re: If you had a son starting College.

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If you had a son starting College.
The Torch
With AI coming to wipe out most white collar jobs, what suggestions would you give him as far as a major ?

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If you are a good parent you discuss these matters in broad parameters and allow him to pursue his own interests. Its his four to five years to define his future life. Unless he is going into something specific like engineering, a college degree will just be an entree into a career. Encourage him to take courses which will expand his ability to write and communicate if he lands in a job requiring extensive reporting.

Engineering degree and start a business doing something simple

Swing a hammer by day for experience then and night courses at a local/on-line community college for construction management. Those data centers aren't going to build themselves.

Easy, the answer is still the same

Engineering. (IE PROBLEM SOLVING 1st PRINCIPLES)

If you learn and hone that skill, you can do anything you want, you can probably do other majors' jobs better than them.

With the population ageing, I would look at something in elder medical care. For example, physical therapy. They can't outsource that to India and it can't be done by AI. And, eventually, you can open your own shop.

If he doesn't already have an idea of what direction he wants to go, push him to the local community college for the 1st 2-3 semesters and just blast through as many prerequisite classes as possible. Spend that time figuring out what he wants to do and the impact AI may have on his ability to have that position in the future; then come back and let the board ridicule him for his future barista job that will be replaced by AI & robots.

you are a civilian

The leftist crap that kids are force fed in college, combined with the future effects of AI in the employment scene leave me wondering if there is any real benefit in a college degree anymore.

I would really be worried about how to prepare someone for their future.

There's plenty of jobs still to be had in white collar fields, just need to be the one who can prompt and audit AI in that field.

The kids who will be out of a job are the ones who treat AI as a hostile instead of a coworker.