3 ms·

Yep. I harp on this all the time: science is a bad career choice. There are an abundance of smart, fastidious, and tireless people eager to take their shot at t

Yep. I harp on this all the time: science is a bad career choice. There are an abundance of smart, fastidious, and tireless people eager to take their shot at the disciplines with the greatest potential to improve human life. There is too much talent, too much willingness to self-sacrifice, too much competition, and far too much enthusiasm. Many scientists (myself included) wouldn't stop if they were limitlessly wealthy... and because of this fact, we are not wealthy, and many have severe doubts about continuing onward because of the poor quality of life.

aswanson 11y ago
Don't give up the faith man. Do whatever you have to do to eat, but folks like you are the only long-term hope the species has.
copperx 11y ago
I never considered this angle -- the overabundance of talent and willingness to self-sacrifice. I thought the species was rare.
- moonchrome 11y ago
  This is one of the reasons why gamedev jobs suck - especially lower level - who doesn't want to write stuff like realtime 3D graphics - majority would do it for free in their own time anyway.
  - cryoshon 11y ago
    Yes, the same phenomenon exactly. Even the end profits generated by labor of the game devs don't get redistributed back to them, as this isn't necessary to keep them producing games. Passion begets paupers.
  - copperx 11y ago
    > who doesn't want to write stuff like realtime 3D graphics I love programming in my day job but I can't figure out if you're being sarcastic. It's like saying, who doesn't want to work in hard math problems while extremely time constrained all day? There are people who would love it, but I don't understand how can there be an overabundance of them.
    - moonchrome 11y ago
      What I'm trying to say is it's one of the more fun/rewarding fields so most of the people who get in to it do it for fun - getting a job is just a way to get paid while doing it. Unfortunately having a bunch of people willing to accept bad terms just to get to do what they like brings down the employee side of negotiation which is why I would never go in to game dev professionally - it's waay easier to go in to web or enterprise and it has way more jobs, better career path, better work environment, better pay. Game dev and stuff like scientific computing is way more fun and challenging.
wh-uws 11y ago
That really sucks man. As a software dev I would say I've met some good people in your position and you guys are extremely smart. You could easily pick up web dev stuff or something similar for a few years to save up and then go back to your passion. Or even do it on the side
devcpp 11y ago
I can relate, I just dropped from medschool to pursue an MSc in CS without thesis. The reason? Everyone convinced me that I'll have a better life as an engineer. I gave up my dreams for personal comfort and I'm probably not the only one.

aswanson 11y ago

Don't give up the faith man. Do whatever you have to do to eat, but folks like you are the only long-term hope the species has.

copperx 11y ago

I never considered this angle -- the overabundance of talent and willingness to self-sacrifice. I thought the species was rare.

moonchrome 11y ago
This is one of the reasons why gamedev jobs suck - especially lower level - who doesn't want to write stuff like realtime 3D graphics - majority would do it for free in their own time anyway.
- cryoshon 11y ago
  Yes, the same phenomenon exactly. Even the end profits generated by labor of the game devs don't get redistributed back to them, as this isn't necessary to keep them producing games. Passion begets paupers.
- copperx 11y ago
  > who doesn't want to write stuff like realtime 3D graphics I love programming in my day job but I can't figure out if you're being sarcastic. It's like saying, who doesn't want to work in hard math problems while extremely time constrained all day? There are people who would love it, but I don't understand how can there be an overabundance of them.
  - moonchrome 11y ago
    What I'm trying to say is it's one of the more fun/rewarding fields so most of the people who get in to it do it for fun - getting a job is just a way to get paid while doing it. Unfortunately having a bunch of people willing to accept bad terms just to get to do what they like brings down the employee side of negotiation which is why I would never go in to game dev professionally - it's waay easier to go in to web or enterprise and it has way more jobs, better career path, better work environment, better pay. Game dev and stuff like scientific computing is way more fun and challenging.

wh-uws 11y ago

That really sucks man. As a software dev I would say I've met some good people in your position and you guys are extremely smart. You could easily pick up web dev stuff or something similar for a few years to save up and then go back to your passion. Or even do it on the side

devcpp 11y ago

I can relate, I just dropped from medschool to pursue an MSc in CS without thesis. The reason? Everyone convinced me that I'll have a better life as an engineer. I gave up my dreams for personal comfort and I'm probably not the only one.