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I have a masters degree in music composition which I got back in 1997 from the University of Minnesota. Even then it was clear to me that my future career paths

I have a masters degree in music composition which I got back in 1997 from the University of Minnesota. Even then it was clear to me that my future career paths were quite limited. Most people with composition degrees would fight for a limited number of teaching spots in music theory and ear training. If you were lucky enough to get a job (even an adjunct one), you might be able to teach a few composition students too. But there were far more applicants than jobs, and of course forget about deciding where you want to live. You have to take any job you get (if you even get one). The other path was to move to LA and try to get work writing for film and TV. But that's also incredibly competitive. You also have to write music incredibly quickly to succeed, and I was a slow writer. Fortunately for me, I absolutely hated teaching theory and ear training during my masters, and I made the decision to not go on to a Ph.D. Even more fortunately, I got my first computer when I was 5 (its own example of privilege) and I was able to get first a support job and then soon after a programming job during the first dot com bubble. I still love music and I miss composing, but I'm sure I'm happier being financially stable, having a choice of where to live, and not teaching things I really don't enjoy.

CapitalistCartr 7y ago
We've built a unversity system in the United States for the past few decades that is not at all serving society's interests. Unfortunately, unless born to wealth, we all require a supporting job. Jobs that don't pay the bills are hobbies. Attending university to broaden one's education is not a sound basis for borrowing money and encouraging students to do otherwise is shamefully wrong.
- autarch 7y ago
  Fortunately I got a merit scholarship for my undergrad and I was a TA in grad school. Between those two things my six years of education cost just around $60k, and my parents were able to foot that bill, so I didn't have any loans to deal with (again, another privilege). While I do regret getting my masters because I didn't enjoy it much, I can't even imagine the level of regret I'd have if this all came with a giant loan to pay off as well.
- bscphil 7y ago
  Frankly I would put it the other way around. We have a system of work that doesn't serve society's interests. Created scarcity forces people to do undesirable labor instead of things that would be genuinely worthwhile. Universities are already training too many middle managers, even though the market is demanding more middle managers. There's a difference between what the market demands and what free people would choose for themselves. Disclaimer: I work at a university.
  - solidsnack9000 7y ago
    Universities do a poor job of training technical workers -- engineers, programmers, technicians. For every middle manager there are ten workers, who need technical schools. One way to see this is in programming. So many people come out of CS programs with little practical programming ability -- even programs like Stanford. The kids who learn the most in school are, often enough, people with backgrounds in computational biology or physics where they have to work on real software engineering problems -- like maintaining legacy code -- from the first day that they type code in a text editor. Where is the Embry-Riddle for software engineering?
walshemj 7y ago
That's interesting I worked with some one who had done A PHD in music and was a London session musician. After an accident when they where laid up in hospital after breaking most of the bones in their feet - they taught then selves programming with book and a laptop. I go the impression that the PHD was interesting but took a lot of the fun out of playing.

CapitalistCartr 7y ago

We've built a unversity system in the United States for the past few decades that is not at all serving society's interests. Unfortunately, unless born to wealth, we all require a supporting job. Jobs that don't pay the bills are hobbies. Attending university to broaden one's education is not a sound basis for borrowing money and encouraging students to do otherwise is shamefully wrong.

autarch 7y ago
Fortunately I got a merit scholarship for my undergrad and I was a TA in grad school. Between those two things my six years of education cost just around $60k, and my parents were able to foot that bill, so I didn't have any loans to deal with (again, another privilege). While I do regret getting my masters because I didn't enjoy it much, I can't even imagine the level of regret I'd have if this all came with a giant loan to pay off as well.
bscphil 7y ago
Frankly I would put it the other way around. We have a system of work that doesn't serve society's interests. Created scarcity forces people to do undesirable labor instead of things that would be genuinely worthwhile. Universities are already training too many middle managers, even though the market is demanding more middle managers. There's a difference between what the market demands and what free people would choose for themselves. Disclaimer: I work at a university.
- solidsnack9000 7y ago
  Universities do a poor job of training technical workers -- engineers, programmers, technicians. For every middle manager there are ten workers, who need technical schools. One way to see this is in programming. So many people come out of CS programs with little practical programming ability -- even programs like Stanford. The kids who learn the most in school are, often enough, people with backgrounds in computational biology or physics where they have to work on real software engineering problems -- like maintaining legacy code -- from the first day that they type code in a text editor. Where is the Embry-Riddle for software engineering?

walshemj 7y ago

That's interesting I worked with some one who had done A PHD in music and was a London session musician. After an accident when they where laid up in hospital after breaking most of the bones in their feet - they taught then selves programming with book and a laptop. I go the impression that the PHD was interesting but took a lot of the fun out of playing.