[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/sci/ - Science & Math


View post   

File: 9 KB, 199x253, images.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
15052443 No.15052443 [Reply] [Original]

many here are studying Ph or are graduating with 23 while I just started, how to deal with it?

>> No.15052446

I was 25 when I started my undergrad. Who gives a fuck.

>> No.15052447

Stop being a pussy and just get on with studying. Once you're all in your 30's and working a few years here or there is irrelevant.

>> No.15052449

I started at 24 and took a few breaks, 28 now about to finish my undergrad. I feel smarter and more open to learning more than ever in my life. I also look healthier, work out more, and am no longer depressed. It's all relative.

>> No.15052450

Do you wanna get a degree? Then just study and practice whatever you think you need to work on.
Don't think about what other people can or cannot do. Think about what you can do, and compare yourself both against what you want to accomplish, and what you've gotten through with so far.
Steer clear of thots and stoners.

>> No.15052453

>>15052446
have you finished it?

>> No.15052454

>>15052453
Yeah years ago, now doing a PhD at 30 (spent some time working in industry inbetween).
Science is an awful career, don't do it unless it's the kind of thing you'd do for free

>> No.15052458

>>15052454
same hydraulic engineering?

>> No.15052462

>>15052449
what degree?

>> No.15052500

>>15052443
Best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.
Second best time is now.

>> No.15052504

>>15052443
it's at most 4-5 years right?
just suck it up and grind through

>> No.15052509

>>15052443
stop caring about others

>> No.15052688

I'm 30 and in undergrad. What are you smoking OP? Who cares?

>> No.15052726

>>15052449
based

>> No.15052735

>>15052449
>win by contrast
You feel like a loser until youre surrounded by actual losers and you realize youre kind of a Chad.

>> No.15052748

>>15052443
My class occasionally has 30s and even 40 year old people. It's cool to know about their jobs.

>> No.15052788

>>15052443
Engineering as a profession is proving your solution is correct, start now and go about working to prove your choice to start at 23 was correct

>> No.15052798
File: 151 KB, 1069x1200, 3ka7uj8jrga81.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
15052798

>>15052788
>Engineering as a profession is proving your solution is correct

I knew my theory was correct, I dont even bother testing them anymore, and fully accepted the Theory-pill.

>> No.15052804

>>15052798
most engineers don't verify anything via experiment

>> No.15052833
File: 1.86 MB, 415x324, 1448671977611460.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
15052833

>>15052804
>Why do we do it this way?
>I dont know, just do what the book says otherwise things go "experiemental" and thats no good for nothin'.

Youre not a real engineer, youre a "shut up and copy/paste".

>> No.15052941

>>15052688
shutup gramps

>> No.15053016

>>15052443
Clearly you're not motivated or determined enough for this path if this bothers you, so do whatever and off yourself instead of taking someone elses place in that degree

>> No.15053021

>>15052443
Just study and focus on yourself.

>> No.15054080

>>15052462
b.s. in computer science

>>15052735
This is true, I always feel I'm behind but only relative to my highly successful peers. I enjoy the challenge and it gives me that whole underdog motivation. I will work on a problem for 10hrs straight like an autist out of sheer motivation to "catch-up." It's a nice placebo that I feel will carry on with me even after graduating.

Being older also means you (hopefully) went through relationships and party phases (I know I did). That extra experience comes in clutch all-around. Almost all experiences have derivable value, or so I've noted.

>> No.15054090

>>15052443
Don't try, then you won't need to face the shame. Just make sure you never leave your cave.

>> No.15054116

>>15052443
Well, you write like an idiot, so my advice would be to embrace who you are

>> No.15055284

>>15052446
>>15052454

What's your degree? Please answer. I am looking for inspiration, right now i study physics. Why ist research an awful career? I would like to do research later.
Is it just because its hard to get a job / to get a position or is the work bad?

