Young People Are Screwed: Here's How To Survive
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Young People Are Screwed: Here's How To Survive
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Re: Young People Are Screwed: Here's How To Survive
#2There's plenty of money to be made, it's a question of hard work. Luck? You were already lucky to be born in the western world.
I think education is the answer, but not the type people seem focused on. I'm talking about life skills children can learn from good teachers and, much more importantly, good parents. Work hard, it's important. Learn life lessons, like cooking...all the basics that are more basic than the 3 Rs.
Re: Young People Are Screwed: Here's How To Survive
#3While it is true that a four year college degree at Yale, or Stanford or USC can easily set you back $200K, the only reasonable thing about 'point 2' is that we don't need Spanish Majors, but we do need scientists, mathematicians, and engineeers. And a California State education is about $5k a year [1] or $20K for four years. Same cost as a car these days. You can pay off a car with a 60month loan, why not your college education.
[1] http://www.calstate.edu/budget/fybudget/2011-2012/documentat...
[2] http://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2011/07/14/new-c...
Re: Young People Are Screwed: Here's How To Survive
#4Exactly right, glory to the makers I say.
I graduated college in 2003 with a business degree from CMU and 10K in debt. I played poker professionally for about a year, then went to work for an ad agency for 18 months, then worked for a start-up doing marketing for 18 months.
At the start-up, I learned that you can work really hard at marketing, spin your wheels with all sorts brochures and websites and conference speaking and presos, and not do a bit of good. That's a scary thought - that you might just be useless, or at least that your job is only a multiplier to the people actually building the thing.
The start-up marketing experience (and living with two software developers) made me start to worry and yearn for change. As the start-up I worked for began crumbling in 2007, and I began to get whiffs of pending financial meltdown in early 2008, I made the switch to making software, instead of making brochures.
And that was either a very smart or very lucky choice, because if I had tried to find a new marketing job, I'm not sure where I'd be today. But making software sure does pay OK, and having people use your software sure feels a lot better than having people NOT read your brochures.
Re: Young People Are Screwed: Here's How To Survive
#5While its certainly fun to toss marketing under the bus, that's not really fair or reflective of reality. An engineers work only has value as long as it has customers. Marketing definitely has a real and important role to play, and really is worthy of the attention of smart, hard working young people.
I think the problem is that marketing was overdone. Too much of a good thing so to say.
Re: Young People Are Screwed: Here's How To Survive
#6Networking is seriously important. It will be valuable now and for the far off future. It's the worst thing holding back my buddies at our small town back home. They don't know anyone who is successful and wouldn't have anything to offer a successful person anyways. So, they are stuck in their small ecosystem of the local pub and trading tips on low paying low skilled jobs.
Combine skills, networking and the leverage of reach (through the internet) and you might find yourself in a position where you are wondering what all the fuss is about. There is a ton of work which needs to be done out there, but too few people who have figured out how to change with the times.
Edit: In other words, things may change so much to be unrecognizable in ten years. So, networking is the only thing that you can really count on to always be important.
Re: Young People Are Screwed: Here's How To Survive
#7While it is true that a four year college degree at Yale, or Stanford or USC can easily set you back $200K, the only reasonable thing about 'point 2' is that we don't need Spanish Majors, but we do need scientists, mathematicians, and engineeers. And a California State education is about $5k a year [1] or $20K for four years. Same cost as a car these days. You can pay off a car with a 60month loan, why not your colle…
College costs a lot more than just tuition. You have room and board, fees and 'service charges' galore, textbooks, living expenses, etc.
Re: Young People Are Screwed: Here's How To Survive
#8There is a lot of focus on programmers , which is absolutely fine: they are usually the "makers". However I wonder why admins get overlooked. Just like the plumber or the electrician, sys/net admins are the handyman/tradesmen of the computing world, and as software deployments grow, so will their demand.
Re: Young People Are Screwed: Here's How To Survive
#9While it is true that a four year college degree at Yale, or Stanford or USC can easily set you back $200K, the only reasonable thing about 'point 2' is that we don't need Spanish Majors, but we do need scientists, mathematicians, and engineeers. And a California State education is about $5k a year [1] or $20K for four years. Same cost as a car these days. You can pay off a car with a 60month loan, why not your colle…
College costs a lot more than just tuition. You have room and board, fees and 'service charges' galore, textbooks, living expenses, etc.
I am aware. I've got one in college, one recently graduated, and one entering next year. And many of my kid's peers are currently in college. All of the room and board costs in every college we've looked at, or sent someone too, could be paid with a part time job taken at the same time as attending classes.
The idea that getting a STEM degree is outside the reach of kids today without going into lifelong debt is a myth.
Re: Young People Are Screwed: Here's How To Survive
#10There is a lot of focus on programmers , which is absolutely fine: they are usually the "makers". However I wonder why admins get overlooked. Just like the plumber or the electrician, sys/net admins are the handyman/tradesmen of the computing world, and as software deployments grow, so will their demand.
I'm sure a great admin is worth their weight in gold for an org with a headcount of 10,000. I'm not so sure for an org of 10.
I think, and I could well be wrong, that the trend for successful companies is towards the latter. None of this is to say the field is bad or will go away any time soon, just food for thought.