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Students flee field as computer 'fad fades' (1987)

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Re: Students flee field as computer 'fad fades' (1987)

#381

Post by sparks1970 »

auxym wrote: post #340
sparks1970 wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Offtopic but my son is thinking of taking Chemical Engineering. Would you recommend in 2021?

Just make sure he's aware of what exactly is chem engineering. It's not discovering new chemicals. That would be chemistry PhDs. It's not even discovering new reaction pathways, that's still mostly chemistry people (process chemists). Chem engineering is process engineering. Chemists give you the reaction they want to do, and how much of it. Then engineers will size boilers, heat exchangers, pipes, process controller…

Thanks, this was very helpful !

Re: Students flee field as computer 'fad fades' (1987)

#382

Post by lowercased »

momento wrote: post #379
irjustin wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow there's so much to unpack there. While professionally sounds like you're doing just fine, I hope you're doing okay personally.

I was not aware of how much damage he did until my mid 20's and it led to about 2 years in therapy to work through it all. This story is one of countless stories where he has acted out of line. A benefit of my career is that I had enough capital to pay out of pocket for a very effective therapist. I ended up gaining a far better understanding of who he is as a person and perhaps even why he is the way he is. This has…

I'm not trying to put everyone on the same level as your situation, but many (most, I might guess?) have had parental situations that are less than good. Sometimes for a short period, sometimes for the entire childhood.

My childhood wasn't bad (as in horrific) but there were enough ... episodes that stuck with me for a long time, and sharing with friends (both at the time and afterwards) raised a lot of eyebrows (mostly saying "that's really not normal/acceptable").

"This has allowed me to come to terms with his actions enough to forgive and forget (for the most part) and move forward with my life."

I'm glad you got there. I've come to a similar place (without a lot of therapy, but over a longer period of time). My parents did the best they could, and on looking back, they were in a situation they didn't want to be in (kids at a young age, money problems, etc). With enough time and distance, and knowing them as an adult, they're generally OK people. They did the best they could, they just didn't know very much at the time, and ... they got a lot of bad advice (imo) during a pre-internet time when it wasn't fast/easy to get a lot of information. I'm still rather fortunate, in that they're both overall good people (just... were not prepared for parenthood) - many folks are bad at parenting and ... are just overall not great people either. I have a sibling that is still struggling to come to terms with some of this, and is still searching for 'answers' to things that I don't really think have 'answers'.

And yes, a good spouse can really help balance you out, give you some grounding and perspective. You can get some of that through therapy as well, I'm sure, but having a spouse with you is a different sort of grounding and perspective.

Re: Students flee field as computer 'fad fades' (1987)

#383

Post by rejectedandsad »

vmception wrote: post #376
rejectedandsad wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup; all they need is high IQ people, preferably with pedigree (something I don’t have and am still sad about)

Its useful to understand where you are on the totem pole. You may come from a background where “college” was a given, or a background where college was quite a dramatic feat as nobody else in your family had done it before, but either way while they are praising you its important for you to know the limits of the “any college” experience early on

Nobody has ever praised me. I have nothing thanks to my state school degree and its apparent I'll never amount to anything because of it.

I'm still not sure why I should even keep going on given my life is basically already over now because I went to "any college" because I only got a 1500/1600 on my SAT.

Re: Students flee field as computer 'fad fades' (1987)

#384

Post by vmception »

rejectedandsad wrote: post #383
vmception wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its useful to understand where you are on the totem pole. You may come from a background where “college” was a given, or a background where college was quite a dramatic feat as nobody else in your family had done it before, but either way while they are praising you its important for you to know the limits of the “any college” experience early on

Nobody has ever praised me. I have nothing thanks to my state school degree and its apparent I'll never amount to anything because of it. I'm still not sure why I should even keep going on given my life is basically already over now because I went to "any college" because I only got a 1500/1600 on my SAT.

I disagree with that conclusion.

FAANGs dont care about that and will still pay you mid six figures.

There is also a global boom town in crypto, where you can build and release anything you want and earn more than FAANGs will pay you. You dont even have to speculate on any coin or token. Just launch products and earn.

Boost your serotonin levels and look at the possibilities again.

Re: Students flee field as computer 'fad fades' (1987)

#385

Post by rejectedandsad »

vmception wrote: post #384
rejectedandsad wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody has ever praised me. I have nothing thanks to my state school degree and its apparent I'll never amount to anything because of it. I'm still not sure why I should even keep going on given my life is basically already over now because I went to "any college" because I only got a 1500/1600 on my SAT.

I disagree with that conclusion. FAANGs dont care about that and will still pay you mid six figures. There is also a global boom town in crypto, where you can build and release anything you want and earn more than FAANGs will pay you. You dont even have to speculate on any coin or token. Just launch products and earn. Boost your serotonin levels and look at the possibilities again.

