>>13059203>Stem fields aren't overhyped.Wrong. STEM is definitely overhyped right now, on many basis:
1. there are lots of jobs: this is not true for most STEM fields, where you either do a Ph.d and try to get an academic position, for which of course there are more applicants than places, or you have to pivot to something very different and get a career in industry, which is now harder to do because university education is becoming more specialized
2. it is meritocratic: kek, you work your ass off, the workload is often comparable to that of med school or law school, but the pay is shit in comparison, this is probably the biggest bullshit of any STEM job, except IT, which is easy and pays well, if you are pulling all nighters and 60 hour work weeks, then the pay should reflect that, but it does not, the pay is shit
3. you do what you love: honestly most people lose their passions after a short while, like you like physics at 16? there's almost no guarantee you will actually enjoy doing real physics when you are 30 and want to start a family, from my perspective as a physics grad, I have seen more people lose their passion by the end of undergrad and even many postgrads who are only there cause it was the only thing they knew how to do
4. it's a respectable career: I guess a lot of us grew up looking up at the greats of the 20th century and we somehow believe that being a mathematician or a physicist or a chemist is like being one of them, but no, not really, in the real world, being a scientist in itself is only mildly interesting, it's not really a career that carries a lot of status with it
