Although I agree with the sentiment of this meme it has one thing wrong.
Americans aren’t interested in getting educated. At least not in the subjects that are relevant.
Americans prefer going to school for fun and majoring in stuff like business administration and communications, or the plethora of other majors that are fully saturated with people.
STEM majors and jobs scare most Americans away and this is a problem. There are also a ton of high paying labor jobs in America but the majority of Americans want nothing to do with labor and would rather have an office job.
Look I am not saying billionaires are right, because they aren’t. Fuck them. However youngsters today growing up need to be more involved in understanding how the labor market works and become educated in the skills that actually matter. It isn’t so much a lack of education. It’s there, it’s just that most people aren’t interested in being educated in the right skills.
It’s not about being “educated” in “STEM”. That’s just a sterile euphemism for destroying any form of education that fosters revolt against a lifetime of serving capital.
I got a computer science degree because I got into computers as a kid and I was good with them. When I apply for a job it feels like like I’m competing with half the planet. It took 2 years to get the current job I have at an MSP and I’ve been applying for new jobs for a year now. I can count the times I’ve been contacted by recruiters over the past year on one hand. There’s plenty more in my boat. If we’d known we probably would have had a different major.
I did labor before landing a job with an MSP by the way. I’m in my early 30s with back, neck, and hand problems now and pain that radiates into my hips and legs. You don’t get out of labor jobs unscathed.
IT is a weirdly hard field to break into these days, and climbing the ladder can be difficult as employers generally don’t want to take a risk on someone who hasn’t worked in helpdesk/sysadmin/security/etc. before. Once you get your first role with the job title you want it’s 20 times easier to get your second one.
The job market also sucks right now. 1-3 years ago it was amazing and I landed interviews I should not have landed simply because places couldn’t get candidates, but now I’ve been laid off and spent 3 months and about 40 applications and ultimately took the first offer I got (it was also the second place to call me to interview)
Computer science is a massive world. It’s true that even the computer world is saturated. All of India is competing with you. But keep in mind those are commodity roles that are easy to outsource and fill. There are plenty of roles like cyber security and many others that they can’t or won’t outsource. You may just be in the wrong sector.
As for labor jobs I get it. They suck. But the world needs laborers and LOTS of them pay very very well.
So many republicans complain immigrants are stealing our jobs except these are all labor jobs that Americans don’t want, and now they want to kick them out of the country so no one is doing those jobs at all.
I really don’t know what else to tell people. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. People are quick to blame billionaires and while they are right to do so they are only just one of the many variables at play.
The biggest variable at play is that Americans aren’t aligning to the job market.
Honestly, I would love to get into security. Too bad all the hiring managers pulled the ladder up. No one is willing to teach or train anymore even though they all had the ability to learn on the job. I tried getting into security, programming, and even sys admin positions, but they all require a ridiculous amount of experience for entry level. Even the internships I applied to for programming expected me to create fully functional programs for the interview. I have more than enough knowledge and experience for a beginning sys admin job. Even though my title is help desk we are extremely understaffed so I handle high level stuff everyday. I don’t even get a response when I apply to those positions.
Also, it’s true labor jobs pay well, but they have inconsistent hours and destroy your body. Our body’s aren’t designed for constant tool use. Vibration and constantly gripping things wrecks your hands. Lifting and carrying things is hard on your back and joints. Most labor jobs are 1099 positions as well so it doesn’t matter if you make less than a full time minimum wage position would in a year, you’ll still be expected to pay back over 30 percent of your wages in taxes. That’s fine if you own a company, but it shouldn’t be allowed for a general laboror.
I agree with the general sentiment that STEM scares a lot of Americans.
When I would tell other young women I was an engineering major, I would often hear a similar refrain - “Oh, I could never do that!” And it drove me insane! I am not magically gifted at mental math, I can’t do differential equations in my head. And most engineers I know, whether American or foreign, can’t do those things either.
A lot of engineering isn’t about being freakishly gifted like Elon Musk pretends. It takes gradual development of skills toward an end goal. First, you have to nail down the tools for the work (math, physics, chemistry), then you get to apply those tools to real-world problems. Engineering is problem solving, making mistakes, and being curious enough to keep going.
In short, engineering is about the long game. And didn’t become rewarding until around year 3 for me. I took some other classes in subjects to entertain myself and fill my schedule. In the disciplines of archeology, art history, and archetecture. And I called them my sanity classes. They were immediately satisfying, and made me feel like I was learning and not struggling or making those mistakes I made in engineering classes. I think most students enjoy the satisfaction of classes like that. The learning seems more instantaneous and less like a step on a ladder.
