My three kids are all in high school right now, my oldest son and his two younger sisters, all just a year apart. He’s getting ready to pack up for college here soon, it’s hitting me hard. For the longest time, I thought I knew exactly how to guide him. I figured a solid field like software engineering or business was the way to go. But looking at what’s happening at my own job and this company, and seeing the entire office now Indian and all this AI tech... I'm not sure what to suggest. At the same time, I’m terrified of them just picking a lib arts major, drowning in student loans, and ending up without a job. We learned that lesson the hard way. My wife went to an Ivy League for a degree that took us years to pay off with no return(never do it). I love my kids more than anything. They have so much life in them. It breaks my heart to imagine them ending up in some WF type office, surrounded by the exhausted, lifeless faces I see every day, working for a evil CEO who doesn't care about them at all. I want them to be happy with their life.
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Advice: Don't go to college for a piece of paper. It'll cost you for something with no real value. The value is in the paper and the ideas you learn, but it's also the contacts and the hands-on learning. It's not enough to only get a piece of paper at the end.
My kid's at an expensive private university. Yes, we debated the cost, but what choice do you have but to go forward in life? At the end of the day, it seemed to offer the most value. In his first year, he's gotten experience on project teams for 2 different companies (including a project for a major professional sports franchise where they flew out to present to a room full of executives). He already knows it's not the piece of paper but the people you meet that will help set you up at the next level... so he's having fun while building his own opportunities after he graduates. He has friends with jobs at E&Y and KPMG afterwards (along with a couple friends going into investment banking), and I'm telling him "Make sure you get the honest truth about working for those places" (because I know it's a grind), but the kids are finding their way even in this crazy environment.
He's always been given advice on AI from multiple people (including Chief Technology Officer at a smaller firm). Use it and don't let it use you. If you're not incorporating AI into your workflows as a young person, you're probably dead in the water... but if you depend on AI to do all your thinking, then you're also dead because you won't be able to do the work & AI will be able to replace what you do. If you can't be conversant in how AI works for you, then you're probably not going to make it.
And as much as the Trades are fine, they're not for everyone... and it's hard work where you'll start at the bottom and you need to be humble about it. The overseers at the top want to replace the Tradies with imported labor & technology just as much as they want to replace white collar, so you pick your poison.
If everyone goes into the Trades, will it be tomorrow's "Learn to Code"? Who knows?
The worst thing to do is to give up or to show despair as a parent.
@hp and @ag are very wise. To add, people who have spent some time doing service jobs at some point in their life far outrank their peers on performance. Waiting tables when I was young taught me to multi-task, deal with difficult people and anticipate. In my workplace I can definitely tell the difference between people who have held these types of jobs at one point and the ones who mommy and daddy gave participation ribbons to. You can guess which are better in a team setting
Trade skills will be valuable in the upcoming collapse.
My 0.02. Hard sciences all the way up to PhD level. Choose a specialization they can individually align to intellectually and emotionally. Then, complete business, finance and applied entrepreneurship education. They will have a choice of scientific, educational, consulting, business career. And an option to work for either themselves or an enterprise, from startups (including their own) to Fortune 100. Consider defense industry — sadly, always in high demand. Do not fear Indians and AI. Outcompete and out-innovate them — and others, world over — on the strength of one’s highly specialized and applied knowledge and sheer inhumanity and embarrassing weakness of the omnipresent AI slop. Lastly, have them learn about investing now, when they are young, so that they can start building their “freedom fund” early on. Help them read philosophy. To balance out the overarching pragmatism of human life. Have them strive to be the best in the world at what they ultimately choose to do.
This may be counterintuitive, but make sure there’s at least an element of liberal arts in their education. As tasks become automated, the humans needed in workplaces will be those with broad knowledge bases and nimble minds, who can talk to anyone about anything.
@OP Look into the trades.
- Staying in the US.
- Honest work
- Tangible skill
- Opportunity to make six figures
- Work hard and you could own your own company
But the whole country is offshoring, healthcare, finance, tech.
I hope I am wrong, but I wonder who will have money to pay for trades people and side hustle? The expensive healthcare will bankrupt the country.
I don't know where will I go? Where can I go?
They should learn a trade and entrepreneurship and become a small business owner. It's important that they have a side hustle and have their own business to make money. Like many my regret is not learning to have a side hustle. Biggest regret.
Electrician, plumber, carpenter, …..
Just be like nepo baby Charlie, have daddy send your resume to Jamie Dimon. Didn't we have Jamie Dimon's son in law being a nepo baby and lead CL for a time? still blows my mind the stuff that goes on around here. I wouldn't worry about the Indians, the avg IQ of their country is 70, even if they skim their top 1%, that's a barely functional worker bee, just look at their country, if their engineers were worth their salt it wouldn't look like that. Tell them to adapt.
I would recommend staying far away from technology related majors.
Sincerely,
Sujay Wash
https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1kpvksvq2
Walmart is hiring GREETERS.
WTF does this have to do with WF layoffs?
If i did it over again i would do a hard science. If i couldn't cut that i would likely try and be a plumber. Banking has fallen so hard as a respectable field, i'm ashamed of saying i work at WF. I was watching a video on vibe coding with claude. I wouldn't go near SWE, it will only get worse as it gets smarter. Maybe the guys making claude will have a well paid job but for everyone else its the new communication major.
Definitely healthcare or medicine, especially anything patient facing.
sir, this is a wendys
AI and Robotics
@a4 Those fields are dominated by Indians.
The trades is the only answer. Commercial refrigeration, electricians, plumbers, elevator techs and the like. AI / robots will replace them last.
Don't plan college based on future career track. Continued self education and strong working ethic is the key. No one knows the future, pick something the kid is interested in.
In the college, exercise and sports to have a healthy life; social to learn how to deal with people; pick stem subject to train brain, like data, analytics, cs, ee, me, math, physics etc depending on kid's comfortable level. Young kid with healthy body, analytical mind and positive social circle can't fail in life.
Insurance industry
Investment Economics from UCLA
Work in Wall Street
I know lots of biology majors out of work or doing min wage job, only a small % go onto med school. Being a nurse might be good, but once its known for $, people run to the field. Look at CS majors unemployment rates now, sky high, people are out of work for yrs.
Put the money for college aside, invest. Encourage them to educate themselves unless they are studying medicine or other professions where credentials are required for licensing.
Medicine and biotech. Healthcare industry.