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This is generally true. My brother is a musician, and he struggles to find work. I got lucky growing up working on programming projects until 3am for fun, then being interested in database research and later AI research several years before people started paying attention. I think we need a UBI so that the people who don’t want to build stuff can do what they want instead of going into marketing or sales, or anything that’s a net drain or neutral on society.
Friend majored in philosophy. Guess how much he got to use that?
I didn’t graduate in philosophy, but the little I know about it is useful every single day.
I guess monetary success is capricious in philosophy; they all cannot be Chomsky or Žižek (because unfortunately intellectual stardom is reserved for a few by definition in any given field). Also, academic environments are depressingly unfair and are influenced by ridiculous factors more than they should. But is money all there is to life for someone that most likely loves to learn, to ponder, to explore? Answers might vary among them.
Is he still getting invited to parties?
I spent one year on philosophy before changing major to engineering because I can’t stand how pompous the people are. Although that intro to philosophy actually helped me in my career. YMMV tho.
Scuse me, I burned ~46k on a culinary arts A.S. degree. 🖖
The world needs moar Neelixes.
Wish I did engineering/tech hardware tho.
Maybe self learning how to fix my own motherboard’s/firmware can happen some day.
Hobby of PC building/self-linux administering for ~20 years…do I know more than some fresh grads? Probably lol…
The grass is always greener I suppose
I did engineering, wish I had done something like culinary arts
After all day engineering, I come home and watch chefs on YouTube and botch their recipes in the kitchen while daydreaming about running a chaotic professional kitchen
I majored in History as it was my only interest at the time and I could graduate on time.
Never major in History.
Anthropology is another bad choice.
- Love CS
- Major bank took me with the worst grades possible
Just have the right hobby lmao
-love cs
-company hires me in the name of a rich-sounding multinational
-turns out its just imperialism and im still making much less than $1000/mo, 6-day weeks.
to be honest its good for south america but still where the fuck is all that money.
That’s… reassuring.
This reminds me of that scene from Fight Club:
“Which bank do you work for?”
“A major one”
2nd largest Bank in Germany. 50st globally, 31st without China and USA
*50rd
😆
“Which car company do you work for?”
Me, freshmen year of college: “I’m going to major in computer engineering - with additional math and physics courses. Capable of designing all sorts of cool stuff, and get paid well”
Me 16 years later: “I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing, I don’t know what the fuck management wants, I don’t know what the fuck I want to do, but at least I get paid well.”
I’ll never forget my first one on one with the director of my engineering department.
I had been languishing away for a month at this new job trying to get a bearing on what they want from me when thankfully I got an email from the director scheduling a meeting to discuss just that.
It was a major turnaround, I felt like my life was going to finally get a dose of meaning and direction.
During the meeting the director said he needed me to write some software but gave no real specifics on its purpose out loud while he was also writing down notes. At the end of 45 minute meeting, he left his notes, shook my hand and said he looked forward to seeing what I come up with.
I shit you not, this was the “notes” he left for me
“You know, for kids!”
Getting out of a meeting and realizing you have deliverables with no idea how fulfill them is the worst feeling
Joke’s on you, I got a degree in computer engineering twenty years ago
Seems like it was the exception to the rule (I took it too)
I have a feeling this meme is for younger people who studied the humanities
Or worse shudders business majors
Serious - Don’t follow your passion. I did. Went to school for something I was passionate about. Did well and graduated. I got a job in my field. But soon enough, my passion felt like work. My priorities shifted as I aged and I grew to hate what I studied and once fell passionate about.
Find a career path that makes you money. Once you have that money you can make time to dabble in your passion projects and hobbies. Just wanted to add a different perspective to the meme :)
Never follow the money. Never follow the money. Nothing is worse than having your soul sucked out of you hour by hour because you wanted to “follow the money.”
I’m sick and tired of this Reddit-ass kind of “advice” meant only for neurotypical white men. Male defaultism is one of many things we should not import here.
the thing about having your soul-sucked is that you can bounce back and recover. and let me tell ya, it’s a whole lot easier to recover with money than without. The second part of your response seems to come with a little baggage. Maybe you should follow the money to afford a therapist? LOL
I can tell you that, no, you cannot always “just bounce back”. Maybe you can, good for you, but that does not apply to everyone
Kindly go fuck yourself sir!
This 100%. I’ve worked in some sort of IT all my life. It took what I lived and turned it into a job.
Double majored in business/accounting and psychology. Went into financial auditing (not my passion but paid well). Hated my life for 12 years. Decided to go for a graduate degree in social work. Am now a very happy psychotherapist even though I make less money.
Moral of the story? It’s never too late to switch if you end up hating your original choice.
I went from a prestigious role in tech to a much lower-rung one that isn’t so demanding. I’d rather have a pleasant life than a large paycheck. Went from miserable to very happy.
I chose a major I loved and that has good paying jobs but now I sort of hate it
So many awful takes on this topic in the comments lol. “Don’t follow your passions” is just bs because they’re really just saying “suffer through this major and you’ll get to suffer through a career for the rest of your life.”
The truth is that your major doesn’t really matter. What hiring managers look for is mostly that you have a degree, and the major comes second.
I was told for YEARS that “humanities isn’t worth it” and that computer science/engineering/STEM is the only thing worth it. But guess what? Massive layoffs due to AI is killing computer science and STEM grads. Businesses are putting postings out there but aren’t currently hiring to maintain normalcy, etc.
For a bachelor’s, just do what you want! Look at the financial aid for each school and go from there. A lot of people struggle and burn out studying something they hate and sometimes end up dropping out. It’s better for everyone to educate yourself on something you’re passionate about, then do a master’s if you need a career change.
Pitting STEM vs the humanities is yet another (very successful) issue used to divide us from the real class problems we should tackle together instead. I agree with you.
They are trying to kill CS with AI.
Software and Computer engineers are absolutely stupid expensive. And we’re necessary, because so few people understand it, and even less want to put in the required work to do it.
Unfortunately for them, they don’t understand it to the point where they inevitably push away the people they need to make use of AI tools, and cover the gaps that AI leaves.
Yeah, I’ve been playing around with some of the AI coding assistants as accelerators for data science projects. The one thing I’ve learned above all else is that this tech can speed up the process of coding, but it absolutely cannot replace computer scientists and engineers.
If you don’t actually understand coding, AI will give you stuff that runs, but fucks up key details and/or doesn’t actually do the thing you’re asking correctly. It’s hella dangerous.
Not always true. Sometimes you major in what you love, graduate, get a job doing cool stuff, (get fucked over by an asshole boss, change companies, kinda hate working there every day, find out through the grapevine the asshole fomer boss had been fired for being an asshole, return to the company you liked working at), well paid the whole time, and continue to love what you do so much you don’t get enough of it at work and do it more every evening and weekend as a hobby.
But then, my experience is a) a bit dated (I graduated college before 2010) and b) most likely atypical.
still gotta work though
Don’t do what you enjoy as a career. It will ruin what you enjoy and leave you with nothing.
