If You're not going to college for STEM, You should go to trade school

[Vandelay]

Disagree.

I think most degrees have purpose, the problem is there's too many people getting degrees in oversaturated disciplines. We simply have too many people in college and probably need to go to pre-1990 levels of enrollment per capita.

Psychology/mental health counseling is going to be big as people can't navigate this techno-dystopia we're about to enter.

English will always be a great major that can cross over into a million other disciplines.

Marketing/advertising is only growing in size and is a $500 billion dollar industry right now.

As much as I fear automation and AI taking over a lot of industries, what I am beginning to think the industry landscape will look like in the future is individual entrepreneurs using AI to supplement and consult other individual entrepreneurs who don't have a strong grasp of the work they are being consulted on or contracting out. I am seeing an individualization across the board for most people in the job market. Which is the only silver lining I can see from this revolution, as we're clearly not going to stop it or reasonably regulate it.

 

[Tha Gawd Amen]

Go to college with a plan and networking skills you can bullshyt your way into a decent job. The degree of difficulty and effort you have to put into bullshytting definitely increases with a non-stem degree though.

 

[WIA20XX]

Disagree.

I think most degrees have purpose, the problem is there's too many people getting degrees in oversaturated disciplines. We simply have too many people in college and probably need to go to pre-1990 levels of enrollment per capita.

More reason to not get them

Psychology/mental health counseling is going to be big as people can't navigate this techno-dystopia we're about to enter.

Not paying well.

English will always be a great major that can cross over into a million other disciplines.

Can get STEM instead.

Marketing/advertising is only growing in size and is a $500 billion dollar industry right now.

Copywriters just got displaced with generative AI last year.
Thumbnails, Photoshops, Video Production - all can be learned via youtube, no degree required.

Human driven Ad's are going the way of Human driven Journalism.

AI does a poor job, but that's better/more efficient than paying someone to do a decent job.

Sort of like self check out was thought to be cheaper than having human cashiers (until they realized the rampant stealing...)

 

[RickyDiBiase]

Some of ya'll who hype up trades have never actually worked them and it shows.

There's a reason why you go to any job site whether small or larger project the average mfer is working so they kid don't gotta knock tin/lumber.

But I digress, OP is clueless like most people who try and preach what's right for the next man

 

[WIA20XX]

Go to college with a plan and networking skills you can bullshyt your way into a decent job.

This doesn't scale, which is why college, outside of the few lucrative majors, is a major gamble.

It doesn't matter if 10 people in with marketing degrees can finagle their way into a job through friends, if 90 people with that same degree can't get jobs.

That "sucks to be you" mentality is the problem with college.

 

[Tair]

I disagree.

Not having a STEM degree isn't a death knell. It will come down to selling yourself and showing how a company needs your skills ultimately.

 

[Tha Gawd Amen]

This doesn't scale, which is why college, outside of the few lucrative majors, is a major gamble.

It doesn't matter if 10 people in with marketing degrees can finagle their way into a job through friends, if 90 people with that same degree can't get jobs.

That "sucks to be you" mentality is the problem with college.

Did the 90 people with a marketing degree have a plan on what they hoped to obtain with their marketing degrees or did they sit around and hope a job falls in their laps? There is so much more to college than keeping a 4.0 average that isn't discussed enough and even less so with non-STEM majors.

My non-stem friends weren't nearly as hand held by the actual school when it came to networking, job fairs, obtaining internships as much as the engineering school was. If you don't have the desire to really put yourself out there and do those things, there's a good chance college isn't going to payoff, regardless of major.

 

[Vandelay]

More reason to not get them



Not paying well.



Can get STEM instead.



Copywriters just got displaced with generative AI last year.
Thumbnails, Photoshops, Video Production - all can be learned via youtube, no degree required.

Human driven Ad's are going the way of Human driven Journalism.

AI does a poor job, but that's better/more efficient than paying someone to do a decent job.

