this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2025
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A collection of some classic Lemmy memes for your enjoyment

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 hours ago

This is generally true. My brother is a musician, and he struggles to find work. I got lucky growing up working on programming projects until 3am for fun, then being interested in database research and later AI research several years before people started paying attention. I think we need a UBI so that the people who don't want to build stuff can do what they want instead of going into marketing or sales, or anything that's a net drain or neutral on society.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

Friend majored in philosophy. Guess how much he got to use that?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 19 minutes ago

Is he still getting invited to parties?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 hours ago

I spent one year on philosophy before changing major to engineering because I can't stand how pompous the people are. Although that intro to philosophy actually helped me in my career. YMMV tho.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

Scuse me, I burned ~46k on a culinary arts A.S. degree. 🖖

The world needs moar Neelixes.

Wish I did engineering/tech hardware tho.

Maybe self learning how to fix my own motherboard's/firmware can happen some day.

Hobby of PC building/self-linux administering for ~20 years.....do I know more than some fresh grads? Probably lol.....

[–] [email protected] 16 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

The grass is always greener I suppose

I did engineering, wish I had done something like culinary arts

After all day engineering, I come home and watch chefs on YouTube and botch their recipes in the kitchen while daydreaming about running a chaotic professional kitchen

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

Three of our best senior engineers eventually decided to become farmers. One “retired” to be a personal chef.

I’m just saying.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 hours ago

Farming requires a lot of engineering expertise.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I quit and became a truck driver for a while

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 hours ago

I’ve had fantasies of becoming a bus driver.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I majored in History as it was my only interest at the time and I could graduate on time.

Never major in History.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 15 hours ago

Anthropology is another bad choice.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (1 children)

Me, freshmen year of college: "I'm going to major in computer engineering - with additional math and physics courses. Capable of designing all sorts of cool stuff, and get paid well"

Me 16 years later: "I don't know what the fuck I'm doing, I don't know what the fuck management wants, I don't know what the fuck I want to do, but at least I get paid well."

[–] [email protected] 10 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

I'll never forget my first one on one with the director of my engineering department.

I had been languishing away for a month at this new job trying to get a bearing on what they want from me when thankfully I got an email from the director scheduling a meeting to discuss just that.

It was a major turnaround, I felt like my life was going to finally get a dose of meaning and direction.

During the meeting the director said he needed me to write some software but gave no real specifics on its purpose out loud while he was also writing down notes. At the end of 45 minute meeting, he left his notes, shook my hand and said he looked forward to seeing what I come up with.

I shit you not, this was the "notes" he left for me

[–] [email protected] 1 points 59 minutes ago

“You know, for kids!”

[–] [email protected] 7 points 12 hours ago

Getting out of a meeting and realizing you have deliverables with no idea how fulfill them is the worst feeling

[–] [email protected] 53 points 21 hours ago (2 children)
  • Love CS
  • Major bank took me with the worst grades possible

Just have the right hobby lmao

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

-love cs

-company hires me in the name of a rich-sounding multinational

-turns out its just imperialism and im still making much less than $1000/mo, 6-day weeks.

to be honest its good for south america but still where the fuck is all that money.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

That's… reassuring.

This reminds me of that scene from Fight Club:

"Which bank do you work for?"

"A major one"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 15 hours ago

“Which car company do you work for?”

[–] [email protected] 6 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

2nd largest Bank in Germany. 50st globally, 31st without China and USA

[–] [email protected] 5 points 19 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 18 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 23 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Joke's on you, I got a degree in computer engineering twenty years ago

[–] [email protected] 10 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Seems like it was the exception to the rule (I took it too)

[–] [email protected] 13 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (1 children)

I have a feeling this meme is for younger people who studied the humanities

[–] [email protected] 7 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Or worse shudders business majors

[–] [email protected] 3 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I thought business did alright

[–] [email protected] 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Or gender studies. I still don't know what that is about.

You can also try philosophy so you can philosophize about why this choice was bad.
Who tf hires someone with a degree in philosophy?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Honestly? Pretty much any major corporation or financial institution. They don’t care what you have a degree in so long as you have one. I have friends who have majored in history, sociology, philosophy, etc. all gainfully employed in a range of jobs from HR manager, to network engineer, to our COO at where I work that double majored in literature and music appreciation. They just came in after getting their degree at a low level entry position and worked their way up over twenty five years. Same with my best friend, graduated with a sociology degree, came into the company as a contractor doing server builds, was then hired full time as a backup administrator as no one likes working backups, and then a year later applied out to a business analyst position and is making six figures in a low cost of living state before the age of thirty. The specific degree only matters in very specific jobs, otherwise no one really cares except that you have one.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

This is stupid. Not you what you tell.

