Go to a four year college so you can get the best jobs.
Nah, that advice is still correct. The 4-year degree provides a huge benefit over not having it.
It’s just that a lot of people don’t realize just how much shittier not having a degree in 2024 is compared to not having a degree in 1974.
So while the baseline has gotten worse, and the actual benefit of college has shrunk, it’s still easily worth the 4 year commitment and the tuition/opportunity cost.
Counter-point: not everyone is cut out for a four-year degree*. Some people are better suited for trade schools. My wife worked at a university and saw a number of students that were attending just because family wanted them to, but their heart wasn’t in it. Often they’d drop out with student debt and no degree to show for it.
*or at least when they’re young
a number of students that were attending just because family wanted them to, but their heart wasn’t in it
There are probably an even higher percentage of those in trade schools or entry level trades roles. You can’t compare the worst outcomes in one category with the best outcomes in another, and should instead compare medians.
Right now trade schools are actually providing a better cost to income ratio than college.
It’s anecdotal but my friends in the Boston area were all making 120-150 in salary plus bonus before I was even out of school and I started in software at 65k and didn’t break into that level for another 4 years. Now I make 230 but they’ve all got houses and decked out retirement funds from having that good money when they were much younger. That extra 20-30k/yr in 401k and IRA funds with 5-6 years more growth time in the market isn’t something to shake a stick at.
Now I make 230
Yeah the break even point is like the early 30’s, even among people who are killing it in either path.10 years of $100k+ in your 20’s won’t be able to build up enough of a buffer against $200k+ after 30, when retirement ages are around 60.
“Find a job doing what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
I used to love software. Then all the Lumberghs took over.
Hobbies always change when they become a job because it transitions from well thought out, interesting and creative projects to mass production and monotony.
As a hobbyist you have the ability to discover and work on unique, novel projects, without stress but professionalism is about consistency and speed.
Usually by running the business you can dedicate some time and resources to the fun and novel stuff. Thats how I run mine at least, as a woodworker. I don’t crank out high grossing trendy stuff day and night but take the time to explore new ideas and get creative with it. That and using handtools instead of power tools.
I find a lot of resonance in this comment, but my experience is striking out in 3D art.
Thankfully I’m friends with the client and it’s not a hard deadline but I’m a month over on a sculpt because I have to learn new techniques, particular to this model, and I feel the need to get it right the first time because it reflects on me.
I know I’ll get faster with experience but I’m asking myself if doing this professionally from a for-hire standpoint is going to make me loathe it in the long run, because business is all about faster and more and more and faster. I’m considering making my own work to sell as 3D printables or games in the future while I keep the lights on by slinging coffee or something…
I mean, I 100% agree with this one. If I’m going to be at work eight hours a day, five days a week, I better damn well enjoy it.
I’m a software dev, too, but have always left companies / teams soon after a Lumbergh took over. That was always a very good career move for me, and I am almost always pretty excited to go to work.
Plus, Lumberghs will be there for things you don’t enjoy as well. That would just make it harder, at least for me.
I’d say the tasks and role of your job should at least be enjoyable enough to not hate it but what I think is even more important (and makes me enjoy my job) is the work climate, being appreciated by colleagues / customers / management, and a sense of purpose.
You’re totally right. I just want to be in a position where I’m not “face of the house” and actually get to talk with coworkers once in a while.
Jobs these days seem to love putting people by themselves. I don’t even mind being by myself with a task where I can listen to music or something, but with whiny customers? Nightmare.
The coworkers on the other side of the building who weren’t about to snap had something in common: They worked beside someone else occasionally, who wasn’t their boss.
Before that, I was in a retail situation where I would have a cool coworker, in a small space, otherwise empty store, getting things done. But the manager would squawk at us about “hearing a lot of talking” and “that doesn’t sound like work.” Absolutely psychotic and I have no idea how I put up with that behavior.
Before I post this, I apologize for the content length:
Yeah this one hurts, because I’ve heard it all my life yet in MOST situations when I research a job and think “Hey that could be alright!”
There’s always some nasty hidden majority of it that seems to exist solely to make sure nobody enjoys doing it too much. Like there’s some misery quotient to be filled. Misery must be some kind of profit currency as a means of doing business…
As a hypothetical example: You like working with your hands and think assembling widgets or tools might be your thing. You romanticize taking pride in your work and imagining the end user being happy with your efforts.
But you find that once you get there, you’re a slave to some Taylorism machine that demands infinite widgets in increasingly unrealistic timespans or else. And you never see the finished product. They also ban music and glare at you like criminals the entire time.
Or perhaps you envision that hardworking but noble slice-of-life-anime vibe, where you and some cool co-workers run a coffee shop and you’re determined to earn a reputation for the perfect brew… except it’s just you, by yourself, and a long line of grouchy jerks, and some machine is there yelling at you if you’re not doing so many transactions-per-hour and your manager is displeased because you aren’t selling two-coffees-and-a-plastic-tumbler per customer or something.