ALSO: when you were in undergrad at 25 and now 30 and you took time to work in the industry.... how tf did you study so fast. It takes 5 yrs usually to get Bsc+Msc

>> No.15055423

>>15052443
i'm seriously thinking about wrapping up my career and going back at around 29. i'm not sure if i'm going all in on just going for an ML phd (probably easier to justify since i have a cs bachelors) or if i am going to hard pivot to computational bio

i feel like shit over it all the time

>>15052454
>unless it's the kind of thing you'd do for free
not for free since i gotta eat
but i don't give a fuck about making money anymore

>> No.15055424

>>15053016
>taking someone elses place
nobody deserves anything. good chance the person who "takes his place" is some rich dude from china who'll cheat their way through school anyways

>> No.15055427

>>15052735
>until youre surrounded by actual losers and you realize youre kind of a Chad.
but if you're actually progressing in life and succeeding you'll feel bad comparing yourself to those people
you'll compare yourself to the people you could have been and the people fighting for the same things as you. it's like, 300k a year should be good enough for anyone, but a 40 year old SWE making 300k would feel like a failure since most people making 300k and under are below 30
it's all relative and unless you're literally perfect, comparison will always end in failure

>> No.15055433

>>15055284
Chemistry but I've heard the same from engineers and other scientists. We have a group of high schoolers coming through the labs for a tour in a month and the teams have been brainstorming ways to discourage them from our fields (managers don't know this).
I'm biased because I live in Australia where there's few opportunities so the job market here sucks and pays poorly for a lot of work.
I did an accelerated undergrad so my first year was compressed into ~6 months and I did an advanced degree so my last year was research based. No masters required to go into a PhD if you already have a research degree/experience here.
In general science and engineering jobs here suck. And I mean "even with dual incomes a bank will never give enough to get a mortgage within a 1 hour commute of anywhere with jobs no matter how many degrees you have" kind of suck. There's some exceptions if you don't mind doing FIFO or transferring into non-science/engineering roles but then I don't really count those roles as being based on your degree since you could get there with less time and money wasted.

Honestly I'm just salty because work has been extra shit recently and I look at my friends/family who never even graduated but self-taught programming who now make more than my boss' boss and think I should have stuck to keeping science as a hobby and done something else to earn money.
I knew I'd never be making money but I thought I would at least be comfortably able to live and research things that interest me. My goal now is to grind the 5 more years that I need until my assets are enough to be financially independent through passive income and then I can work fulltime on the research I'm interested in but pays less than my rent (again, my wife and I will never be able to afford a house here until we retire and move away from where the jobs are).

>> No.15055436

>>15055423
If you have enough to live then 100%, once I'm there I'm saying fuck it and leaving the rat race. What's the point of earning more money beyond that point when I'll have nothing else to spend it on.

>> No.15055439

>>15055436
i don't really have fuck you money. i have enough savings to fuck off in the short term, but trying to figure out how i'm going to pay (or ideally get paid to go) to uni is the hardest obstacle on my way to pivoting
but my resume is good enough that if i leave and want to come back i don't feel completely screwed

>> No.15055805

Well, you're definitely not the only one same.

>> No.15055839

>>15055433
>Honestly I'm just salty because work has been extra shit recently and I look at my friends/family who never even graduated but self-taught programming who now make more than my boss' boss and think I should have stuck to keeping science as a hobby and done something else to earn money.
Don't be. Techfags are getting laid off in the tens of thousands. Nov was the highest layoffs so far and God knows how many will get laid off this month and onwards. In return for getting paid well for the last 5 years, they face a destitute future with no transferable skills.

>> No.15055858

I went back for a second bachelors at 25

The first class I took was pre-calc as I wanted to approach math from scratch and everyone in there was a teenager except some poor twelve-year-old prodigy who was even more isolated than me

Don't let it get to you, age should not be a barrier to learning

>> No.15056143

only feel like an idiot if youre bad at it

>> No.15056236

op I know people in their 50s studying engineering so they can get promoted at work

ffs you're not even old enough to rent a car yet

>> No.15056355

>>15052443
Youre a fucking kid still most here cope and larp. Study while youre still young.

>> No.15057350

>>15055839
Hasn't come through over here yet if it will. Meanwhile COVID travel restrictions meant unis lost all the international students so they laid off significant portions off their staff. The market's been flooded with scientists for the last two years

>> No.15057361

>>15052443
Stop caring about shit that doesn't matter

>> No.15057901

>>15052443
Who gives an actual fuck?
Are you such a solipsist that you think you are "a main character" in everyone else's life as well?