You can game that system by majoring an easy degree.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Double majored in business/accounting and psychology. Went into financial auditing (not my passion but paid well). Hated my life for 12 years. Decided to go for a graduate degree in social work. Am now a very happy psychotherapist even though I make less money.

Moral of the story? It’s never too late to switch if you end up hating your original choice.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 hours ago

I went from a prestigious role in tech to a much lower-rung one that isn't so demanding. I'd rather have a pleasant life than a large paycheck. Went from miserable to very happy.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

"Well what subject did you like best in school?" Is the worst way to choose a major and it's terrible that college recruiters use it to rope fresh-HS graduates into signing up.

For anyone considering college in the next few years, you should really consider college as a career prep rather than a place to simply learn more. Unless you've got the money and support network to just dilly dally for 4+ years, you should be going in knowing 100% what you want to be doing with your life and make sure that courses you're taking the the connections you make are getting you there.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

Easier said than done. At that age, with no professional experience, it is really hard to know what you want to do for the rest of your life.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 13 hours ago

No it isn’t. People just don’t think about it….like ever. It also requires being honest with yourself which is a too tall order for most.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 17 hours ago

there's no law that says you need to do college at 18. i started at 26, and it would've been a waste before that. i hadn't even discovered any learning passions until just a couple years before that.

so maybe just avoid that problem like i did?

[–] [email protected] 23 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (6 children)

Serious - Don't follow your passion. I did. Went to school for something I was passionate about. Did well and graduated. I got a job in my field. But soon enough, my passion felt like work. My priorities shifted as I aged and I grew to hate what I studied and once fell passionate about.

Find a career path that makes you money. Once you have that money you can make time to dabble in your passion projects and hobbies. Just wanted to add a different perspective to the meme :)

[–] [email protected] 11 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

You can do both and people have done for ages. The thing about work is that you need to do it even when you don't want to, which makes some people resentful. But that's the difference between a hobby and work. Passion has nothing to do here. There are passionate people who went into a job because of it and won't trade it for anything.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I agree with what you're saying. You gotta work even when you don't feel like it. Being passionate makes it easier to work (in some cases).

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 18 hours ago

This 100%. I've worked in some sort of IT all my life. It took what I lived and turned it into a job.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 17 hours ago

I chose a major I loved and that has good paying jobs but now I sort of hate it

[–] [email protected] 15 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

So many awful takes on this topic in the comments lol. "Don't follow your passions" is just bs because they're really just saying "suffer through this major and you'll get to suffer through a career for the rest of your life."

The truth is that your major doesn't really matter. What hiring managers look for is mostly that you have a degree, and the major comes second.

I was told for YEARS that "humanities isn't worth it" and that computer science/engineering/STEM is the only thing worth it. But guess what? Massive layoffs due to AI is killing computer science and STEM grads. Businesses are putting postings out there but aren't currently hiring to maintain normalcy, etc.

For a bachelor's, just do what you want! Look at the financial aid for each school and go from there. A lot of people struggle and burn out studying something they hate and sometimes end up dropping out. It's better for everyone to educate yourself on something you're passionate about, then do a master's if you need a career change.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 hours ago

Pitting STEM vs the humanities is yet another (very successful) issue used to divide us from the real class problems we should tackle together instead. I agree with you.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

They are trying to kill CS with AI.

Software and Computer engineers are absolutely stupid expensive. And we're necessary, because so few people understand it, and even less want to put in the required work to do it.

Unfortunately for them, they don't understand it to the point where they inevitably push away the people they need to make use of AI tools, and cover the gaps that AI leaves.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 15 hours ago

Yeah, I've been playing around with some of the AI coding assistants as accelerators for data science projects. The one thing I've learned above all else is that this tech can speed up the process of coding, but it absolutely cannot replace computer scientists and engineers.

If you don't actually understand coding, AI will give you stuff that runs, but fucks up key details and/or doesn't actually do the thing you're asking correctly. It's hella dangerous.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 20 hours ago

Not always true. Sometimes you major in what you love, graduate, get a job doing cool stuff, (get fucked over by an asshole boss, change companies, kinda hate working there every day, find out through the grapevine the asshole fomer boss had been fired for being an asshole, return to the company you liked working at), well paid the whole time, and continue to love what you do so much you don't get enough of it at work and do it more every evening and weekend as a hobby.

But then, my experience is a) a bit dated (I graduated college before 2010) and b) most likely atypical.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 20 hours ago

still gotta work though

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