Sorry for the diatribe. In short, if you happen to read this as a young person and have the opportunity to study engineering - do it. Try not to go into debt for it, but don’t feel excluded because you aren’t the best at long division.
As for Musk, I’ve spoken with a few engineers who worked at his various companies. Everyone has left for other companies because he is a nightmare to work for. Yes, there are gifted engineers from other countries, but Musk wants employees that are tied to him and will work the slavish hours to earn a better life for the next generation of their families. A lot of American engineers are not willing to ignore their families like Musk himself clearly does. There are plenty of other space companies that pay well and aren’t run by sociopaths.
I took some other classes in subjects to entertain myself and fill my schedule. In the disciplines of archeology, art history, and archetecture.
At my school, the STEM people see these classes and GEs as useless classes that waste their time and money. I only know one other guy like me who enjoy these classes and see them as a sanity break. Happy to know there is another guy like us out there.
There are plenty of other space companies that pay well and aren’t run by sociopaths.
Mmm could you list a few? I feel like most are in defense. Unless you count the research side of the company. Like how Boeing bombs people but also does space exploration.
I’m a structural engineer, so I felt the extra classes kind of colored in the blank spaces in my civil engineering education.
As for other space companies not run by sociopaths… the joke about civils and mechenicals applies here. Mechanical engineers make bombs and civils make targets. I can’t speak to the ethics of the individual companies or their leaders. But I believe some of them are just focused on space exploration and not dominating in the name of whatever nation/egomaniac they are contracted to work for.
I’m obviously not super well versed in the space industry, but the friends I know have pivoted away from the big names (SpaceX, Boeing, Blue Origin etc) and toward smaller companies that specialize in an aspect of space flight. They tend to work on single one off projects that are subbed out by the big guys. From what I have heard, there is good money in these specialties and some great engineers work there. I know of Orbit Fab, Ursa Major, Vast, and Anduril.
I don’t think there’s is a STEM worker shortage. IIRC, there have been something like 300k tech layoffs in the last couple years. Actual scientists and mathmeticians are extremely underpaid, but a lot of people like doing it, which is one of the reasons “citizen science” is becoming popular.
Although I agree with the sentiment of this meme it has one thing wrong.
Americans aren’t interested in getting educated. At least not in the subjects that are relevant.
Americans prefer going to school for fun and majoring in stuff like business administration and communications, or the plethora of other majors that are fully saturated with people.
STEM majors and jobs scare most Americans away and this is a problem. There are also a ton of high paying labor jobs in America but the majority of Americans want nothing to do with labor and would rather have an office job.
Look I am not saying billionaires are right, because they aren’t. Fuck them. However youngsters today growing up need to be more involved in understanding how the labor market works and become educated in the skills that actually matter. It isn’t so much a lack of education. It’s there, it’s just that most people aren’t interested in being educated in the right skills.
It’s not about being “educated” in “STEM”. That’s just a sterile euphemism for destroying any form of education that fosters revolt against a lifetime of serving capital.
Pick one.
I got a computer science degree because I got into computers as a kid and I was good with them. When I apply for a job it feels like like I’m competing with half the planet. It took 2 years to get the current job I have at an MSP and I’ve been applying for new jobs for a year now. I can count the times I’ve been contacted by recruiters over the past year on one hand. There’s plenty more in my boat. If we’d known we probably would have had a different major.
I did labor before landing a job with an MSP by the way. I’m in my early 30s with back, neck, and hand problems now and pain that radiates into my hips and legs. You don’t get out of labor jobs unscathed.
IT is a weirdly hard field to break into these days, and climbing the ladder can be difficult as employers generally don’t want to take a risk on someone who hasn’t worked in helpdesk/sysadmin/security/etc. before. Once you get your first role with the job title you want it’s 20 times easier to get your second one.
The job market also sucks right now. 1-3 years ago it was amazing and I landed interviews I should not have landed simply because places couldn’t get candidates, but now I’ve been laid off and spent 3 months and about 40 applications and ultimately took the first offer I got (it was also the second place to call me to interview)
Computer science is a massive world. It’s true that even the computer world is saturated. All of India is competing with you. But keep in mind those are commodity roles that are easy to outsource and fill. There are plenty of roles like cyber security and many others that they can’t or won’t outsource. You may just be in the wrong sector.
As for labor jobs I get it. They suck. But the world needs laborers and LOTS of them pay very very well.