>> No.15058544

I'm just beggining to learn basic algebra at 24 after getting out of misery and from serious family issues. You have an amazing position compared to me.

>> No.15058571

>>15057901
Hey, get off my self conscious OP.

He's out here trying. That's more than most shit stains on 4chan.

>> No.15058744

>itt salty old fucks
you can tell how old someone is based on how butthurt they get when they hear someone younger than them feel bad about their age. unfortunately, when you're older you cannot reverse your age, at least yet.

the only thing you can do is move forward and bear the failure. your early 20s was a game. you lost it. you took the L, unfortunately you have to move on to the next game in your life

it hurts, it sucks, and since age and youth only move in one direction, maybe it will never go away. but if you get hung up on it you're going to lose the game you're currently in.

>> No.15058756

>>15052443
>how to deal with it?
When you graduate, you should add five extra years of fake experience on your resume.

>> No.15058773

>>15052443
I literally started studying eng at 29. I’ll be finishing my EE degree next semester at 32.

>> No.15058807

>>15058744
I went to work outve high school because I bred my high school sweaty on accident :-) Went back for chemE once my son was enrolled in elementary school and now I manage a bunch of incels that can’t afford homes, even with their halfway decent salaries. Starting late usually isn’t an L, unless you’re retarded.

>> No.15058825

Dude, literally nobody gives a shit unless you do a literal meme degree. Usually people who took a few years break after high school are serious about university and so study degrees worthwhile - it's why you would get weird looks if you did Philosophy for example - there was a woman in her mid 30s in my philosophy elective and everybody called her mum.

>> No.15058840

>>15058807
what kind of work did you do before you went back for chemE?

>> No.15058870

>>15058807
>Starting late usually isn’t an L
it's an L in the sense that you've wasted valuable years of your life and you'll always be behind
it would have probably been better to just do it right the first time. spending extra time doesn't "build character" just means you were slow or late or didn't have the character that everyone else did

>> No.15058879

>>15058870
related but i always thought it was funny hearing about people who work 5+ years in something like retail or food service and are proud that gives them an edge in soft skills when they decide to pivot into an actual career
pretty sure managers just see this as them being able to put up with a lot of shit and these people are more desperate than some regular aged new grad

>> No.15058900

>>15058840
Carpentry with a union. Mostly commercial jobs. Started as an apprentice and worked my way up to foreman. It sucked.

>> No.15058905

>>15058879
>pretty sure managers just see this as them being able to put up with a lot of shit and these people are more desperate than some regular aged new grad
they're functionally identical since it's unlikely that the latter put their retail work on their resume

a manager probably couldn't tell the difference between a 21 year old new grad who took the traditional path and a 26 year old one that worked in retail for 5 years before starting college

>> No.15058908

>>15058879
It doesn’t. You’re either a leader or you aren’t. I will say, it is better reporting to anyone that has kids.

>> No.15058984

>>15052804
The ones who do are the ones who make products that affect your life the most.

>> No.15059064

>>15058905
I believe that a 26 year old who's just graduated from college is more likely to be a smug, self-conceited cunt than a 21/22 year old straight off college because the former will be more likely to be excessively proud of getting a diploma with their name after spending several years doing some other stuff, whereas the latter will have simply gone straight from high school into university as if it were the only way to go. A 21 year old would have seen lots of people their age come into college and come out with degrees, just like they did for every single level of education before, whereas a 26 year old would feel like an exceptional case for somehow "surviving" through college and upgrading from being a high school diploma holder to being a bachelor's degree diploma holder.
Same thing happens with people from other minority groups (like women and Latinos), who believe that they are special just for being moderately OK-ish at ordinary stuff.

>> No.15059085

>>15052443
Shut the fuck up. Go sign up for an apprenticeship as a lube technician helper or put on your big boy britches and face yourself. You are young enough that nobody will know your age unless you directly tell them

>> No.15059095
File: 292 KB, 1812x1487, Screenshot_20221031_220203_Chrome.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
15059095

>>15052443
You need to take the too-old pill. You need to realize You are too old to do anything you want to do.

