If someone wants to become a travel photographer and is happy with the job and the lifestyle why push them towards a soul sucking STEM job where they may not even excel? But somehow having a low paying "engineer" job is somewhat better than a higher paying "artist" job in their eyes.
And to those reading from outside of India: WITCH company jobs are actually considered prestigious in India. Maybe not by those who frequent HN (bubbles everywhere) but the vast majority of STEM graduates and their communities.
> Nobody wants to be perceived to acquire something (a job, a house, anything) easily; people want to have a sense of the greatest achievement after a tough grind.
We have intellectual oneupmanship and hustle & grind culture in the United States as well too. And contrary to popular, it's not new, as Tocqueville and Weber had made note of it during their days.
Developing nation one upmanship is more like this:
"Oh, so you can get into Google Silicon Valley with just 300 LC? You can't do that here in India; you need at least 500+ to join <insert lesser company>".
That's because it is a deeply rooted culture/attitude of the people in India (or other developing countries): intellectual one-upmanship (i.e.: my "brain" is bigger than yours).
Nobody wants to be perceived to acquire something (a job, a house, anything) easily; people want to have a sense of the greatest achievement after a tough grind.