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I'm a Data Scientist and It's Not My Passion

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Re: I'm a Data Scientist and It's Not My Passion

#131

Post by scottlocklin »

jki275 wrote: post #123
scottlocklin wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the guys running DE Shaw has a psychology degree. One of their early hires had an undergrad degree in English romantic poetry. Pretty sure they're doing OK. IMO most talented/flexible degree per year studied is electrical engineering. Best degree is no degree though. One Vitalek or Bram Cohen is worth 10000 Harvard computer science graduates.

That's like saying don't bother studying so you can get to the NBA. For the unicorns that can pull that off, sure. For the other 99.9999999999999% of the population of the planet it's really bad advice.

I consider virtually all the time I spent in higher education to be wasted. The actually educational pieces of a Ph.D. in physics; probably about 2 years worth of effort, using existing didactic techniques. Probably a year if you did it right -then maybe another year to work on a problem. Einstein getting his Ph.D. when he was 21 was considered normal once.

"Higher education" is mostly make-work for pedants and busy work for students; the result is pretty similar to what high school was 100 years ago. It's also a form of dysgenic population control, and a way of growing debt peonage among the more intelligent half the of the population, which is probably useful for social control.

I've considered trying to raise a bunch of little Vitaleks myself, just to see if it can be done. Cathedral scholar style. While his and, say, Bram's output is exceptional: I think one of the big reasons it was is they never went to college. Greatest individual systematic trader I know: same story -he never want to college either.

Also your sigdifs are way off. I bet you learned that in collitch. ;-)

Re: I'm a Data Scientist and It's Not My Passion

#132

Post by bigred100 »

Fomite wrote: post #130
luckylion wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hasn't it already? It certainly is in Western Europe, a way to distinguish yourself from the filthy masses that need to do physical labor and the slightly smarter but soulless engineers and lawyers and what have you.

This. There's more than one country where a degree in Classics, for example, is code for "Future Banker".

My not exceptionally informed impression as a non elite US UMC tech guy: in the very high levels of society and at top US universities, that would be very normal interpretation. Among “normal” people you’d probably be viewed as kind of nerdy and easily excitable, head a bit in the clouds

Re: I'm a Data Scientist and It's Not My Passion

#133

Post by jdavis703 »

pedrosorio wrote: post #109
jdavis703 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you pay for $200k level taxes on a $60k salary? I make low six figures and pay an effective tax rate of about 35%. You’d only have about $5k left over for living expenses for the year...

Assuming this was a legitimate misunderstanding: - they earn a $200k salary - their living expenses match those of a person living with a $60k salary and presumably spending everything they earn after tax (in response to “what kind of life they can live with $60-80k”) Does that make sense?

Yeah, I had kind of assumed they were advocating putting $140k in the bank and living off the $60k.

Re: I'm a Data Scientist and It's Not My Passion

#134

Post by SantalBlush »

m0zg wrote: post #108
13415 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't make the degrees bullshit, though, it merely means that studying the respective field is less likely to be very economically rewarding. You need to make a difference between practical life advice and evaluations of areas and disciplines, or otherwise you'd also have to say that Vincent van Gogh and H.P. Lovecraft were total losers. They weren't. Wittgenstein gave away most of his inherited wealth when he…

>> it merely means that >> studying the respective field is less likely >> to be very economically rewarding Um, no, I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that one. Paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in borrowed money for something which doesn't provide any ROI is IMO bullshit, particularly so if you can't discharge the debt under bankruptcy. Your examples are bad too, because back in the day all those painters…

Again, this doesn't mean that the degree is bullshit; it means the degree is grossly overpriced. In reality, almost all degrees are overpriced right now.

Re: I'm a Data Scientist and It's Not My Passion

#135

Post by sizzle »

faissaloo wrote: post #125
notbob wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That QZ article gets a lot wrong. In particular: > if the tech bubble bursts, computer science may even be riskier than a humanities degree, which gives graduates a broader set of knowledge. How do humanities degrees provide "broader knowledge" than CS degrees? Different, sure, but broader? Good CS degrees are not coding bootcamps. CS students take a lot of mathematics and logic-heavy courses and can easily pivot fro…

I less concerned about the tech bubble bursting in and of itself. My concern is that it seems like tech is the last thing people can do to earn themselves a decent living nowadays, if that bubble bursts where does it leave us?

If you can create software/services to solve problems that humans will pay money for then you are in a unique position with leverage. I'd be more worried about AI/ML making developer's skill sets redundant. Thoughts?

