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A comment on Info is available about which college majors pay off, students aren’t using it.

Re:Info is available about which college majors pay off, stu... by ta988 on Friday December 25, 2020 @09:35PM (#25540877)
Not everybody is getting into a job just because it makes money. People have passions and ambitions to have an impact on the world sometimes. Doesn't mean that you can't do both at the same time. I chose to not work for one of those ad-tech companies, would have multiplied my salary by 10 easily just at entry level, but optimizing a system so people click more on ads is not what I want to spend my life doing. Of course you could take the big salary and do good with the money... Later... but I don't see many people around me doing that efficiently and a lot of what they give is wasted by people that know how to abuse them for "a good cause". And in the meantime more important work has to be done anyway.
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Re:Info is available about which college majors pay off, stu... by clmay on Friday December 25, 2020 @09:45PM (#25540918)
Yes, what a reductive, bogus article! The assumption that 1) people choose majors based solely on ROI and 2) you cannot enter a field outside the domain or discipline you studied in college are both ridiculous and flawed.

Even if one were to take the lucrative salary at an ad-tech or fin-tech company, and then invest that in "effective altruism", you'd likely never offset the net harm, even if you contributed 100% of your salary.

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Re:Info is available about which college majors pay off, stu... by ytwySXpMbS on Friday December 25, 2020 @09:55PM (#25540968)
> “effective altruism”

It’s funny because it’s really a justification to be selfish, the carbon offset of bad ethics.

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Re:Info is available about which college majors pay off, stu... by clmay on Saturday December 26, 2020 @01:09AM (#25541779)
It's true. What a world we live in.
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Re:Info is available about which college majors pay off, stu... by dmarchand90 on Sunday December 27, 2020 @08:17AM (#25550808)
Do you think you could maybe elaborate why you think the harm by ad optimization is so severe it could never be offset?
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Re:Info is available about which college majors pay off, stu... by mech422 on Friday December 25, 2020 @10:17PM (#25541084)
Regardless of whether it's the 'best' way to do things... I see employment prospects coming up more and more with young people. Pretty much everyone I know feels jobs these days are very insecure and can be gone in a heartbeat. So a career with high demand and good pay is seen as a bit of 'insurance' against the bad times.
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Re:Info is available about which college majors pay off, stu... by tracerbulletx on Friday December 25, 2020 @09:52PM (#25540951)
Agreed. The only issue is university education is priced like an investment in future earnings that simply isn't justified.
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Re:Info is available about which college majors pay off, stu... by onecommentman on Saturday December 26, 2020 @12:32AM (#25541643)
In some majors.
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Re:Info is available about which college majors pay off, stu... by foogazi on Saturday December 26, 2020 @02:33AM (#25542006)
> Not everybody is getting into a job just because it makes money. People have passions and ambitions to have an impact on the world sometimes.

What percentage of the jobs in this world fall in the “impact on the world” category ?

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Re:Info is available about which college majors pay off, stu... by convolvatron on Saturday December 26, 2020 @01:41PM (#25545395)
why is everyone forgetting suitability? maybe i'm just not a good behavioral fit for chartered accountancy, or virologist or civil engineer.

impact aside there are some jobs that i'll be better at and will enjoy more.

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Re:Info is available about which college majors pay off, stu... by hellisothers on Sunday December 27, 2020 @02:14AM (#25549443)
This is somewhat addressed when talking about not just “what major” but “from where”. Also the article isn’t advocating you necessarily pick major based on ROI, it’s suggesting you factor that in when a) getting a loan and b) projecting your future income.

I think the best critique of the article’s thesis somebody else mentioned which is just because one studies sociology doesn’t mean they can’t later go on to be a dentist.

As well as the “this is a lot to ask of a 17yo” :)

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Re:Info is available about which college majors pay off, stu... by foogazi on Saturday December 26, 2020 @06:59PM (#25547505)
Behavior can be learned - when I was born I could not talk, now I’m a SWE

Edit: had I been born 100 years ago I would have had a different line of work

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