Choice comments from important people in my life during my college career (2000 to 2004): Why would you study engineering? It's Wall Street hours for teacher

Choice comments from important people in my life during my college career (2000 to 2004): Why would you study engineering? It's Wall Street hours for teacher pay. [family member] [Classmate X] has gotten a job at Google? That's interesting. Who are they? A [management] consulting company? They're not? That's curious, X seems like they're smart enough to work for a consulting company. [Numerous classmates, top 10 research university.] You should think about dropping one of your degrees (East Asian Studies and CS) since the combination of the two will make you virtually unemployable. [Academic advisor, top 10 research university. Her concern was that I'd be seen as a flight risk from any job which didn't allow me to exercise both areas at once, and that there existed virtually no jobs that would allow that.] You should come work in our research lab while persuing your Master's in engineering. We'll offer you a $20k a year salary to do this. This is one of the best offers you'll get in the current economy. [an academic I worked with during undergraduate, who I believe was not attempting to deceive me with this line, although he was clearly mistaken. I was positive I could swing $30k, somewhere.] Own a business? Don't be crazy. Get a job at a nice safe megacorp, that way you'll have job security and health insurance. [parents and self]