Jobs fight: Haves vs. the have-nots

Why do people hate on arts students? I graduated at a college with many arts students. Admittedly, a top tier college (Merton, Oxford), but they were still doing these arts degrees which people hate on so much.

I got a great job after I graduated, at Google, but it's nothing compared to what many of my arts student peers did after they graduated.

My roommate studied classics. HN would laugh at that - what an idiot! He's now leading a team in a private intelligence agency that provides intelligence to companies working in places like Africa or China. He's done amazing stuff. He worked on the ground in Somalia, he's lived in Russia, France, China.

Another friend of mine studied Ancient English. What a moron, hey! He's now a Captain in the British Army. He's served in Afghanistan and Iraq. He's currently on secondment to the Pentagon.

Another friend did French Literature. Didn't he know he'd never get a job? Actually he's a top investment banker in London. He earns six times what I do at Google. What an idiot hey!

Another guy, didn't know him really but he was in my college, is now an MP - equivalent of the US house of representatives. He studied History. Didn't he know it would't lead anywhere.

I feel like an idiot for doing CS. Many of those companies wouldn't have hired me as I look like a geek with no social skills. Now I'm at a top job for my field at Google, and I learn less than most of my peers who did arts.

People who get STEM degrees become workers. Some of them found great companies, but not many. My arts students peers became leaders, politicians, managers at the top of massively important companies and agencies.

You've yourself admitted that you're from a top school so maybe this is not a very representative sample . Atleast its true that under the present economic conditions STEM graduates are doing better in general ?

I did CS at a decent, but not as top tier university as you did (King's College London). And have had the opposite experience as you.

I got a great job even before I graduated and I am now working my way up in my second job. All my friends who did CS are either working in the field they wanted to, or doing a PhD.

My friend who studied Art History - essentially living off his parents' money while is occasionally does some freelance writing work

Another who studied Politics - working in a record store

A lot of them have given up on finding a career in the field they studied in and have gone into teaching.

Again it's not a representative sample, but I think it's closer to the norm as my university isn't a world renowned university like Oxford is.

Monetarily, the statistics pan out and STEM graduates earn more than liberal arts majors. But is that everything? There's a lot to be said for curiosity as a motivator for work - a lot of us here dive in to side-projects with zero care for monetary reward after. It's just to scratch an itch. Everybody has different itches to tend to.

Personally, I am an Art graduate (with a minor in Advertising). I graduated in May 2012 and have a 40hr/week job doing iOS development, getting paid more than I ever have (still not satisfied haha). Some of my peers on the Advertising side are really struggling for work, scrambling together portfolios to land an unpaid internship at one of the top agencies. I saw that landscape when I was still a student and diversified my skills - I started making apps, sans-CS (which is rather freeing once you get past some initial hurdles). I'd like to believe I'm a fairly competent iOS developer, coder and problem solver in general. Math was always my best subject throughout school, but the engineering school failed to scratch my itch. So did the business school, and the psychology curriculum, and really the advertising curriculum as well (but I had to get the degree sometime). I love art though. Learning about the importance of craftsmanship and really pouring my energy into creating something of aesthetic value is what I learned from my art degree. That was monetarily invaluable to me, despite paying tuition for those lessons.

I'm now on a STEM-ish career path with a liberal arts degree, albeit a little behind someone with a pure engineering background, but I'm a sponge when it comes to the new material - and it's all learnable.

Now that I'm at the end of my rant, I think the point of what I was trying to say is that Liberal Arts aren't a thing of the past, and can be very valuable. It's a little intellectually dishonest to believe that only CS based education is good.

I think you missed the point of the article. You are the exception, not the rule because you became an iOS developer. I inferred that the article was referencing art majors that don't teach themselves how to code.