After 10 years, those with a Philosophy degree out-earn those with degrees in IT, Business etc. | Hacker News Reader

After 10 years, those with a Philosophy degree out-earn those with degrees in IT, Business etc.

online.wsj.com

30 pointsnickb18 comments

Higher than IT, but not higher than MIS or Computer Science. "IT" can mean a lot of things - much of the pure IT sector covers everything from being someone who plugs in the cables through to authorizing multi-million dollar purchases of equipment - not necessarily development or engineering.

(from History of the World, Part I)

Bea Arthur: Occupation?

Mel Brooks: Stand-up philosopher.

Bea Arthur: What?

Mel Brooks: Stand-up philosopher. I coalesce the vapors of human experience into a viable and meaningful comprehension.

Bea Arthur: Oh, a bullshit artist!

Mel Brooks: Grumble...

Bea Arthur: Did you bullshit last week?

Mel Brooks: No.

Bea Arthur: Did you try to bullshit last week?

Mel Brooks: Yes!

By these data, "information technology" must mean computer-industry technologist (non-college-graduate) skills dressed up as a college degree program, because the computer scientists and the computer engineers surveyed here still comfortably outearn the philosophy majors.

Out of those philosophy majors that get jobs... Clearly there is another variable influencing the results here, probably a higher tendency for philosophy majors to get graduate degrees.

Actually, those statistics are for people with only a bachelor's degree. My guess is that people with graduate degrees start out with higher salaries but may converge with those with only bachelors when experience begins to outweigh degree.

From the WSJ:

But a year-long survey of 1.2 million people with only a bachelor's degree by PayScale Inc. shows that graduates in these subjects earned 103.5% and 97.8% more, respectively, about 10 years post-commencement.

The table claims to be from a year-long survey of 1.2 million people with only a bachelor's degree.

I'm a bit biased, but in my experience philosophy majors tend to be pretty smart and philosophy degrees don't lend themselves to any particular career path. So I don't find it surprising that there's a big gap between where philosophy majors start and where they end up. And the initial number is probably especially skewed downward by lack of initial direction (I would have been ecstatic if my first job out of college paid $39k).

Philosophy is a degree that is often taken by people going into Law. So my guess is that a lot of the Philosophy income is from lawyers.

International Relations (noted in the article) also sounds like a degree that would be popular for pre-law.

My guess.

FWIW, I'm currently double majoring in Computer Science and International Relations. As far as i can tell, a majority of the students who plan on going into law stick with Political Science as their major instead of going IR.

Skimming the required courses for the prelaw program my college offers, the requirements for that are much more aligned with what's needed for a polsci degree then an IR degree. Theres only two classes from prelaw that overlaps with the IR requirements and one of em's not even being offered anymore. Also, the polsci half of the department offers scholarships aimed at prelaw students specifically. (Technically Political Science and International Relations are the same department here, though they have pretty different requirements and different people in charge of the programs)

To generalize the courses, polsci is more "American political science meets history meets business with a dash of criminal justice" while IR is more "Global political science meets history with dash of anthro".

"After 10 years, those with a Philosophy degree out-earn those with degrees in IT, Business etc."

What are you implying? I'm a student of philosophy, and I don't take kindly to the insinuation that philosophers aren't worth the money they get paid.

A philosophy degree is one of the hardest out there.

No it isn't - you just define "out there" as being imaginary!

;)

Notice that Math shows a higher starting salary, and as much of a percent increase as philosophy.

I like the idea of learning to live within modest starting means and then getting a significant increase over time to build a luxurious retirement. Math and Philosophy would fit well with this approach, getting more relatively significant increases after a modest start.

I think there are only 10 philosophy grads per year, and the Paul Graham data point heavily skewed the mean salary. :)

Other factors?

E.g., philosophy majors are usually native English speaking whereas IT/science are not. This may be advantageous in the long run.

Um. If you actually look at the numbers they still earn less than computer engineering and computer science. Their overall percentage of change is higher but earn net less across the board for the 4 year college compatible technical degrees. I think IT here means ITT Tech, etc?

I wish they compared years of education in each space - Masters or Doctorate to each other...

Now I know why everyone claimed they were a chemical engineering major my first semester of college. Most of those people ended up switching, but those that stayed had the reputation of being the most pre-med-like of the engineering world.

There was another study where I read that the one degree that correlated best with success in business was philosophy. Additionally, for what it's worth, philosophers have among the highest GRE scores.

No surprise. In the US, smart people tend to major in academic subjects rather than "get-a-job" majors, which the best colleges don't even offer (although economics at top colleges can perform that function de facto, much to the chagrin of professors and serious students within the field).

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