As a STEM student who actually did a STEM job (basic science research) you have to love it to make a career out of it. The pay isn’t fantastic and your career

As a STEM student who actually did a STEM job (basic science research) you have to love it to make a career out of it. The pay isn’t fantastic and your career is basically doing the same thing (with more skill over time) for 30 years. With most of your work a failure. Even people who liked it often bailed. Programming is a bit different. You can make a lot of money, have varied jobs and just grin and bear it for the money.