few hours as possible. It’s not original or smart but it’s common. If you are lucky enough to find a job you love and it’s a worthwhile job you won’t be watching the clock. That’s a nice goal to have. N

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So he basically wants money but doesn’t want to work hard? Isn’t that what you are really saying, OP?

So, he’s smart?

No he’s literally every millennial—too precious for hard work.