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Nearly every job in America, mapped in detail

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Re: Nearly every job in America, mapped in detail

#13

It's so sad that most jobs are not interesting. The only thing that is actually interesting is theoretical math, and there are no jobs in industry that require that - all of the interesting jobs are in academia, and the competition is too intense except for the very top. What a cruel world we live in.

It really matters a lot more if an employee finds his or her own job interesting than if you find it interesting. I can personally attest that at least one employee finds his job in software development interesting, even though it involves little to no theoretical math. In fact, I find it a little disparaging that you call my career uninteresting so unequivocally. However, if you yourself are so dedicated to pursuing…

Software development is not interesting - you don't have to come up with any novel ideas, or be creative in your problem solving, especially with the existence of large libraries that already exist that can perform any algorithm for you. For example, if you are doing machine learning in Python, you can just use a library like scikit or numpy, and you don't even have to code the algorithm. In fact, you don't even have to understand the algorithm or why it works - your boss just tells you to use k-nearest-neighbors and you select that from the library - no independent thought required. It's basically mindless - I don't understand what is intellectually interesting about it.

And in order to do interesting mathematical work in industry, you have to have a PhD and therefore you must again be placed in the extremely competitive and toxic environment of academia. And regardless, any theoretical knowledge of pure math would be unnecessary due to the existence of these libraries that basically do all the thinking for you. Even if you are smart and able to do pure math (which should give you a competitive advantage), it doesn't.

Re: Nearly every job in America, mapped in detail

#14

It's so sad that most jobs are not interesting. The only thing that is actually interesting is theoretical math, and there are no jobs in industry that require that - all of the interesting jobs are in academia, and the competition is too intense except for the very top. What a cruel world we live in.

Uh so why don't you write some of those libraries? Do you think the ivory tower is the only place people conceptualize unmet needs (Hint: it isn't)

Re: Nearly every job in America, mapped in detail

#15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really matters a lot more if an employee finds his or her own job interesting than if you find it interesting. I can personally attest that at least one employee finds his job in software development interesting, even though it involves little to no theoretical math. In fact, I find it a little disparaging that you call my career uninteresting so unequivocally. However, if you yourself are so dedicated to pursuing…

Software development is not interesting - you don't have to come up with any novel ideas, or be creative in your problem solving, especially with the existence of large libraries that already exist that can perform any algorithm for you. For example, if you are doing machine learning in Python, you can just use a library like scikit or numpy, and you don't even have to code the algorithm. In fact, you don't even have…

> Software development is not interesting

Interesting premise, lets see where he goes!

> I don't understand what is intellectually interesting about it.

Oh.

Re: Nearly every job in America, mapped in detail

#16
Great map! I notice a large amount of green. In fact, most major cities are completely green. Could it be an even tight mix of blue and yellow dots making it look green? Also, the Microsoft campus near where I live is red (Mfg, trade). Wouldn't they be blue (professional)? How about a color for agricultural jobs.

Re: Nearly every job in America, mapped in detail

#17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Software development is not interesting - you don't have to come up with any novel ideas, or be creative in your problem solving, especially with the existence of large libraries that already exist that can perform any algorithm for you. For example, if you are doing machine learning in Python, you can just use a library like scikit or numpy, and you don't even have to code the algorithm. In fact, you don't even have…

> Software development is not interesting Interesting premise, lets see where he goes! > I don't understand what is intellectually interesting about it. Oh.

What is intellectually interesting about just copying and pasting code from a library? I think we can all agree that it is significantly (orders of magnitude) less interesting than solving abstract math problems.

Re: Nearly every job in America, mapped in detail

#19

It's so sad that most jobs are not interesting. The only thing that is actually interesting is theoretical math, and there are no jobs in industry that require that - all of the interesting jobs are in academia, and the competition is too intense except for the very top. What a cruel world we live in.

Uh so why don't you write some of those libraries? Do you think the ivory tower is the only place people conceptualize unmet needs (Hint: it isn't)

If you wrote a new library, what would you put in it? What is the point of writing a new library that contains functions that already exist in other libraries?

I'm not saying industry doesn't conceptualize unmet needs. I'm only saying that it's intellectually uninteresting.

Re: Nearly every job in America, mapped in detail

#20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Software development is not interesting Interesting premise, lets see where he goes! > I don't understand what is intellectually interesting about it. Oh.

What is intellectually interesting about just copying and pasting code from a library? I think we can all agree that it is significantly (orders of magnitude) less interesting than solving abstract math problems.

obligatory: https://xkcd.com/793/
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