Career choice: Tech gold rush seems to be over. Where is the next one to make a lot of money?
The number is the amount you need to earn before you turn 40 so you never have to work again. This man, who was about my age, was close to his number. The economist in me, who finds markets fascinating but was then a poor graduate student, saw this as a warning sign: If an industry is paying high salaries to people who aren’t great at what they do, then something is wrong.
It is a bubble — a bubble in human capital.
I was reminded of this conversation last week when I read this anonymous account of a technology entrepreneur worried that he may never hit his number. The crowd chasing big, fast money has moved on — to the tech industry. But the gold rush is just about over.
Consider what has happened in the financial industry in the last 16 years.
Columbia Business School, based in Manhattan, traditionally attracts people interested in finance. In 2007, more than half its graduates went into financial services; its annual employment report did not even list technology as a category. Just five years later, “tech/media” was attracting 8.3% of its graduates, and in 2022, the share was 16%.
Meanwhile, only about one-third went into finance.
Going Where the Jobs Are
The trend is even stronger among undergraduates at elite universities. In 2007, 47% of Harvard undergraduates went into finance; in 2021, just 21% did, while 17% went into tech. Of course by definition only a small slice of the population attends elite schools, but it is illustrative because these are the students with the most job options.
To be fair, the tech industry seems a productive place for students to take their talents.