Re: I'm a Data Scientist and It's Not My Passion

#136

Post by arcticbull »

jdavis703 wrote: post #94
asaph wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly startup equity is a) a risk and b) sometimes hard to quantify in real dollar terms. But if the startup is successful, equity value is very real and should not be ignored or swept aside. My advice: Don't join a startup unless you believe in its growth potential and your compensation package includes equity. Without the equity and the potential that comes with it, there is little reason to join a startup. You…

Your financial advice is solid. However I hate Big Co politics (it’s caused me mental health issues in the past) and I enjoy being able to be a generalist. Of course some people thrive in highly politicized environments or enjoy being specialists, so in that case, a Big Co makes perfect sense.

Politics exist no matter where you are; it's the art of convincing other people that they also want to do the thing you want to do. Improving your political skills will make you a better engineer because an engineer without influence isn't getting much done. For what it's worth "show don't tell" is one of the basic tenets of politics.

Re: I'm a Data Scientist and It's Not My Passion

#137

Post by sizzle »

rootusrootus wrote: post #41
bdcravens wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of jobs outside of that bubble that pay well. I won't disclose my numbers, but I have no reasons to go elsewhere, I'm 42, I'm able to work with the languages and tools I want, and I live in Houston and work from home pretty much whenever I want.

Totally agree. I live in Portland and the attitude is much more relaxed, but I make well above the typical SV salary. I get to choose my technologies, work from home when I want, my company has no interest in anyone working more than 40 hours a week, etc. I'm sure I could make a bit more with the right job at the right company in SV, but the quality of life here is so good that I won't even consider it.

If it wasn't overcast/drizzling 80% of the year I would be there too...

Re: I'm a Data Scientist and It's Not My Passion

#138

Post by ryandrake »

askafriend wrote: post #92
ryandrake wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a very common HN trope: go to any thread where tech salaries are mentioned and you’ll find someone whose sister’s boyfriend’s roommate makes $400k at Facebook, so therefore that’s a normal, expected salary for all tech workers. Point out actual publicly available data like Glassdoor or Salary.com and you’ll get a whole bunch of nit picks about their methodology or the fact that they report base salary only, etc.…

> Point out actual publicly available data like Glassdoor or Salary.com and you’ll get a whole bunch of nit picks about their methodology or the fact that they report base salary only, etc. So you don't have a counter argument is what you're saying? The truth is those site are insanely flawed and if that's what you're using to form your basis for negotiation then you're at a disadvantage period. Compensation is often…

Unfortunately, due to a lack of public data, these discussions always devolve into anecdote battles. I would love to see actual data that shows these huge salaries as average. It would really help my next salary negotiation! I’ve been in tech for over 20 years and so far, “Hacker News says we should make $400K” hasn’t really worked with recruiters yet.

Re: I'm a Data Scientist and It's Not My Passion

#139

Post by sidlls »

askafriend wrote: post #92
ryandrake wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a very common HN trope: go to any thread where tech salaries are mentioned and you’ll find someone whose sister’s boyfriend’s roommate makes $400k at Facebook, so therefore that’s a normal, expected salary for all tech workers. Point out actual publicly available data like Glassdoor or Salary.com and you’ll get a whole bunch of nit picks about their methodology or the fact that they report base salary only, etc.…

> Point out actual publicly available data like Glassdoor or Salary.com and you’ll get a whole bunch of nit picks about their methodology or the fact that they report base salary only, etc. So you don't have a counter argument is what you're saying? The truth is those site are insanely flawed and if that's what you're using to form your basis for negotiation then you're at a disadvantage period. Compensation is often…

Those salaries are prevalent pretty much only at "big" tech companies (FAANG) in the Bay Area.

Even in the Bay Area the 50th percentile base salary for a relatively junior hire is closer to $100k than $150k. Add in bonus and equity and some might top out around $140k-$150k total compensation. That's in the Bay Area specifically. Most other places TC is going to top out just above $100k--high salaries are uncommon outside of tech hubs and the Bay Area itself is on the high end even in that group.

Re: I'm a Data Scientist and It's Not My Passion

#140

Post by faissaloo »

sizzle wrote: post #135
faissaloo wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I less concerned about the tech bubble bursting in and of itself. My concern is that it seems like tech is the last thing people can do to earn themselves a decent living nowadays, if that bubble bursts where does it leave us?

If you can create software/services to solve problems that humans will pay money for then you are in a unique position with leverage. I'd be more worried about AI/ML making developer's skill sets redundant. Thoughts?

Being able to form a useful business isn't nearly as accessible as something like programming, if we get to that point it feels like only the privileged will be going anywhere.
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