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> Gotta be a doctor or lawyer ... today they'd be pushing for programmer. Where are you getting that from? Parents and teachers still push for doctor or lawyer

> Gotta be a doctor or lawyer ... today they'd be pushing for programmer. Where are you getting that from? Parents and teachers still push for doctor or lawyer for smart kids. Only if doctor or lawyer is unattainable would they suggest programmer. Furthermore, everybody still perceives doctors and lawyers to have higher status than programmers. Just look at TV shows from the 80s vs recent years: The high prestige characters are still doctors and lawyers, and also business leaders, sports figures, and military, but never programmers or engineers.

noisy_boy 3y ago
Forget about status, I would rather not subject my kid to the constant catchup treadmill; jquery then, SPA yesterday, AI today, god-knows-what tomorrow, its like a never ending thing - its not enough to be stressed by work all week long, now you need to spend the couple of days of break also on learning the next flavor of the month. Sure lawyers have to catchup with changing laws and doctors need to catchup with new medical breakthroughs but I doubt it is as much drinking from the firehose as programming is.
- lordnacho 3y ago
  The real difference is lawyers and doctors are protected by law from competition. If programmers had similar gatekeeping, the union would make sure everyone had access to training from time to time.
- inglor_cz 3y ago
  I am 45 and I had to catch up on a lot of things. I started programming in 1995 and my language of choice was Pascal 5.5. Catching up is hard, but it is also "gym for your brain". Plenty of people grow complacent and mentally lazy, because they do not face any additional demands over their careers. It is even possible that mental training postpones dementia.
  - noisy_boy 3y ago
    > It is even possible that mental training postpones dementia. Thats what I tell myself as the saving grace (sometimes it is indeed a lot of fun).
theGnuMe 3y ago
Doctors get 200k minimum in almost any community which is why the profession is coveted. You basically never see a poor doctor in the USA. This is because of intense regulation of residency spots. Honestly, if you are a smart American kid who likes research get an MD and/or an MD/PhD. That way you aren't competing with the foreign grad student labor pool. The MD is the golden ticket. Of course if you hate medicine it isn't. Lawyers are more variable and a lot of the work is rote contracts. Programming is more of the wild west since you can practice without a license as they say.

noisy_boy 3y ago

Forget about status, I would rather not subject my kid to the constant catchup treadmill; jquery then, SPA yesterday, AI today, god-knows-what tomorrow, its like a never ending thing - its not enough to be stressed by work all week long, now you need to spend the couple of days of break also on learning the next flavor of the month. Sure lawyers have to catchup with changing laws and doctors need to catchup with new medical breakthroughs but I doubt it is as much drinking from the firehose as programming is.

lordnacho 3y ago
The real difference is lawyers and doctors are protected by law from competition. If programmers had similar gatekeeping, the union would make sure everyone had access to training from time to time.
inglor_cz 3y ago
I am 45 and I had to catch up on a lot of things. I started programming in 1995 and my language of choice was Pascal 5.5. Catching up is hard, but it is also "gym for your brain". Plenty of people grow complacent and mentally lazy, because they do not face any additional demands over their careers. It is even possible that mental training postpones dementia.
- noisy_boy 3y ago
  > It is even possible that mental training postpones dementia. Thats what I tell myself as the saving grace (sometimes it is indeed a lot of fun).

theGnuMe 3y ago

Doctors get 200k minimum in almost any community which is why the profession is coveted. You basically never see a poor doctor in the USA. This is because of intense regulation of residency spots. Honestly, if you are a smart American kid who likes research get an MD and/or an MD/PhD. That way you aren't competing with the foreign grad student labor pool. The MD is the golden ticket. Of course if you hate medicine it isn't. Lawyers are more variable and a lot of the work is rote contracts. Programming is more of the wild west since you can practice without a license as they say.