It’s wild how the subject you pick at 18 can lock you into a pay ceiling, even though effort, hours, and smarts are similar. Biomedical researchers with PhDs scraping by on £32k. Civil engineers holding up bridges on £38–45k. Lab techs with life-or-death precision, starting £25k. Meanwhile, data analysts with 2 years’ Python rake in double. So question for the group: If you could go back, would you pick a field knowing the salary path — or pivot to one of the “golden goose” disciplines?
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I would definitely do something different, not just about pay but also about the future of the industry. A lot of disciplines are going to be absorbed by AI, and it's starting to freak me out.
A lot of AI hype has been speculation that is now looking like the "dot com" bubble. Its nowhere near as capable as the tech bros are making out. Would you trust AI to run a train and get the brakes right 80% of the time? Or a human that can get the braking right 100% of the time. That's what is being pushed on us.
It's all a moot point until society collapses. Nothing about this insanity is sustainable. Until people are raised to build a functional civilization and no 'f u I get mine' hustle and grind there isn't going to be a point to any of this. AI can't do most of what it's billed for. That means millions of jobs lost leading to companies imploding. Or they succeed and people just aren't needed. Without UBI there will be resource wars or social collapse. Look into rat utopia and Pottinger's cats. At the moment, our future is somewhere between Soylent Green and Idiocracy with a Musk/Bezos crust of Elysium.
The companies that go hell for leather on AI deserve to go bust in their stupidity. Sacking a human, who can get it right pretty much 100% of the time for a hallucinating bot that can be wrong far more than that is idiocy at its finest. Those that keep their human talent are guaranteed to survive. But a lot of these companies are ran by Business majors easily sucked into the AI stock market hype.
If I could go back? I think I’d still chase something meaningful, but I’d be way more strategic. Maybe double major or pick a field with crossover potential something that lets you pivot if the pay ceiling hits early. Passion matters, but so does sustainability. And it’s not just about money it’s about recognition, growth, and not feeling stuck.
I completely get that. I feel in engineering it's a lot of grunt work. But I guess it's not as bad as doctors ay
I honestly don't think I would. I don't have a very popular degree but my choices during that degree plan led me to where I am today and I wouldn't change that.
Thats great. What type of engineering are you?
Totally agree. Salaries for people who actually do some public good in the UK are shameful. The UK is a big ponzi scheme largely built off housing "wealth". Speculative finance and now so-called "AI", the latter of which stock markets are now realizing it's a big fraud also! 95% of organizations studied get zero return on their AI investment. Why are all these "AI tech bros" getting paid so much to deliver so little? Meanwhile the people who actually keep the UK running get a clap and £25k? Its utterly sick the society our politicians are creating.