My future looks bleak. That still sounds optimistic. It’s doomed, to be true. Generally, I am not so pessimistic. But what are emotions in the face of hard, cold and pointed facts?
Here are the findings from a study by Georgetown University which was later published at Fastcompany.
- People who have graduated in Psychology are right at the bottom of the heap when it comes to earnings. I have done my bachelors in Psychology. As this is my Bachelor’s degree, I will be making 42 grands per year. Masters in the subject would have got me 18k more per year.
- As it happens, I did my masters in Sociology though. Seems that it was the right decision. It should fall under a more generic Social Science category. This gives a raise big enough to take me to the 6th position. Bachelors in the subject will fetch 55k and a master’s degree will get me a can-support-a-wife-and-child 85k per annum.
The last part doesn’t sound so bad. But the truth is that’s it, I can’t go any further. Also, given that this is the max I can make, chances are I am not the best and will make significantly less than 85k. Not that I can’t survive on the sum but I feel angry about being put so low on a scale. The note of apology is missing too.
I know it’s just numbers and they can’t be taken too seriously. So much happens in life that can’t be expressed with 1-9. I know I can do as good as the Engineers and Computers & Mathematics pass outs, even beat them, may be. But I will be acutely aware that I am doing something so good that I have left my own league behind, and I might as well enjoy while it lasts.
What is quite upsetting is that I have to work against the rules of the universe to make what an engineer is expected to make anyway.
In fact, my situation is far worse. I don’t live in the USA. So, forget the dollars, thank god, they are not so hot anymore. I don’t work in the social sciences/humanities/academic sector anymore. I crossed over to the internet and currently work in a non-technical position. It will take complex algorithm to find out what my chances are and a mathematician will hardly be interested – they are one scale up on the pecking order anyway.
So what hope do I have … if my career fails to take off I know whom to blame. You killed me, Numbers!
