The STEM Crisis Is a Myth

theodp writes "Forget the dire predictions of a looming shortfall of scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians, advises IEEE Spectrum contributing editor Robert Charette — the STEM crisis is a myth. In investigating the simultaneous claims of both a shortage and a surplus of STEM workers, Charette was surprised by 'the apparent mismatch between earning a STEM degree and having a STEM job. Of the 7.6 million STEM workers counted by the Commerce Department, only 3.3 million possess STEM degrees. Viewed another way, about 15 million U.S. residents hold at least a bachelor's degree in a STEM discipline, but three-fourths of them — 11.4 million — work outside of STEM.' So, why would universities, government, and tech companies like Facebook, IBM, and Microsoft cry STEM-worker-shortage-wolf? 'Clearly, powerful forces must be at work to perpetuate the cycle,' Charette writes. 'One is obvious: the bottom line. Companies would rather not pay STEM professionals high salaries with lavish benefits, offer them training on the job, or guarantee them decades of stable employment. So having an oversupply of workers, whether domestically educated or imported, is to their benefit...Governments also push the STEM myth because an abundance of scientists and engineers is widely viewed as an important engine for innovation and also for national defense. And the perception of a STEM crisis benefits higher education, says Ron Hira, because as 'taxpayers subsidize more STEM education, that works in the interest of the universities' by allowing them to expand their enrollments. An oversupply of STEM workers may also have a beneficial effect on the economy, says Georgetown's Nicole Smith, one of the coauthors of the 2011 STEM study. If STEM graduates can't find traditional STEM jobs, she says, 'they will end up in other sectors of the economy and be productive.'"

I'll believe the stem crisis is real

[NotSoHeavyD3]

When companies stop blowing me off because they think "Well he's an expert in C++ really well but has only done C# for a year or two so obviously he's useless in that." (From what I'm seeing most of what they do isn't that hard and what I do know about C++ does transfer over rapidly to C#. Hey, have I ever mentioned the grammar of C# (and Java for that matter) was done that way so us C++ guys could rapidly switch over to it?) You know, at time the vibe I get from companies is that they want what I call a desert island developer. That's a developer that's so good you could literally put him on a desert island. You'd air drop coding specs, food, beer, and women to him every day. Then he'd code it up by writing it up in the sand on the beach(Which the next airdrop plane would photograph) and that code in the sand would work perfectly once it was scanned in.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:They do get lucrative jobs!

[mark_reh]

The original quote included the word "productive".

Re: degree != qualification

[Anonymous Coward]

The qualifications begin with a degree or alternative route program. Then you must pass an education theory exam (PRAXIS PLT), and a subject area or specialist exam (physics, math, elementary ed, etc.). You also spend a semester to a year as an apprentice, two to four years of on the job observation during which you can be fired or non-renewed for anything, and then you are evaluated every one to three years to help you grow or to identify and remove you if you are not performing to expectations.

Re:Math is hard

[pepty]

That's actually the sentiment amongst many young students. Why work hard at a STEM major when a business or law degree is likely to result in higher pay and higher social standing?

Scratch law degree. Unless you are able to grind, network, and kiss ass much harder than you would in almost any STEM masters degree program (as well as harder than 95% of your fellow tier I or tier II law school students) you won't be getting one of those fabled six figure associate positions. What? you didn't attend a top tier or top regional tier law school or you didn't rank near the top of your class ? 50% chance you won't get a job in the legal profession at all, at least not for a year or more after graduation. Law schools are now being regularly sued by their graduates for lying about employment prospects

If you're strictly looking for high pay/high social standing: finance/math

Re:There's both a glut AND a shortage

[professionalfurryele]

If there is no problem, there is no shortage. Don't call it a shortage. Don't argue for anti-worker actions that would address a non-existent shortage.

I want chocolate ice cream in a cone. I'm not under the delusion I don't have to pay for it though. And when I walk into the store and don't see them priced at 20 cents a piece I don't complain there is a shortage of them. I don't try to get government to give me a subsidy on chocolate ice cream. I shut the fuck up and pay the market price. Shut the fuck up and pay the market price.

No jobs in STEM

[Anonymous Coward]

Count me among the STEM degress not working in a STEM field. I actually dropped out of a STEM Ph.D. program after I realized that no one around me was able to get a decent job after they graduated. No one could get an academic position because for every 2-3 year postdoc contract that opened up, there were over 400 applicants competing for it. No one could get a non-academic job because every time an HR drone saw "Ph.D." on the resume, that person would get passed over for being "overqualified". Yet when people took the Ph.D. off their resume, they had to find some way to explain a 5-6 year employment gap, and no one I knew managed to do so well enough to get past a first interview.

So I took a Masters, dropped out, and spent a few months living frugally off of what I'd been able to save from my Ph.D. stipend while studying a business field like a madman. Then I lucked into finding employment with a corporation that was impressed by my skills and willing to train me the rest of the way on the business side. Now I'm making plenty of money to support myself.

I am the only person of my incoming graduate class that didn't earn a Ph.D. I'm also nearly the only person of my graduate class that currently isn't either on food stamps, stuck living with their parents at 30+ years of age, or working one or more low-paying retail or fast food jobs just to make ends meet. The only exceptions are a few foreign students who went back to their home country immediately after graduating. (It's kinda sad to think that someone I know who worked on a Large Hadron Collider project is now making french fries for a living)

Don't go into STEM, people. Go get a business/finance/accounting degree if you want to get paid. If you really have the drive and skills and desire for a STEM degree, then double major in something like Math or Computer Science. It might make a good supplement to your primary business degree to help you stand out a little more.