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DYTTIGAF t1_j2cmklc wrote

They brainwashed thousands of college students back in the 1980's while I was in college. Selling them that the best way to wealth and success was to be an "engineer".

The cultural gatekeepers never specified what type of engineer you needed to be, or what industry to seek out, or the market demand, or how to deploy you degree to actually make...money.

STEM is fashionable for no other reason than it could be weaponized as a career track to "generate funding" for educational entity's that created a STEM track. Get a STEM degree, focus on STEM for woman and girls, etc.

These pitches for education equality did not focus on whether students actually had a love, or desire to go into technology in the first place...but was an excellent way to generate a magical bean construct (that if planted into every school system in the country it would bare economic fruits).

You just have to give us lots of money so this transformative process could happen...for everyone, but please don't ask how to measure this transformation...or if this actually works.

It was all a hustle.

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twobit78 t1_j2cnbdm wrote

Actually this sort of happened with me doing enviromental managment. Establishment kept telling us they had employers bashing down the doors trying to get them to fast track us because they needed to fill jobs.

The first batch finished and found out there were no jobs and it was just to get us to open our wallets more.

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DYTTIGAF t1_j2cobni wrote

I spent $50,000 setting up a solar company back in 2017.

Do you know how many cities across the country have voted not to allow solar on residential rooftops..for variety of reason? Thousands.

You have truckloads of zoning restrictions prohibiting solar installations. Green energy can be added to the list of taxpayer supported frauds.

If I told you what actually goes on in the industry... you would not believe it. Anytime some bureaucracy is pitching any construct of wholesale advancement on any social, or political construct it's most likely... fraudulent.

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twobit78 t1_j2cp2j1 wrote

Don't think they made any zoning laws around here, some houses can't get them because of historical signifigance etc.

Around here its the power companies that fucked the solar industry. Feed in is between 6-10c per KWH, familys was locked in under a contract at about 35c. The inverter packed it in under warranty so it got replaced but the contract was linked to the inverter and couldn't be transfered over.

If we get on grid batteries we need to sign a waiver that let's the power companies suck the power out when they need it so there's no real gain.

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Uranus_Hz t1_j2cnys7 wrote

Can confirm. Graduated HS in 85. Got a BS, got an MS in engineering.

Worked as an “engineer” for a decade. 10 years in an 8x8 cell cubicle was enough.

Now I’m a chef. Much happier.

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DYTTIGAF t1_j2comrd wrote

Awesome. Well done. You saved your soul.

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arbivark t1_j2fvsb8 wrote

the chef who hired me has degrees in biochemistry. most of my degrees are in law. i wash dishes for $15/hr.

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idevcg t1_j2dazvf wrote

that's so interesting. Was it a hard choice to make at the time? Did you have your own family? Was your wife supportive?

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ViskerRatio t1_j2dwskr wrote

It's not about becoming an engineer. It's about not wasting four years of your life on studies that don't get you anywhere.

Engineering degrees are fantastic for getting your foot in the door on a decent career track. You don't need family connections or to be the smooth-talker of the century to land a decent job. Degrees in fields like Humanities? More often than not, you end up in a 'lost decade' of underemployment because you don't bring anything an employer actually needs.

But just because you got a degree in Engineering (or any other STEM subject) doesn't mean you need to stay there. One of the virtues of being in a career track job that requires a college-level education is that you spend your time around other such people and build the connections necessary for a career.

I have the benefit of being able to look back at my college friends in terms of decades of career development. The non-STEM folks? They eventually got there. They're doing pretty well now. But they spent a lot of years struggling where the STEM folks didn't.

In an age of widespread student loans, this is especially important. That first decade out of college when that interest is piling up and you're trying to pay it off with some low end job? That's a huge amount of money you're leaving on the table.

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