>> No.15059146

>>15059064
>I believe
Lel, fag
Get some experience in the real world. Most stem graduates are self important midwits. One day the realization is gonna penetrate your thick skull that you will not contribute to the dialogue in any field, despite what your parents said.

>> No.15059147

>>15059095
That image is hilarious.

>> No.15059327

>>15058879
It's actually extremely valuable if you worked in construction as like a welder/carpenter/electrician and decided to go back to school for mechanical/civil/electrical engineering.

>> No.15059336

Who cares? Why would it matter the slightest?

>> No.15059351

Nobody gives a shit, you'll be dead in like 60 years at most, might as well not regret it

>> No.15059379

>>15052443
Most people feel like idiots in their program because material is hard and the top students are great. What you learn is that there are plenty of jobs with ordinary people and you can be successful and valuable for reasons other than your academic aptitude.

Just work hard and get the degree. Instead of comparing yourself to those smart kids, learn from them.

>> No.15059691

>>15059064
in my experience there is basically no difference

one just experienced more bodily decay and less neuroplasticity, but the older students tended to float around average. among the high performers, generally the top of the class were all younger students, while the older students were average to below average

>>15059146
>One day the realization is gonna penetrate your thick skull that you will not contribute to the dialogue in any field,
yeah and that realization leads them to just dropping their major and going into computer science. most of the older people are degree changers or bootcampers.

>> No.15061022

>>15052443
Half of the engineers I work with are "new" college graduates who are in their late twenties early thirties.

>> No.15061032

>>15052443
I started university when i was 40. Bachelor in Math and Theoretical Physics, Master in Mathematical Physics. Aiming towards Particle physics masters next year

>> No.15061044

>>15052443
lazy ass pussy doesn't want to study so he's coming up with lame excuses.

NGMI

>> No.15061393

>>15052443
Lmao that's nothing anon. I'm 21 in bioanth 4th year and one of the other students in my upper year course is 31, been in university for a fucking decade and she still hasn't graduated, 23 is like a baby in comparison to most mature students, nobody on campus would look twice at you, at this point I consider everyone up to 25 the same age as me, which is kind of horrific but in practice it's basically true

>> No.15061396

>>15052446
Same but with medicine instead

>> No.15061477

>>15052443
23 isn't too old but why did you wait? It's better to start fresh out of high school before you forget all your pre-calculus math. That said, I've been in EE classes where some student were in their late 30s and they did okay.

>> No.15062517
File: 76 KB, 1024x922, 1667221217422772m.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
15062517

For those who went back later, how did you pay for it?

I'm 32, but I don't have enough saved to pay in cash. I'm considering commissioning for a 4 year stint in the navy to 1) get the GI bill 2) get paid relatively well as an officer 3) possibly get some vet preference with internships.

Pi in the sky Goal is to become an aeronautical engineer with NASA if I can swing it.

Currently a patent examiner (biology) and hate my life.

>> No.15062525

>>15059095
>You need to take the too-old pill. You need to realize You are too old to do anything you want to do.
https://people.com/human-interest/96-year-old-man-graduates-college-oldest-person-in-italy/

>> No.15063090

>>15061032
What made you want to go back? I'm having trouble justifying the expense in both time and money at my age. (Mid 30s)

>> No.15064006

>>15052443
>
to be honest it'll feel more like torture than inferiority school feels like forever

>> No.15064015

>>15052443
It isn't going to matter in 100 years from now

>> No.15066300

>>15055433
>if you don't mind doing FIFO
What is FIFO?

>> No.15066376

>>15052443
23 isn't even that late
still having to deal with 18-19 year old morons could be tiresome at that age

>> No.15066385

>>15052443
Yeah I'm sure out of the thousands of people at your school people are gonna single you out and give a shit about your particular situation. Ironically, you need to grow up.

>> No.15066403

>>15055284
>I would like to do research later.
>Is it just because its hard to get a job / to get a position or is the work bad?
not him but I also did chemistry and now work in research in industry. It's doable but you should be aware that it's certainly not the easiest path towards earning a comfortable living, assuming that's what you care about the most. I consider myself lucky that I managed to get a research position straight after a masters. I earn a decent enough salary for my age and where I live (although that's UK so most wages are shit), but nothing exceptional. I could have earned more doing some generic shit like engineering, comp sci, finance or whatever, with a less competitive job market and less occupational hazards to boot - although the latter is part of the fun if you ask me.
The work is enjoyable but this depends a lot on where you work and how much you enjoy your field of study. As for difficulty getting a job, I'd say you need to be top 25% of your cohort grade-wise, and make a real effort to get some form of internship before you graduate for there to be any sort of guarantee.

