Thursday, February 24, 2011
What STEM professionals say about their careers: Dan Donahue
A lot of attention is currently being given to encourage more students into science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) courses and careers. I have spent my career in the STEM domain and so have many of my best friends. I asked them, after decades working in STEM fields, what are the best and worst about it?
Dan Donahue
Education: BS Astrophysics, MS Computer Science
Career: AI researcher, Healthcare web software architect, Game producer, programmer, Consultant, Enterprise SW designer/developer, Video Producer
Three best things about a STEM education/career
1) You usually get a pretty good salary
2) You get to work in a safe, healthy (if not boring) environment with flexible hours (if you are lucky)
3) Your co-workers are often multi-generational, multi-cultural and open-minded
Three worst things
1) You'll never get wealthy - that is for the salesmen or business-savvy entrepreneurs
2) You're always at risk for losing your job: tech and marketing professionals are always the first to go
3) You will never be able to keep up - the new, inexpensive college grads will always know the latest trends and technologies.
Personally, I tell my kids that if you want to make a tangible contribution to the world study science and math or engineering. But don't expect a rewarding career ("STEM" is not generally valued by our society in the way that personality and image are. Anti-intellectualism is rampant and shows no signs of decreasing) - when you have a job it is usually a fair salary, but don't count on having it forever.
If you want to make "big" money or be your own boss, study business and sales.
If I had to do it all over - I'd get a degree in something I enjoyed.
Posted at 9:05 AM
Keywords:
STEM
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