To get kids into science, just do it • Hacker News Board

Re: To get kids into science, just do it

#21

Post by vasco » Sun, Nov 06, 2022, 12:12 PM UTC

ourmandave wrote: post #16

karmakurtisaani wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Knowing what I know now, I would have jumped ship in your shoes in an instant. After 5 years of that work you could be free from working ever again and do whatever you feel like. I've heard that RT for example can pay you up to 1M per year for entry level, and looking at their profit margins I don't really doubt it.

Had to look it up. The starting salary for a research scientist is $170 - $205K. https://www.rentec.com/Careers.action?researchScientist=true

At those places the real money is made by being allowed to participate in the employee-only investment funds.

Re: To get kids into science, just do it

#22

Post by rcxdude » Sun, Nov 06, 2022, 12:13 PM UTC

rdtwo wrote: post #2

Why would you want to get kids into science? It don’t pay for shit and career/life prospects are grim. Grind out a phd for 80k starting salary? Hard pass

An understanding of and willingness to do science is a broadly applicable skill across many different disciplines (even if you don't get a degree in it), as well as being a useful life skill. It's something kids absolutely should be exposed to even if it's not their passion nor do they wind up doing something as an adult which would be generally labelled 'science' (which is a shorthand usually meaning natural sciences specifically).

Re: To get kids into science, just do it

#23

Post by pdpi » Sun, Nov 06, 2022, 12:26 PM UTC

auxym wrote: post #6

dislikedtom2 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not able to tell if this comment is satire and it worries me.

I don't think it's satire. STEM is pushed hard, but realistically, science and math dont have that great career prospects. For one thing, a PhD, and the 4-7 year opportunity cost that comes with it, is pretty much required to get anything more than a lab tech job. After that PhD, where do you go? You can try for an insanely competitive tenure track faculty position. Or a very limited number of industry researcher job…

A PhD in maths is _incredibly_ valuable. Anything abstract algebra related, and the likes of the NSA are all over you. Anything numerical analysis related will find plenty of opportunities in finance, and the industry just calls statistics specialists "Data Scientists".

Re: To get kids into science, just do it

#24

Post by flybrand » Sun, Nov 06, 2022, 12:37 PM UTC

dislikedtom2 wrote: post #3

I remember being interested in sciences as a kid, but every time I asked for a chemistry kit or anything practical, I just got books and documentaries. Don't be those parents.

Which chemistry kit do you wish you’d received?

Re: To get kids into science, just do it

#25

Post by Forge36 » Sun, Nov 06, 2022, 12:38 PM UTC

rdtwo wrote: post #2

Why would you want to get kids into science? It don’t pay for shit and career/life prospects are grim. Grind out a phd for 80k starting salary? Hard pass

This is a pretty techy group. Out of curiosity what do you do and what was your major?

Re: To get kids into science, just do it

#26

Post by flybrand » Sun, Nov 06, 2022, 12:38 PM UTC

pvaldes wrote: post #8

The correct answer for solving the wrong problem

What’s the right problem?

Re: To get kids into science, just do it

#27

Post by 4ad » Sun, Nov 06, 2022, 12:41 PM UTC

pdpi wrote: post #23

auxym wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's satire. STEM is pushed hard, but realistically, science and math dont have that great career prospects. For one thing, a PhD, and the 4-7 year opportunity cost that comes with it, is pretty much required to get anything more than a lab tech job. After that PhD, where do you go? You can try for an insanely competitive tenure track faculty position. Or a very limited number of industry researcher job…

A PhD in maths is _incredibly_ valuable. Anything abstract algebra related, and the likes of the NSA are all over you. Anything numerical analysis related will find plenty of opportunities in finance, and the industry just calls statistics specialists "Data Scientists".

> NSA

> finance

You're not selling it.

Re: To get kids into science, just do it

#28

Post by Nursie » Sun, Nov 06, 2022, 12:47 PM UTC

rdtwo wrote: post #2

Why would you want to get kids into science? It don’t pay for shit and career/life prospects are grim. Grind out a phd for 80k starting salary? Hard pass

Because it gives them tools to understand the world. Because not everything you teach kids has to lead to a PhD or a specific career? Because 'science' plays into engineering, finance and tech sector careers?

This has got to be some sort of satire.

Re: To get kids into science, just do it

#29

Post by auxym » Sun, Nov 06, 2022, 12:56 PM UTC

pdpi wrote: post #23

auxym wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's satire. STEM is pushed hard, but realistically, science and math dont have that great career prospects. For one thing, a PhD, and the 4-7 year opportunity cost that comes with it, is pretty much required to get anything more than a lab tech job. After that PhD, where do you go? You can try for an insanely competitive tenure track faculty position. Or a very limited number of industry researcher job…

A PhD in maths is _incredibly_ valuable. Anything abstract algebra related, and the likes of the NSA are all over you. Anything numerical analysis related will find plenty of opportunities in finance, and the industry just calls statistics specialists "Data Scientists".

Yeah, to be fair, my perspective is from Canada, which I probably should have mentioned.

I mean, we do have the RCMP and Bay Street, but I don't think it's comparable (in number of positions, salaries offered, etc) to NSA and Wall Street.

Re: To get kids into science, just do it

#30

Post by jbsimpson » Sun, Nov 06, 2022, 1:02 PM UTC

chriskanan wrote: post #18

rdtwo wrote: post #2

Why would you want to get kids into science? It don’t pay for shit and career/life prospects are grim. Grind out a phd for 80k starting salary? Hard pass

As a scientist, I'd say this claim doesn't hold true for many scientific disciplines. I know scientists working in biopharma earning over $1M per year. That said, I do think the salary mentioned is accurate as a starting salary in academia for a research faculty position (tenure track starting salary in USA is ~50% higher though), but academia pays much worse than industry. You give up salary for huge amounts of auto…

You also have to factor in how terrible post-doc pay and job security is, just to have a shot at getting on the tenure track. In the US it's half of that 80k number in bio research.