>> No.15066870

>>15052443
I just started my PhD at 26. I know a dude who finished his PhD before he was 20 (The guy literally started Bachelors at 13). People start things at different times, and it's really not worth getting worked up about.

You're gonna smash it, I'm sure! Good luck

>> No.15068640

>>15062517
Seconding this, going into student loan debt, especially later in life, sounds like a bad idea to me.

>> No.15068653

>>15052443
English mother fucked, do you speak it?!

>> No.15068814

>>15062517
>Currently a patent examiner (biology) and hate my life.
Have you considered becoming a patent agent or patent attorney?

>> No.15068880

>>15068814
I actually used to be a biotech patent attorney, came to patent examining for the quality of life benefits. However as I get older I'm realizing that I'd much rather be coming up with the designs or optimizing them instead of arguing about them.

Engineering was always a dream but a deferred one due to family pressure to become a lawyer. My mistake.

>> No.15068905

>>15052443
Just make sure you actually graduate. I'm 23 and started aeronautical engineering this year. It really doesn't matter get the age thing out of your head just don't fuck it up. Sneed and Godspeed anon.

>> No.15069077

>>15068880
Have you considered working as an in-house patent attorney? You get to work a lot closer with the tech that way. I have a a few clients I work very closely with and do various white space analysis projects for, which is getting very close to contributing to the invention process.

>> No.15069149 [DELETED] 

22 and just started Electrical Engineering. Assuming I take 4 classes per semester + 2 over summer while working 10 hours a week, could I realistically graduate by 2026?

>> No.15069209

I started at 21 due to a combination of circumstances, and always felt out of place. Just get this into your head, this will easily be one of the most consequential things you do in your life, one of those that largely determine how your life will look decades later. You can force yourself to do it and get the degree, or not do it at all, think about what results from getting it and from not getting it. That helped me during the first days

>> No.15069281

>>15052443
Engineering is a mistake at any age. I wish I wasn't an engineer.

>> No.15069636

>>15063090
Not him, but likely he either got fed up with whatever he was doing before or decide to take a gamble and explore what he's capable of.

>> No.15069760

>>15069149
I think you might be shooting yourself in the foot by doing summer school instead of co-ops/internships. Getting actual engineering work experience before graduating is such an important thing.

>> No.15069768

>>15052443
Hey if it makes you feel any better you are going to be running the rat race for 40+ years so starting out 5 years later than most doesn’t mean anything.

>> No.15071366 [DELETED] 

>>15069760
You're right. I will try to spend at least 1 summer doing a brief unpaid internship, maybe a paid one or co-op if I'm fortunate.

>> No.15071383

>>15052443
>how to deal with it?
Stop whining and finish your degree.

>> No.15071417

>>15053016
Sorry Prajeet, start your 50th application to a US university now.

>> No.15071647

>>15055284
Started 24, cs major, physics minor. Just do your shit, no one cares.

>> No.15071683

>>15071366
Not doing a true internship was one of the biggest regrets I have about college. It feels like it has set my career back massively.

>> No.15071945

>>15052443
Who gives a shit? When you start working people will assume you got it earlier anyway. Doesn't matter, it is still comfy and well-paid jobs when you're finished

>>15052446
I was also 25 when I started university

>> No.15071962

>>15052449
This. No-one cares. When i was in college my best friend was a 26 year old doing his second degree and everyone got on with him, he just partied and didn't act like the other mature students.

>> No.15071964

>>15066870
How does that even work? In my country if you're doing well in school you just get top grades, there's never any "hey we're going to test you to see if you should skip right to uni!".

The reality is knowledge barely matters against IQ, you could realistically put any 15 year old who would eventually get to uni and put them right there with minimal academic issue.

>> No.15072329

>>15052443
have you tried taking about yourself on social media?