Sort of like self check out was thought to be cheaper than having human cashiers (until they realized the rampant stealing...)

I think STEM is about to fall victim to everything your stating. The computations associated with those disciplines can be extremely algorithmic.

Creative, logical, ambitious, and critical-thinking multi-hyphenates will be the winners of tomorrow. Much like how celebrities are crossing industries, I feel this will trickle down to the common person as well. For instance, the executives at my company typically have a few disciplines they are masters at; MBA's and Doctorates with experience in engineering, project management, chemistry, and sales or marketing experience.

Fact of the matter is, no single discipline in the future will pay well, because it can be boiled down to an algorithm.Trades won't be safe either as there is a massive societal shift back to manual labor. The price of [laying] a brick is about to go down. The way those algorithms can be interpreted, applied, and scaled up is where the money is. AI isn't good at that, and if we have enough sense as a people we'll never let AI cross pollinate unrestricted because of Paperclip theory.

 

[JLova]

Engineers are severely underpaid

 

[AQz]

College is just as much about building your network as it is about what you learn.

This is very true and I’ve seen this come into play a lot.

 

[Mook]

Finance and economics are not the same major. Finance is more accounting.

If you want a job get something in trades cause it’s the only thing AI has no answer for. All the other stuff looks like it’s about to get bulldozed over.

 

[Bumblebreh]

Even STEM doesn't guaranteed you a cushy life as it used to before.

People forget how competitive the stem job market is, and the fact that the drop out rate is another issue. Sure the quality of the education matters but college is mainly about networking and the network.

 

[R.B.J1]

It depends, there are certain state and federal jobs that the minimum requirement is a bachelors degree in any major.

 

[WIA20XX]

Engineers are severely underpaid

Underpaid

• Industrial, Mech and Civ for sure.
• Marine and Aerospace - hard to even get the job.
• Chem/Petroleum - depends on the oil market.
• IT/CS - was solid, but much more market dependent than it used to be.

But compared to 99% of majors - most STEM people are working in the field they studied for sure, and making money at it.

 

[WIA20XX]

I think STEM is about to fall victim to everything your stating. The computations associated with those disciplines can be extremely algorithmic.

I totally agree tbh.

But looking at the playing field in 2024 and understanding the pipeline for STEM students* - it's still a much better economic bet to go STEM if kids go to college. *not everyone is good at math, especially the way it's taught in America...

If they're not STEM inclined, they should be in the trades.

Most everything else, like 60-80% of the other majors - over supply of degrees and under supply of jobs.

Is it better to be 20-40k in debt for a degree you can't use, or just hold a high school degree and some training classes at the community college?

Folks used to argue that the degree is better, but I think the times are changing.

Creative, logical, ambitious, and critical-thinking multi-hyphenates will be the winners of tomorrow. Much like how celebrities are crossing industries, I feel this will trickle down to the common person as well. For instance, the executives at my company typically have a few disciplines they are masters at; MBA's and Doctorates with experience in engineering, project management, chemistry, and sales or marketing experience.

Again, multi-hyphenates don't scale.
Networking doesn't scale either.

We already have people in the gig economy, that are doing multiple things at once.

It's the level of specialization that seems to be in flux right now.

Fact of the matter is, no single discipline in the future will pay well, because it can be boiled down to an algorithm.

I'll have to think on that

Trades won't be safe either as there is a massive societal shift back to manual labor. The price of [laying] a brick is about to go down. The way those algorithms can be interpreted, applied, and scaled up is where the money is. AI isn't good at that, and if we have enough sense as a people we'll never let AI cross pollinate unrestricted because of Paperclip theory.

If that were to actually happen (which is arguably the Red States, where seemingly every able bodied person is a machinist, carpenter, plumber, mechanic) - then the prices of goods and services (but not real estate) should correlate...

Who am I kidding, the prices for it all will stay high and it's just general degradation as wealth accumulates to the top - wealth that can only ever seek return