3 ms·

Ah yes. I look forward to seeing “double major” in the nice to haves list in job descriptions /s

reaperman 2y ago
This is increasingly likely, even just considering entirely valid reasons for it. As the world gets increasingly specialized, value is often found at the intersection of multiple disciplines/niches. Low-hanging fruit is still there, but getting harder to find and increasingly competitive. Multi-disciplinary endeavors generally are finding more success these days, and to be successful they need to have some team members who know both/all pieces thoroughly.
- wakawaka28 2y ago
  There is no valid reason to list "double major" as a job requirement. It's way too specific, and doing so would encourage people to potentially waste time getting a double major they don't benefit from just to check off a box. I double-majored and I find the idea silly and counterproductive. You should only double major if you want to do something involving both majors together or else you want options to do either one separately. It's not worth it to most people because very few people get to straddle two separate fields in their job. You'd be better off getting an extra year or more of income.
  - reaperman 2y ago
    You don’t think there’s any job role which would benefit from someone who double-majored? Personally I think it’s axiomatic that these roles both exist and are increasing in frequency because of natural evolution in the business/global landscape. But I’d be super happy to hear and consider arguments which might disprove my belief. Math and Biology, or Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering, or Linguistics and Computer Science? I can definitely imagine roles where these combos would be highly valued and difficult to replicate the same value with two people. NOTE: I do think that if someone can demonstrate mastery and experience in both relevant disciplines that should “count” in lieu of a double major…but I believe that about any degree requirements. We now have so many multi-disciplinary majors like “Mechatronics”, “Computational Biology”, “Bioprocess Engineering” specifically because of this value. So sure, you could “just” get one of those majors instead of the two they combine, but it seems folly to think that all practical combinations already have a unified major at the schools that a particular student might want to study at. It’s reasonable to assume that they might get accepted to schools where the best option for something like this is double-majoring - even if they get accepted to a school with a Mechatronics Program, it might not be as high quality of an education there as another school which doesn’t have that where they could double major in Electrical Engineer and Mechanical Engineering.
    - wakawaka28 2y ago
      >You don’t think there’s any job role which would benefit from someone who double-majored? Of course I do, that's why I did it myself. I just think the number of these roles is far smaller than the number of double majors who get them, or much less the double majors who use both of the majors they got. It is irresponsible to dangle the strategy of a double major out as a hot tip to get better income, because it's a fairly big investment with low payoff. People even question the value of MS degrees in this field. How much more do they question the value of double majors? Again the same type of reasoning was used to justify everyone getting a college degree regardless of subject. It's wrong to advertise it as a financial strategy. You should have a specific purpose and reasonable risk assessment before investing in any kind of academic program. The cost of it is tuition plus one or more years of lost salary. The payoff may never come. So you should truly care about what you're studying and be good at it, and not just collect majors like bottlecaps hoping to cash in someday. People who do want a more specialized job should beware, as the market for those jobs is smaller and often more difficult than for less specialized stuff. So many people try to specialize then get screwed on pay because they set all their hopes on doing that one special job. There are a few who manage to spin it into higher or more stable income, but I think that's more rare.
      - reaperman 2y ago
        I super agree entirely with all of this.

This is increasingly likely, even just considering entirely valid reasons for it. As the world gets increasingly specialized, value is often found at the intersection of multiple disciplines/niches. Low-hanging fruit is still there, but getting harder to find and increasingly competitive. Multi-disciplinary endeavors generally are finding more success these days, and to be successful they need to have some team members who know both/all pieces thoroughly.

wakawaka28 2y ago
There is no valid reason to list "double major" as a job requirement. It's way too specific, and doing so would encourage people to potentially waste time getting a double major they don't benefit from just to check off a box. I double-majored and I find the idea silly and counterproductive. You should only double major if you want to do something involving both majors together or else you want options to do either one separately. It's not worth it to most people because very few people get to straddle two separate fields in their job. You'd be better off getting an extra year or more of income.
- reaperman 2y ago
  You don’t think there’s any job role which would benefit from someone who double-majored? Personally I think it’s axiomatic that these roles both exist and are increasing in frequency because of natural evolution in the business/global landscape. But I’d be super happy to hear and consider arguments which might disprove my belief. Math and Biology, or Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering, or Linguistics and Computer Science? I can definitely imagine roles where these combos would be highly valued and difficult to replicate the same value with two people. NOTE: I do think that if someone can demonstrate mastery and experience in both relevant disciplines that should “count” in lieu of a double major…but I believe that about any degree requirements. We now have so many multi-disciplinary majors like “Mechatronics”, “Computational Biology”, “Bioprocess Engineering” specifically because of this value. So sure, you could “just” get one of those majors instead of the two they combine, but it seems folly to think that all practical combinations already have a unified major at the schools that a particular student might want to study at. It’s reasonable to assume that they might get accepted to schools where the best option for something like this is double-majoring - even if they get accepted to a school with a Mechatronics Program, it might not be as high quality of an education there as another school which doesn’t have that where they could double major in Electrical Engineer and Mechanical Engineering.
  - wakawaka28 2y ago
    >You don’t think there’s any job role which would benefit from someone who double-majored? Of course I do, that's why I did it myself. I just think the number of these roles is far smaller than the number of double majors who get them, or much less the double majors who use both of the majors they got. It is irresponsible to dangle the strategy of a double major out as a hot tip to get better income, because it's a fairly big investment with low payoff. People even question the value of MS degrees in this field. How much more do they question the value of double majors? Again the same type of reasoning was used to justify everyone getting a college degree regardless of subject. It's wrong to advertise it as a financial strategy. You should have a specific purpose and reasonable risk assessment before investing in any kind of academic program. The cost of it is tuition plus one or more years of lost salary. The payoff may never come. So you should truly care about what you're studying and be good at it, and not just collect majors like bottlecaps hoping to cash in someday. People who do want a more specialized job should beware, as the market for those jobs is smaller and often more difficult than for less specialized stuff. So many people try to specialize then get screwed on pay because they set all their hopes on doing that one special job. There are a few who manage to spin it into higher or more stable income, but I think that's more rare.
    - reaperman 2y ago
      I super agree entirely with all of this.