So many republicans complain immigrants are stealing our jobs except these are all labor jobs that Americans don’t want, and now they want to kick them out of the country so no one is doing those jobs at all.
I really don’t know what else to tell people. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. People are quick to blame billionaires and while they are right to do so they are only just one of the many variables at play.
The biggest variable at play is that Americans aren’t aligning to the job market.
Honestly, I would love to get into security. Too bad all the hiring managers pulled the ladder up. No one is willing to teach or train anymore even though they all had the ability to learn on the job. I tried getting into security, programming, and even sys admin positions, but they all require a ridiculous amount of experience for entry level. Even the internships I applied to for programming expected me to create fully functional programs for the interview. I have more than enough knowledge and experience for a beginning sys admin job. Even though my title is help desk we are extremely understaffed so I handle high level stuff everyday. I don’t even get a response when I apply to those positions.
Also, it’s true labor jobs pay well, but they have inconsistent hours and destroy your body. Our body’s aren’t designed for constant tool use. Vibration and constantly gripping things wrecks your hands. Lifting and carrying things is hard on your back and joints. Most labor jobs are 1099 positions as well so it doesn’t matter if you make less than a full time minimum wage position would in a year, you’ll still be expected to pay back over 30 percent of your wages in taxes. That’s fine if you own a company, but it shouldn’t be allowed for a general laboror.
There’s a surplus of STEM labor. It’s the trades which are short.
I agree with the general sentiment that STEM scares a lot of Americans.
When I would tell other young women I was an engineering major, I would often hear a similar refrain - “Oh, I could never do that!” And it drove me insane! I am not magically gifted at mental math, I can’t do differential equations in my head. And most engineers I know, whether American or foreign, can’t do those things either.
A lot of engineering isn’t about being freakishly gifted like Elon Musk pretends. It takes gradual development of skills toward an end goal. First, you have to nail down the tools for the work (math, physics, chemistry), then you get to apply those tools to real-world problems. Engineering is problem solving, making mistakes, and being curious enough to keep going.
In short, engineering is about the long game. And didn’t become rewarding until around year 3 for me. I took some other classes in subjects to entertain myself and fill my schedule. In the disciplines of archeology, art history, and archetecture. And I called them my sanity classes. They were immediately satisfying, and made me feel like I was learning and not struggling or making those mistakes I made in engineering classes. I think most students enjoy the satisfaction of classes like that. The learning seems more instantaneous and less like a step on a ladder.
Sorry for the diatribe. In short, if you happen to read this as a young person and have the opportunity to study engineering - do it. Try not to go into debt for it, but don’t feel excluded because you aren’t the best at long division.
As for Musk, I’ve spoken with a few engineers who worked at his various companies. Everyone has left for other companies because he is a nightmare to work for. Yes, there are gifted engineers from other countries, but Musk wants employees that are tied to him and will work the slavish hours to earn a better life for the next generation of their families. A lot of American engineers are not willing to ignore their families like Musk himself clearly does. There are plenty of other space companies that pay well and aren’t run by sociopaths.
At my school, the STEM people see these classes and GEs as useless classes that waste their time and money. I only know one other guy like me who enjoy these classes and see them as a sanity break. Happy to know there is another guy like us out there.
Mmm could you list a few? I feel like most are in defense. Unless you count the research side of the company. Like how Boeing bombs people but also does space exploration.
I’m a structural engineer, so I felt the extra classes kind of colored in the blank spaces in my civil engineering education.
As for other space companies not run by sociopaths… the joke about civils and mechenicals applies here. Mechanical engineers make bombs and civils make targets. I can’t speak to the ethics of the individual companies or their leaders. But I believe some of them are just focused on space exploration and not dominating in the name of whatever nation/egomaniac they are contracted to work for.
I’m obviously not super well versed in the space industry, but the friends I know have pivoted away from the big names (SpaceX, Boeing, Blue Origin etc) and toward smaller companies that specialize in an aspect of space flight. They tend to work on single one off projects that are subbed out by the big guys. From what I have heard, there is good money in these specialties and some great engineers work there. I know of Orbit Fab, Ursa Major, Vast, and Anduril.
Last time I checked, Anduril is a defense contractor who bombs people using drones.
Fair point, like I said I’m not in the industry and was just reciting companies I had heard of.
I don’t think there’s is a STEM worker shortage. IIRC, there have been something like 300k tech layoffs in the last couple years. Actual scientists and mathmeticians are extremely underpaid, but a lot of people like doing it, which is one of the reasons “citizen science” is becoming popular.