3 ms·
Beside the fact that it's interesting, I think there's also a bit of prestige involved, nobody bats an eye if physicists say "we are improving the world, advanc
by 21 10y ago
Beside the fact that it's interesting, I think there's also a bit of prestige involved, nobody bats an eye if physicists say "we are improving the world, advancing man kind", as opposed to the same smart man becoming a financial trader, where lots of people will say that you are scum living on the back of others, or even a software developer working on something like ads.
- rawnlq 10y agoThe same writer also wrote about his finance career: http://nautil.us/issue/31/stress/what-i-learned-from-losing-200-million http://nautil.us/issue/31/stress/what-i-learned-from-losing-...
- jayajay 10y agoThis is so true, I feel like I have to justify to people what I'm doing with my life and why it's important and even necessary, which I wouldn't have had to do if I stayed in my physics PhD program. It's actually rather depressing, to be honest. There's nothing spectacular about writing code for apps which I wouldn't even use and which will probably flop within a year. But when I was a student, I felt like what I was doing was actually important. Writing apps and websites for people who will end up using time and money on them feels so unimportant in that "Oh, do you really wanna be selling sugar water for the rest of your life?" kind of way.