>> No.15073168 [DELETED] 

>>15072329
kek

>> No.15073180

>>15062517
I kept saving up money while working, ostensibly for a house down payment, but housing prices just kept increasing I said fuck it and used that money to start getting a degree instead.

>> No.15073209

>>15071945
>it is still comfy and well-paid jobs when you're finished
hah. it's comfy if you want it to be but there's the feeling that you've failed that always is in the back of your head

>>15069768
>you are going to be running the rat race for 40+
i feel that the people freaking the most about about age are code monkeys.
every zoomer making 200k at age 21 is talking about retiring with 7 figures at 30
so starting at 26 is actually a huge downside

>> No.15073975

>>15073209
>hah. it's comfy if you want it to be but there's the feeling that you've failed that always is in the back of your head
Yeah you can choose to have such a feeling, but I never saw the appeal of walking around imagining that I am some sort of failure. I guess different strokes for different folks, but seems like a shit time to me. I prefer to think of myself as a winner. It improves my mood.

>> No.15073983

>>15052443
I went back and finished my undergrad at 29, went to grad school, got a phd and I'm a postdoc now. 23 is nothing.

>> No.15074020

>>15052443
I'm in an similar conundrum , is it too late to make something of my self at the age of 25? I feel like i'm a total piece of shit in everything , with literally everything. With relationships , drive , motivation and direction. I feel like i'm being swallowed into a dark abyss , watching movies with even the faintest romantic relationship makes me want that beyond belief. Not sure what i'm doing here any more guys , and was hoping this proverbial hook in the water could shed some light on the correct path.

I feel like the majority of my life has been waisted time

>> No.15074179

>>15073975
objectively speaking, if you are abnormally old and wasted time, the evidence is against you when it comes to the game of winners and losers

in tech, people retire at 30. only boomers who get comfy but shit jobs or money hungry fucks wanting tens if not hundreds of millions work until their 40s. it's a field where you're a failure if you don't make 300k by 25

>> No.15074233
File: 19 KB, 613x345, TE9rddzPhrftMvB33eRMCC-1200-80.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
15074233

>>15055433
>I knew I'd never be making money but I thought I would at least be comfortably able to live and research things that interest me.
I feel that. My first degree was in biochem, I wanted to do pharmaceutical research. Dumbasses online say "you shouldn't have done ________ degree if you wanted to make money!" but I'm not trying to be independently wealthy here, I'm trying to do interesting, fulfilling work, which isn't an unreasonable ask for work that pushes humanity forward.
I ended up doing a second degree in CS and fortunately landed a couple interesting coding jobs after working a soul-sucking one, but it still sucks.
The laypeople are so fucking dumb that they can't see how """developed""" economies have become empty husks of financiers moving around number to increase leverage and shitty middleman apps with no real productivity.

>> No.15074258

>>15074233
>My first degree was in biochem
>I ended up doing a second degree in CS
biological sciences seem to be one of the more common non-CS majors that became SWEs.
been thinking more about trying to go the other way around. realistically pivoting into bioinformatics is the best halfway, but i wonder if that is the most impactful thing i could do

>I'm trying to do interesting, fulfilling work, which isn't an unreasonable ask for work that pushes humanity forward.
feel that. being a SWE is honestly a good career, but that drive to push myself just isn't there. it doesn't feel like work, it feels like a competition, and the companies actively encourage that by ranking their employees, having promotion quotas.

like. we could grind our asses off and get rich but that wouldn't solve anything. couldn't i have done something better with my time?

>The laypeople are so fucking dumb that they can't see how """developed""" economies have become empty husks of financiers moving around number to increase leverage and shitty middleman apps with no real productivity.
i think they are aware that it's not sustainable, but they wish to keep it going for just a little longer, just until they become millionaires so that way they can weather the storm

>> No.15074414

>>15074179
You should stay out of tech desu, you sound like an idiot

>> No.15074614

>>15052443
show up and do the work, ignore the zoomers and their zoomerisms, nobody really gives a shit that you are old because they are all paying (or having mommy and daddy pay) for classes and thus have more important things to worry about

>> No.15075070

>>15074414
tech is where all the idiots are. they literally hand 6 figure jobs to anyone who can breathe

>> No.15075169

Bump