I already work at a FAANG and only make $200k 3 years in. I really have no hope of cracking any of the others (I work at the least impressive one, naturally).

Seems like being intellectually inferior will stunt me for literally everything - I have fewer positive life experiences than a Stanford pre-freshman

Re: Students flee field as computer 'fad fades' (1987)

#386

Post by JohnL4 »

laxmin wrote: post #175
donatj wrote: post #49

I don’t hear much about it these days, but circa 2004 when I was going into computer science I had multiple teachers and a guidance counselor warn me that all the jobs would be going to India and tell me I should pursue something else. This seemed to be very much the prevailing wisdom of the time. I pursued it anyway as it was my passion. I was one of five students in my program that had been a huge multi-campus prog…

The lesson is that there is always place for everybody, whole of India included in Computer Science.. Once AI matures to a level where it can write programs, we will have to create newer pastures however.

Pretty sure AI, like fusion, is the technology of the future and always will be.

When we solve the halting problem, AI can write software. Until then, it's Intelligence Augmentation, not AI, and humans will remain in the loop.

Re: Students flee field as computer 'fad fades' (1987)

#387

Post by ozim »

analog31 wrote: post #325
Tycho wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is EE so bad? On the surface it looks like a degree with a strong grounding in mathematics, exposure to programming, the discipline of engineering, and a diverse range of applications across industry. It kind of seems like the ideal degree if you want to hire someone. I'm always baffled when I hear stories like this.

I have some hypotheses. Note my degree is in physics, perhaps a similar situation though not as widespread. There are a number of things happening. Most engineers in all disciplines lose their math ability after graduating. The workplace itself allows this to happen: They get so busy with regular design work that they forget their math and theory. A lot of the analysis work is handled by their CAD tools. The work tha…

I don't fully disagree.

Though I don't agree with negative take on software like "sparkly software for management", "inflate its own demand by technical debt" or "organize itself for collective bargaining".

Sparkly software gets you just as far as it is useful usually, less sparkly sells worse but you still need it on hardware to get job done, hardware alone is not enough.

Inflate demand - well people just suck at organizing big projects there is no need to artificially inflate demand it just happens as business needs more and more features.

Software developers are bad at organizing and bargaining - because they all think they are better than others and code of other people always sucks :)

What is my hypothesis:

Hardware has physical limitations as is obvious - even if you build millions of boards - well it takes storage space, you need copper, aluminum, you cannot make transistors smaller into infinity. You can only sell so many phones as there are buyers.

Software on the other hand is limited now mostly by amount of the developers in the world. There is infinite amount of programs that you can run on finite amount of hardware. There is infinite amount of software to be built let alone maintained that is why software developer salaries are going through the roof.

While I can sell 1 phone only once now I can build SaaS solution that I will get cashflow and monthly payments it is not even that individual can capitalize on his own innovation. Basically infinite revenue stream from SaaS model is just so attractive for any business man.

Re: Students flee field as computer 'fad fades' (1987)

#388

Post by JohnL4 »

gpspake wrote: post #25
ChicagoDave wrote: post #9

Not one hour of college after graduating high school in 1982 and I’ve been working in IT non-stop. Calculus? Physics? Ridiculous.

Academia's gotta keep a tight grip on that knowledge. Can't possibly be successful without the gatekeepers.

We don't need no book larnin!

[Writes an n^3 nested loop]

Maybe I'm just traumatized by 00s coders, but I hear rejection of college as rejection of knowledge and critical thinking. I admit school ain't all that, but you CANNOT reject it all.

Re: Students flee field as computer 'fad fades' (1987)

#389

Post by JohnL4 »

graycat wrote: post #191

1987? How could the poor students have known? Gee, 1987, I was at IBM's Watson lab as a researcher in their effort at the time in artificial intelligence. So, at the lab we had an ambitious computer services group, and they had for our general use six mainframes, I believe all single processor machines, running the operating system software Virtual Machine/Conversational Monitor System (VM/CMS). For access from home,…

Didn't read every word of that, but it seemed a particularly long-winded version of Moore's Law.

Re: Students flee field as computer 'fad fades' (1987)

#390

Post by rekabis »

quartesixte wrote: post #89
tyingq wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still $8.99 in Vegas :) https://www.fremontcasino.com/whats-new/offers/tony-romas-pr...

These are legitimately so good, and a great way to console yourself after busting at the blackjack tables

Honestly, it is you busting at the blackjack table that makes those prices so low. These restaurants are subsidized by the house via the majority of losing gamblers. About the only reason why they even charge for the food in the first place is to set a minimum threshold for the non-gambling clientele.
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