The Non Tech Road to get Rich
The recent years have seen an ever increasing demand for STEM degrees with many employers providing lucrative jobs with high salaries in the field of technology thus indirectly pushing students to pursue tech.
Coming from a country like India, I have first hand experienced several of my high school classmates being forced into engineering or other science degrees irrespective of their skillset and interests due to the misconception that STEM careers are the only way to make a decent living.
When I first came to the US, to pursue my masters, I met people from diverse backgrounds. Several conversations with my amazing classmates made me realize that parents pushing students to pursue STEM was a trend in most Asian countries.
Through this project, I want to understand if STEM is the only path to being successful or can students find other viable career options based on their interests.
But before we try to solve this problem it is important to understand if this is actually an issue or not. A great way to judge this would be identifying popular college majors chosen by students. It is well known that a lot of students decide majors depending on future job prospects. Lets see if STEM (Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics) is actually the top choice among candidates
Popular College Majors Chosen by Students
We see that science and engineering are the most popular major chosen. I would have guessed that science and engineering related fields would be second highest on the graph but that does not seem to be the case here.
According to the National Center of Education statistics roughly 1.8 billion students in the US were awarded bachelors degrees between 2015 and 2016. 18% of these were STEM degrees.
The percentage of STEM bachelors degree awarded to Asian students were approximately twice the overall STEM bachelors degrees which supports the fact that the demand to pursue STEM majors has seen a growing trend especially among Asian countries.
Another Study conducted by the National Science Board shows that:
- There has been a stark increase in the percentage share of science and engineering degrees from 24% in 2000 to 27% in 2019.
- The number of masters degrees awarded in the US within science and engineering especially in computer sciences and engineering has more than doubled between 2000 and 2019, especially among students with temporary visas.
But why do so many students want to pursue STEM degrees?
Post Graduate Unemploymwnt statistics
The pie chart created from the data collected by the National Survey of College graduates shows how unemployment is prevalent in Non STEM degrees.
Within the Non Stem data, most of the unemployment seems to be trending among management and administrative field degrees.
According to an article by Hartford Courant, most college students tend to gravitate towards STEM majors due to the recent surge in employment opportunities offered by STEM jobs.
Additionally, the increasing fess to attain college education fees and hence resulting student debt further push students towards STEM degrees to quickly recoup expenses instead of pursing a more creative degree for example, liberal arts education
A study conducted by the US department of Labor predicts increase in software development jobs by over
22% by 2029
If STEM degrees are the key to success are all millionaires/CEOs coding geniuses?
All of these company founders would beg to differ
Photo by Dries Augustyns on Unsplash
Photo by Dries Augustyns on Unsplash
Micheal Dell
Founder of Dell.
Was a pre-med student at University of Texas and dropped out of college at the age of 19
Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash
Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash
Sean Rad
Co-founder of Tinder
Dropped out of University of Southern California while studying business
Image by Raphael Silva from Pixabay
Image by Raphael Silva from Pixabay
Brian Chesky
Co-founder of AirBnB
Has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Industrial Design from Rhode Island school of design and previously worked as an industrial designer at an LA Firm
Fun Fact: You don't need a degree in Tech to have a Start-Up in Tech
Dell is in fact one of the biggest American computer technology companies
Micheal started Dell when he was only 19, that too without a background in technology. He was in fact a pre-med student!
But not everyone has the funding or skillset to be a founder. Should they slip back into the competitive STEM world?
Absolutely Not!!
Some of the Highest paid Corporate roles do not require any prior technical knowledge
The chart her shows some of the highest paying jobs in the corporate world with executives earning close to at least 600,000$. The minimum wage considered for this analysis was 85,000$
A lot of these jobs can even utilize existing hobbies or skills:
- Love selling products for designing strategies to sell products to consumers? Consider a career in marketing.
- Enjoy reading academic papers and imparting knowledge to students? Academia maybe the right fit for you.
- Are great at coming up with innovative designs and art? UI/UX design or Game Design maybe the next stop in the path to your dream career.
But would these roles push me at the back of the race compared to my technical peers?
See For Yourself!
The chart above shows the average salaries offered by technical (requiring STEM degrees) and non technical roles (non needing STEM degrees) in different states within the US. States with only one category have not been considered for this analysis.
An additional category called Data and Analytics has been included since not all analytical jobs may require STEM skills. These are more reliant on domain knowledge and decision making skills.
It is interesting to note how high paying states like California and Washington offer higher salaries for non technical roles compared to technical roles.
Another interesting thing to note is that most of the high paying non technical roles are in fact offered by big tech companies like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google etc.
Photo by Aidan Bartos on Unsplash
How do I find the money making roles based on my interests?
Use the graph below as a starting point
The data has been collected through several employee surveys and can give you a high level overview of high paying jobs in the non technical industry.
This however is just a starting point and is in no way a comprehensive overview of all opportunities available out there. Below are a few good resources that can be used which deciding which path maybe the right fit for you
Photo by Sascha Bosshard on Unsplash
Next Steps and Resources
Photo by Pang Yuhao on Unsplash
Photo by Pang Yuhao on Unsplash
Students
The best way to identify roles that may fulfil your career goals would be to talk to a career counselor and understand your skillset better. Some of the links below may also be used to quickly navigate through potential careers:
Photo by Alexander Dummer on Unsplash
Photo by Alexander Dummer on Unsplash
Parents
Parents could also communicate with their children to understand their choices better and support them.
They could also be a part of the career counseling sessions offered to their children so they can understand their skillset better and help guide them to be successful in the career of their choice.
Finally, they shouldn't belittle their children's choices or force them into career paths they don't want to take up. Keeping an open mind is important to ensuring success
Every student should be given a chance to follow their dreams. If you're good at what you do money will follow!
References
- STEM: What Is It and Why Is It So Popular?-Hartford Courant
- The state of STEM education told through 25 stats
- Status and Trends in Education
- The State of U.S. Science and Engineering 2022
- Non Tech Startup founders who built great Tech Products
- Sean Rad Background
- Michael Dell Background
- College graduate dataset
- Salary information across states
Photo by Jake Lorefice on Unsplash
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