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> because that is what this insane "market" puts value on. Because that is where he decided to work. I imagine he could find a role elsewhere focused on the ar

> because that is what this insane "market" puts value on. Because that is where he decided to work. I imagine he could find a role elsewhere focused on the areas you mentioned if he wished with those qualifications. I don't doubt for a second that VCs fund a shedload of shite and that the social media world has pernicious effects that we are only just starting to understand, but in your example I don't think the tech industry can be blamed for your friend wasting his life building widgets.

fnl 9y ago
As someone in a similar situation: I hold a PhD in Molecular Biology, yet the pay as a post-doc was so low, I couldn't even get my two kids into a decent school. And don't even discuss pre-doc salaries if you have any family ambitions... Guess where I am in now? Machine learning consulting, left science - doing work that finally pays my bills and gets my kids to a first-class school.
- jabv 9y ago
  I don't intend to mock you -- I am sure there is much more relevant context to your life decisions, and they're your own, anyway. However, I have observed friends seemingly get caught in a pattern: go to a top school, so you can have a high-paying job, so you can afford to send kids to a top school, so they can get high-paying jobs, so that... In some folks' lives, the value of the "top school" seems to have a circular definition (not true for all folks, of course). It's a little sad, because by breaking out of that pattern, many more possibilities open up (like working in important and fascinating science for lower pay).
  - fnl 9y ago
    Well, I live in Spain - the qualitative difference here between a standard public school (the ones you can go to are the closest ones and we live in no fancy neighborhood...) and a private one simply is that in the public school not even I understand the English teacher (yes, that seriously happened to me), while the private school at least has the standards I was used to (I went to school in Austria). So overall, for me the issue here is mostly about the rapidly growing inequality gap and our society's relentless, unhealthy obsession with [market] performance & efficiency at all costs. But yes, I totally understand what you are referring to - having my kids go to a private school means we have a number of those "circular types" you described to cope with...

fnl 9y ago

As someone in a similar situation: I hold a PhD in Molecular Biology, yet the pay as a post-doc was so low, I couldn't even get my two kids into a decent school. And don't even discuss pre-doc salaries if you have any family ambitions... Guess where I am in now? Machine learning consulting, left science - doing work that finally pays my bills and gets my kids to a first-class school.

jabv 9y ago
I don't intend to mock you -- I am sure there is much more relevant context to your life decisions, and they're your own, anyway. However, I have observed friends seemingly get caught in a pattern: go to a top school, so you can have a high-paying job, so you can afford to send kids to a top school, so they can get high-paying jobs, so that... In some folks' lives, the value of the "top school" seems to have a circular definition (not true for all folks, of course). It's a little sad, because by breaking out of that pattern, many more possibilities open up (like working in important and fascinating science for lower pay).
- fnl 9y ago
  Well, I live in Spain - the qualitative difference here between a standard public school (the ones you can go to are the closest ones and we live in no fancy neighborhood...) and a private one simply is that in the public school not even I understand the English teacher (yes, that seriously happened to me), while the private school at least has the standards I was used to (I went to school in Austria). So overall, for me the issue here is mostly about the rapidly growing inequality gap and our society's relentless, unhealthy obsession with [market] performance & efficiency at all costs. But yes, I totally understand what you are referring to - having my kids go to a private school means we have a number of those "circular types" you described to cope with...