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I think it depends on the specific STEM field you pursue. Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, and Medicine all have very good job prospects with good pay. I don't see this slowing down in the future. Stuff like Biology, Chemistry, and other sciences I see struggling.
One thing to note about those four successful STEM fields is that those degrees ARE HARD. In life, you often get out what you put in. Not to say there aren't people that get through their STEM major and struggle to find work, but it's pretty rare from what I can see. Granted, I'm not a stem major, but I have several friends who graduated with either Engineering or Computer Science degrees and pretty much all of them have found excellent jobs with little very effort. Recruiters were throwing more offers at them then they could handle. Some were talented and bright, others not so much, but the same treatment all around just for having the degree. High starting salaries too around 60-90k depending on the area. I don't want to bash liberal arts majors, I am one but I went back for a new degree in Accounting and changed careers, but there is simply not enough need for liberal arts majors. Very few positions related to liberal arts available, and why hire a liberal art major for other work when you can just get people with that specific degree!
shh accounting is a liberal art... so are comp science and engineering... i dont get the hate against liberal arts... half of stem is liberal arts
to me, jobs in stem do better just because college provides them with more skills that translate to work environment. other degrees require students to do this, and they dont. ie it is a lot easier to translate programming skills for classes to programming in the office. what does a history major do? going to the library doesn't translate to a corporate setting.
once people figure out how to fit their college courses into a work environment, any degree would be fine.
across the board, nearly all stem that does well include practical training in college that employers can use out of the gate. it is why biology majors with no specialty does poorly. not many will hire people whose main skills are identifying parts of animals and plants. if they want an animal guy, they hire a vet, for plants they get an agro person. same with general chem. so getting experience then focusing on getting good at that one aspect is important
I'd love to work from home full-time. Been in I.T. 18 years, the last ten as a database developer.
"Hard to find."
I'M RIGHT HERE!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope you aren't searching for work from home only in the DFW area. Those work-from-home jobs are usually with the Fortune500 companies and out-of-state.
Rule of thumb when majoring in Biology, Biochem, or Chemistry. If your GPA is above a 3.5 and you want to go to professional school, do it! Otherwise, switch to something else.
Higher education and society are best served when students study the subjects in which they excel - not those thrust upon them by anxious and overzealous parents and a media that serves corporations.
I've known many students who were pushed into STEM majors or clusters such as pre-med, engineering, or biochemistry, only to find that they hated these subjects and had zero aptitude for them. This does not mean that they were not smart - or not college material - it means that their aptitude was elsewhere.
Since social sciences and liberal arts oft times require a masters degree, acceptance into such a program became impossible or extremely difficult - with a 2.0 average.
We will always need social workers, writers, professors, teachers, linguists, lawyers, therapists, writers, advertising executives, public policy specialists, historians, sales people, and a people with the skills gleaned from a liberal arts education who have the intellectual flexibility to work in a myriad of fields that require crystallized knowledge gleaned from a diverse education.
A liberal arts education.
Let's stop attempting to model ourselves after the former Soviet Union. Everyone can not, and should not - study STEM.
Sad story indeed, especially true for immigrant parents who do this. Imagine having 4 (or more) years of your life ruined studying some of the most difficult subjects you have zero passion for and missing out on so many fun parts of college. Then coming out with a 2.0 GPA and employment only available in jobs you hate.
What became of most of these students from your experiences with them?
I hope you aren't searching for work from home only in the DFW area. Those work-from-home jobs are usually with the Fortune500 companies and out-of-state.
What industry? Geha insurance locally was looking for claims processors, train a few months at office then it is at home. They closed position but maybe look at similar companies in your area?
What industry? Geha insurance locally was looking for claims processors, train a few months at office then it is at home. They closed position but maybe look at similar companies in your area?
I'm a database developer; thanks for the info, but I don't want to be a claims processor.
Michael Hiltzik did a column in today's L.A. Times about the phony STEM shortage.
"A year ago, the wholesale firing of IT teams at Disney, Southern California Edison, and other tech-dependent companies and their replacement by offshore workers with so-called H-1B visas caused a national scandal. We exposed this loophole at the time, and followed up by showing how Congress connived in the visa subterfuge. What's happened since then? Almost nothing."
Totally phony, US companies are just hiring cheaper labor via the H1B1 visa program.
Facepuke, Microsoft, Google all do this dirty trick.
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