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The 2024 GQP Thread: Because Deutsche Gopher Fan ENDED the Last One

LynahFan said:
Agree, but nobody said that.

In the discussion, there was no consideration of whether college was “for him” or whether he would enjoy it or whether he would “succeed” (he would). Their entire thought process was, “Even if he applies himself and enjoys it and gains deep understanding, he’s still likely to end up in a $150k white collar job instead of a $100k blue collar job, so I’ll do something else with my $500k that will make me more money.”

The math isn’t wrong; it’s the worldview.
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Great parents. I gave everything to my kids. Still do. Both of them graduated college where I was a dropout until I went back and got my degree as a 30+ year old.
 
St. Clown said:
Even after getting my BA, had I gone to a trade school to do HVAC work and hired on to a union company, I’d be in a much better financial position than I am now.

My brother, who held the master’s cert., that his employer paid for so they were allowed to work in Minneapolis and a host of suburbs that stated each company needed at least one person with his credentials to work in their cities, he was by far outstripping me financially. That was pre-unionization at that company. After they went union, he really started rolling in the cash. While his direct pay dropped a bit, all the benefits and pension more than offset the diminished wages.

He later went on to start his own company with a friend, a union shop, too, and he retired a multimillionaire. He is the true rags-to-riches story, making less than $2/hour at Perkin’s in the 70s, driving an old Chevette, etc., he never really came to understand the world beyond its direct impact on his life, nor did he try.

His level of success will not be my story, BUT, I do believe that getting my economics degree has improved my understanding of the world beyond the purely theoretical and principled-based teachings. It is lead me to be more critical in my views and decisions.
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I'm not talking about financial situation. I mean quality of life. They aren't the same.

Even allowing for entitlement and affluenza, the extent of genuine misery of college graduates in the world is breathtaking. Whatever we are doing is not working for people, and expected value calculations are not even wrong when trying to address it.
 
LynahFan said:
Agree, but nobody said that.

In the discussion, there was no consideration of whether college was “for him” or whether he would enjoy it or whether he would “succeed” (he would). Their entire thought process was, “Even if he applies himself and enjoys it and gains deep understanding, he’s still likely to end up in a $150k white collar job instead of a $100k blue collar job, so I’ll do something else with my $500k that will make me more money.”

The math isn’t wrong; it’s the worldview.
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I agree the worldview is nuts but the way you worded it, without some of these details, was extremely classist. you basically said he'd have a life of hardship for doing trades.

the world needs more plumbers and a fuck ton less MBAs and PE scum
 
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Kepler said:
I have no idea what blue collar life is like, but I spent 9 hours yesterday with an HVAC guy and a plumber doing maintenance and improvement work on our house, and they both seemed really happy.

OTOH, every person I know with a degree who spends their days in a cubicle as a screen-babysitter wants to kill themselves.
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Not sure what "blue collar" life is but Techs bitch and moan as much as anyone else. They just don't do it around customers if they want repeat business
 
Even in tech consulting, speaking for myself, yeah I have the transferable soft skills but it would take me a year or more to learn a new tool or platform close to the level that I know ServiceNow after over a decade. That doesn't even account for starting over at the bottom of the experience ladder in a new platform's ecosystem and the salary hit one usually takes for that. Point being, this isn't some jack-of-all-trades scenario where you've got a handy neighbor who can do HVAC/carpentry/hack plumbing for quick cash and seems to make ends meet even during lean times.

And techies are not automatically better at seeing and planning for these bubble bursts, even though we should be.
 
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FadeToBlack&Gold said:
Even in tech consulting, speaking for myself, yeah I have the transferable soft skills but it would take me a year or more to learn a new tool or platform close to the level that I know ServiceNow after over a decade. That doesn't even account for starting over at the bottom of the experience ladder in a new platform's ecosystem and the salary hit one usually takes for that. Point being, this isn't some jack-of-all-trades scenario where you've got a handy neighbor who can do HVAC/carpentry/hack plumbing for quick cash and seems to make ends meet even during lean times.

And techies are not automatically better at seeing and planning for these bubble bursts, even though we should be.
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and its an endless doom loop. Try to get hired in your field, everyone starts getting laid off.

Your time unemployed increases

the longer you're unemployed, the worse it looks.

What people aren't understanding is there are no "other jobs" to take in the meantime. Virtually no one is hiring in 2026, budgets already frozen. couple that with losing healthcare, no unemployment, no benefits, nothing.

meanwhile, all kinds of jobs stlil being shifted offshore
 
It isnt just tech...try getting a teaching job or really any job outside of AI. You will be lucky if you even get a "fuck off" email. It hasnt been this bleak since The Great Recession.

And 2026 is going to be worse.

But one thing we can count in his dumbasses who have zero clue telling us everything is fine.
 
Handyman said:
It isnt just tech...try getting a teaching job or really any job outside of AI. You will be lucky if you even get a "fuck off" email. It hasnt been this bleak since The Great Recession.

And 2026 is going to be worse.

But one thing we can count in his dumbasses who have zero clue telling us everything is fine.
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at least his wife still has the truck stops!
 
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