Tech Jobs Lead to the Middle Class, But Not for the Masses

Re:Tech Jobs Lead to the Middle Class, But Not for the Masses by neilv on Sunday May 19, 2019 @10:06PM (#19956993)

I don't think plumber vs. theoretical physics post-doc is a great example.

Plumbing is critical skilled work, taking years to master, and is paid accordingly.

I imagine plumbing is also very stressful, at times, such as when you're being careful not to flood a building, or avoiding breaking something that would require ripping open a floor to fix.

Though plumbing guild training sounds not entirely different than academia. (And postdocs tend to get paid poo because the market, and their guild, permit it.)

We should also be careful of to avoid the oopses of: "Brain Surgeon - That Mitchell & Webb Look, Series 3 - BBC Two" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THNPmhBl-8I

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Re:Tech Jobs Lead to the Middle Class, But Not for the Masses by Jedi72 on Sunday May 19, 2019 @11:12PM (#19957268)

Dude come on, theoretical physics is harder than plumbing. We dont need to leap to the defence of plumbers here.

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Re:Tech Jobs Lead to the Middle Class, But Not for the Masses by richdev on Monday May 20, 2019 @12:15AM (#19957472)

This discussion is nonsensical. If a theoretical physicist is so over-educated that he can figure out how to parlay his skills and knowledge into a $200K+ job in Quant Phynance, insurance, or as a full-fledged Data Scientist, then he/she needs to reskill on street smarts.

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Re:Tech Jobs Lead to the Middle Class, But Not for the Masses by nick_kline on Monday May 20, 2019 @01:02AM (#19957672)

It's not all about getting paid the most for some people. I think a challenge for the case of physicists that want to work in that field is that there are more of them than are jobs.

Compare to programmers (of all levels), where there is basically endless demand in most big cities, and in the top say 15 tech centers in the us probably a few 100k jobs are available in total. I'm sure Seattle has 50k jobs.

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Re:Tech Jobs Lead to the Middle Class, But Not for the Masses by jhbadger on Monday May 20, 2019 @06:04AM (#19958855)

It is interesting how the trade profession system of apprentices, journeymen, and masters resembles that of the academic system of grad students, postdocs, and PIs.

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