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The author is a professor at UC San Diego.
Yeah, and the media outlet selling ads and subscriptions is out of Florida.
Most STEM grads don't work in STEM jobs
141–150 of 155 posts
Re: Most STEM grads don't work in STEM jobs
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had this experience. Got a degree in physics and heard throughout my time about how awful this STEM shortage was. Went to graduate and couldn't get a job in my field at all (granted, I don't think I knew how to market myself nor was I well educated on how to do so). Ended up working towards a CS degree instead and getting a job in that field. All of my friend group in high school ended up with a diverse range of ST…
I read "STEM shortage" as "shortage of excellent software developers". The STEM shortage was after my time in uni, but what jobs actually need physics? I studied physics, too, and as far as I could tell my options were get a Ph.D. and then postdoc until a professor died, become a quant (might require a Ph.D., since it was the math that was attractive), teach high school physics, or do software. As it turned out, I en…
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Re: Most STEM grads don't work in STEM jobs
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a nice theory, but do you have any evidence for it at all? STEM is a new acronym, but the same line has been being pushed ever since Sputnik. What makes you think that this new version is suddenly ad tech and not just a continuation of the same old national security concerns that it's been about for generations?
1) The timing of when the term and the push for more "STEM" education got a huge boost and became far more prominent (again—you're right that there was another freak-out over science and math education during the space race, fizzling out a bit when it became tied to the disastrous "New Math" approach). Having some insight into the education side of things, the sudden renewed vigor in that movement always struck me as…
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Re: Most STEM grads don't work in STEM jobs
#144I say this with 90% sincerity: I thought this was STEAM now? But with all seriousness... I went to university out of high school in 2005 to get a mech engineering degree but never finished because I liked to party too hard and web dev was easy and paid better than most people I knew with entry-level engineering jobs. Flash forward to now as a non-trad student and I'm in my 400-level coursework. It's all easier than i…
> It wasn't like that ~20 years ago. I've found that learning entirely new fields of study to be easier as I get older (although I'm "only" 33); I think going to college straight after high school is a disservice to those of us whose brains developed more slowly than others. Long-term thinking and impulse control are some of the last things to develop.
> impulse control are some of the last things to develop.
If at all. Guanfacine helps that though.
Re: Most STEM grads don't work in STEM jobs
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
I worked a STEM job near a campus we got interns from. It was $26/hr, which at the time was more than we paid contractors for the same work, and possibly more than some entry level direct hires. They could work around school as much as they wanted, we had people there 24x7, so they could set their own hours… as little or as much as they wanted. It was just a few miles from campus, so they already had housing. And wit…
That's a positive effect of having education close to industry. Unfortunately the costs and requirements to get into those schools is now so significant that few can do it. High cost of living = parents have to pay. There isn't the "self funded" student in those circumstances. Responsible and reasonable individuals are not interested in giving up 5 years of their life and accruing high interest debt for the chance at…
Ironically, the best intern we had, who showed up every day on time, always had a smile on his face, was willing to do whatever, and left on good term, was likely from the most well off family. We all thought he was going to be a spoiled rich kid, but he was great.
Re: Most STEM grads don't work in STEM jobs
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
I worked with a guy in a data center who had a degree in geology. Computers paid better I guess, so he transitioned over.
Makes me question our decentralized assignation of studies. With communist centralized planning, the country makes a 5-year plan and students are assigned to the fields in demand, with the (high) risk that the central planner was wrong (because his pay doesn’t align with accurate planning). With decentralized capitalism, students decide for themselves, agree to be in debt for life if they’re wrong, attempt to collect…
There may be some value from having those different backgrounds spread across various industries. If everyone in IT was a CS major, there would be one primary view on how things work and what CS can solve. Bringing in other points of view can lead to more interesting solutions and solving problems that may have otherwise gone unsolved.
The intersections of different disciplines are where a lot of innovation happens.
Re: Most STEM grads don't work in STEM jobs
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
I kinda find this relatable - in HS, I did some summer work writing software (amateurishly doing what felt right instead of being taught how to do it properly - if only I'd have known), and went for EE, because I felt like "wait this cannot be it"
I chose EE cause it was harder (for me at least) and everyone would drop out into CS. Wound up doing software development, which I loved as a hobby and wanted to avoid ruining, so to speak. Fast forward to today, I've ended up coming to the conclusion that the whole university system (much like the tech, banking & finance industry) subsidizes foreign nationals to the detriment of anyone who's native & pays taxes to s…
Immigrants pay taxes. Maybe question your own biases.
Re: Most STEM grads don't work in STEM jobs
#148> The Census Bureau reported in 2021 that a paltry 28% of STEM grads are working in these supposedly in-demand, highly paid and important STEM jobs. These include diverse sectors such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and energy, but about half of STEM jobs are in computers, and tech firms typically complain the loudest of STEM shortages. I’ve long suspected that the whole “STEM” education movement is a way for big tech…
CS grads are the most likely to work in their field post-graduation. It's the other majors bringing STEM down, like biology.
Here in European country my understanding is even if physics is hard Science job. There really isn't much demand for it. So either you got to teaching or computers. If not later, yeah you are doing something else...
Other areas can be similar.
Re: Most STEM grads don't work in STEM jobs
#149Extremely poor journalism. Very misleading and a misunderstanding of what's actually going on. Example: "The Census Bureau reported in 2021 that a paltry 28% of STEM grads are working in these supposedly in-demand, highly paid and important STEM jobs." It's not 28% of all STEM grads, it's 28% of physical science STEM grads. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/06/does-majoring... I'm going to do a better job t…
The article is just paraphrasing what is reported on the census.gov page. As such, we are being told (mislead) by an HN commenter that the Census Bureau is incapable of summarising their own data. From census.gov: https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/06/does-majoring... "Among the 50 million employed college graduates ages 25 to 64 in 2019, 37% reported a bachelor's degree in science or engineering but only 14…
Oh, if they're excluding PMs and tech leads because they're in management, this data makes perfect sense.
Re: Most STEM grads don't work in STEM jobs
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
I chose EE cause it was harder (for me at least) and everyone would drop out into CS. Wound up doing software development, which I loved as a hobby and wanted to avoid ruining, so to speak. Fast forward to today, I've ended up coming to the conclusion that the whole university system (much like the tech, banking & finance industry) subsidizes foreign nationals to the detriment of anyone who's native & pays taxes to s…
Immigrants pay taxes. Maybe question your own biases.
I have no problem with immigration but having worked for many (supposedly critically important) organizations it's clear to me that the immigration system we have now that they depend on to staff their departments (which there are certainly native americans who could be doing those jobs) is just a scam for corporate profits that corrodes society. Additionally I've found immigrants themselves are often possibly even more racist than the average American. Couldn't believe it when I found out the racial disputes that had to be managed between foreign workers.