Keith wrote:
> Yes, but also, shockingly, the one line of jobs that employers in
> all the advanced countries say they are constantly short of --
> software engineering -- is not what it seems to be.
>
> <http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Computer-and-Information-Technology/
> Software-developers.htm>
>
> [snip article]
>
> With talent, street smarts and keen networking skills, you might
> still get good work in your 50s. Moving up to management is also a
> possibility, but as Microsoft's Vaskevitch pointed out, these jobs
> are limited in number.
>
> [snip]
One of the profs (now retired) whom I encountered in my visits to MIT
reported, rather bemusedly, that many of his students admitted that
they didn't want technical careers. They were at MIT because of the
prestige and majoring in engineering, biotech, materials science or
whatever because they happened to be good at such subjects. But they
couldn't wait to get into tech jobs for which their degrees would suit
them. then up-and-out again as quickly as possible into management
and, if possible, executive roles. They figures that their talents for
calculus and the like made the tech route to management better for
them than other options.
These were 18 or 19 y.o. kids he was talking to.
At that age, I wanted to understand everything about how the world
worked. Chemistry and biology seemed like a really good start. I
only dropped out (after a year working in biochemistry) because it
became apparent that a I didn't want to do all the stuff it would take
to make a "career" in science. In retrospect, I suspect that I'm not
smart enough to have been a really good scientist, so I may have
escaped being a mediocre one and got to go on trying to understand
stuff in the time I might otherwise have spent coping with the tedious
and stressful aspects of a scientific career.
- Mike
--
Michael Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada .~.
/V\
[email protected] /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/ ^^-^^
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