Many junior scientists need to take a hard look at their job prospects

Re:Many junior scientists need to take a hard look at their ... by jackpirate on Thursday October 26, 2017 @12:19PM (#15560277)

Doing a phd in machine learning and working at a high paying tech company is still a money losing competition due to the opportunity cost. Getting a masters and then working for 5 years gives you at least a half million dollar head start.

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Re:Many junior scientists need to take a hard look at their ... by ionforce on Thursday October 26, 2017 @12:31PM (#15560390)

I like where your head is at. This is the type of math we should be doing.

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Re:Many junior scientists need to take a hard look at their ... by robotresearcher on Thursday October 26, 2017 @12:45PM (#15560593)

On the other hand, someone has to do the PhDs in order to invent things like machine learning. That is also math we should be doing.

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Re:Many junior scientists need to take a hard look at their ... by FabHK on Friday October 27, 2017 @05:40AM (#15566907)

There is this notion (that I find quite convincing) that people tend to be overly optimistic as to their prospects (to become a successful entrepreneur/professor/etc.), and that leads them to decisions that are suboptimal for themselves (as they overestimate the likelihood of a big exit/tenure/etc.), but are good (optimal?) for society, because it encourages more people to take these huge risks, some of which do pay off.

> That is also math we should be doing.

There are things that should not only be seen in narrow economic terms, though. If someone wants to run their own business, or increase the stock of knowledge, or seek enlightenment in meditation retreats, that's perfectly ok, even if they don't strictly optimise their expected monetary payoff.

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