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Some of the way this is being presented makes it seem like "bad for the workers" findings, "don't study STEM after all" but this is more about "is this the best

Some of the way this is being presented makes it seem like "bad for the workers" findings, "don't study STEM after all" but this is more about "is this the best way to employ people with STEM degrees", with a central complaint being something along the lines of "innovative IC STEM work is underpaid compared to neighboring business/management-ish fields that capture a lot of graduates" > Many able STEM grads bolt for better-paying careers, especially in business, finance, management and medicine (government programs focused on STEM exclude medical practitioners and are not designed to increase those numbers). Some do find high salaries in STEM jobs, many right out of college, especially in hot fields such as AI. But STEM grads even in the most dynamic sectors, including computer science and engineering, see their salary advantage fade over time, increasing the odds that they’ll leave for greener pastures. > Employers also incentivize moves from technical work to management with higher salaries at their own firms, yet many bemoan a shortage of technical STEM workers, not managers. This article is not so much anti-education as anti-management/investor-class-incentivization.

smarx007 3y ago
I fail to see how being a software developer in a financial sector or in healthcare is not a STEM career? Equally, having many STEM professionals move to management doesn't mean that a STEM degree is oversold. There are a lot of STEM management positions where a STEM education and industrial experience are a mandatory job requirement.
BobaFloutist 3y ago
Also "Why is the best path to a lot of non-STEM jobs to get an unrelated STEM degree, why don't jobs the primary duties of which are well covered by liberal arts (reading, writing, interpersonal communication) hire for liberal arts degrees?"
anon291 3y ago
> Employers also incentivize moves from technical work to management with higher salaries at their own firms, yet many bemoan a shortage of technical STEM workers, not managers. Well... yeah if you have X engineers in the class of 1990, then in order to continue to be able to provide STEM services at the same rate a decade after that cohort retires in 2055, you'll need X graduates in 2000. Obviously, you can't just depend on aging workers, or you'll run into the retirement and death problem and be unable to continue the endeavor. This is not unique to STEM. All industries require new workers to be produced. Humans die, retire, and move on. Without a constant supply of new workers, industries fade, inventions never happen, progress ceases. Also, a STEM manager is very much a technical worker. You have to be delusional to think you can substitute an MBA for an Engineering Manager.

smarx007 3y ago

I fail to see how being a software developer in a financial sector or in healthcare is not a STEM career? Equally, having many STEM professionals move to management doesn't mean that a STEM degree is oversold. There are a lot of STEM management positions where a STEM education and industrial experience are a mandatory job requirement.

BobaFloutist 3y ago

Also "Why is the best path to a lot of non-STEM jobs to get an unrelated STEM degree, why don't jobs the primary duties of which are well covered by liberal arts (reading, writing, interpersonal communication) hire for liberal arts degrees?"

anon291 3y ago

> Employers also incentivize moves from technical work to management with higher salaries at their own firms, yet many bemoan a shortage of technical STEM workers, not managers. Well... yeah if you have X engineers in the class of 1990, then in order to continue to be able to provide STEM services at the same rate a decade after that cohort retires in 2055, you'll need X graduates in 2000. Obviously, you can't just depend on aging workers, or you'll run into the retirement and death problem and be unable to continue the endeavor. This is not unique to STEM. All industries require new workers to be produced. Humans die, retire, and move on. Without a constant supply of new workers, industries fade, inventions never happen, progress ceases. Also, a STEM manager is very much a technical worker. You have to be delusional to think you can substitute an MBA for an Engineering Manager.