Less hypothetical: People tell me I’d make a great teacher. Yeah, I don’t need to elaborate on those realities. (God bless you, teachers. Seriously.)
The education system is also just a human conveyor belt at this point.
Where are the jobs that are “just okay” or “fine”? What happened to the humble honest living? It seems like everything can fit under David Graeber’s "Bullshit Jobs" checklist anymore.
With job satisfaction it seems either 1:100,000 odds like “career actor” or “beloved artist” or something, or you’re just in the soul-grind machine that takes a perfectly human craft or interaction and forces it through a filter of spreadsheets and “KPIs” and “metrics” and “management” that makes everyone want to stop waking up.
That wasn’t too long, and it was interesting. Your posts don’t need to be efficient either. ❤️
Hey that’s very kind of you. Thanks! :)
Sometimes a topic hits me and I end up using Lemmy as a writing prompt haha. I’m glad if it resonates with people though. One day I’ll start a blog even if people don’t really bother with those much anymore. :p
Hope you’re having a fantastic one!
Something along the lines of “don’t ever go to bed angry at each other.” Like, yeah, you should try to work it out, but if you fucked up real bad, don’t push it. Sleep on the couch.
Besides couch is superior to bed, those nights when I can’t get sleep in the bed the couch provides. Couch best. Even the cushions are for some reason nicer than pillows. Should definitely consider moving to the livingroom.
Alternatively, sometimes a good night’s sleep is good for everyone to clear heads and calmly tackle their issues the next day with fresh perspectives.
Yeah thanks * adult * for the advice, why don’t you try AuDHD and see what you think of it - or rather what others think of you when you just * be yourself *
“Just be yourself” always feels like non-advice when it appears as an answer to a question like, “What should I do?” That’s because it’s secretly negative advice. As in, it doesn’t tell you what you should do, it only tells you what you shouldn’t do. It’s code for, “Don’t pretend to be something you aren’t”. Don’t pretend, don’t lie, don’t put on a facade you can’t keep up.
Technically good advice, yes. But it’s the equivalent of being behind the controls of a plane you don’t know how to fly and the pilot is incapacitated, and your question of “How the hell do I fly this thing?” being met with, “Well, for starters, don’t jerk the stick and flip the plane over.” Wowee gee, thanks for the tip.
Ages like milk…
Drink a full glass of milk at every meal. Otherwise, your bones will turn to pudding and you’ll get kidnapped at the mall because you’ll be too soft to put up a fight. Or whatever scare scenarios Big Milk pushed in the US in the 80s and 90s.
Now everyone’s drinking nut and oat milk because of health reasons and also drinking the milk of another mammal is kinda weird.
Because drinking “milk” from nuts and oats isn’t weird?
People have been drinking animal milk for thousands of years so the weird ones are those pretending some heavily processed industry process isn’t weird.
Nut milk is just nuts and water, you can make it yourself super easy.
Drinking the milk of another mammal after you were weaned is freaking weird and unique to humans and unnecessary and bad for the environment and isn’t done by a significant portion of the world’s population.
There’s a significant amount of processing going on in nut milk production. Yes you can make your own which is true for a lot of foods but the stuff you buy at the store is heavily processed.
Just because we’re the only mamal that does it doesn’t mean anything because we’re the only mamal that does a ton of stuff that doesn’t make it weird. It is definitely terrible for the planet but not sure what you mean by a significant portion of the worlds population. I’m pretty sure cheese is in almost all cultures or are you just saying straight milk.
The ability to digest animal milk is literally a genetic mutation that was useful enough to have spread to about 40% of the world’s population. Milk is an amazing source of nutrients and before food was as secure as it is now it was a lifeline during long winters.
You can talk as moral as you like about your personal preferences but the genetic record clearly indicates that our ancestors needed animal milk to survive. And in today’s society with pasteurization making cow milk safe even in the midst of a H5N1 epidemic in cows it continues to be an amazing source of nutrients, giving a near complete baseline of nutrients for an individual’s diet. There’s a reason schools push kids to drink milk every day and it’s not just the dairy lobby
I love milk but I do agree with you. Whenever I actually stop to think about it, the concept of milk is pretty damn weird. I feel the same way about eggs
it’s water pressed through oats/nuts to add a little flavor, not from a nut teet.
“Milk” from nuts and oats is just a word. Call it oat juice, oat extract, make up a new word and call it oat zligbab. The actual thing being drunk is not far from the realm of things we already drink and eat. Getting hung up on it being called “milk” is a superficial and disingenuous argument against it.
If you want to compare the extremes of industrialized processes, are you familiar with commercial dairy farming?
Biologically it’s extremely weird to drink another animals milk. No other mammal does that.
No other animal does what we’re doing here either. Weird isn’t necessarily bad
Cats will do it? Or you mean no other animal goes to get it? Because livestock will deffo grab a boob even if it’s not mom’s.
But it’s not industrialized by other mammals would be absolutely true.
heavily processed
Always great to put that into arguments. It doesn’t really mean anything but it sounds dubious.
