Not insinuating that artists deserve to earn less, more of a rant on how the four year I’ve wasted on an expensive degree landed me nowhere, with poor mental health. Understandable that they’re from the US, and we also need to take into account purchase power parity, but coming across that page made me feel like shit.
My last internship, which I quit within three months, paid me ₹12,000/m, January 2023 was the last I was employed. I’ve been sitting in my home since then. When I go to any job sites, I don’t have the guts to apply, because I have no confidence in my CS skills, and I don’t want to experience toxic workplace again.
A single painting of theirs costs between $150-400 per piece. What was the point of even getting a degree, when I could have invested all of that into something cheaper, and more employable like culinary and arts? Although I love computers, electronics and programming, I regret choosing to complete a CS degree from a tier-3 college.
It also reminded me of how I used to love music, art, dance and robotics. Well, I couldn’t afford any of it when I was a kid, still can’t now in my mid 20s. And now, even if I’ll get employed, I’ll end up as a wage slave in an IT sweatshop.
The arts has one of the highest unemployment rates of any degree…and the price you give per painting is actually less than I would expect a person making a living off of their art would charge. A love of artists I know…are in IT. So though I understand your rant and how you perceive things to be…the grass is not always greener on the other side. That said…what is stopping you from pursuing art? It does not require a degree to be successful if you have the skills.
Also…mid 20’s sucks. That was the worst time in my life so far. Stick it out and figure out what works for you.
I think Velox is upset about currency and highly unequal exchange of US labour hours vs periphery labour hours
There’s more to it than just trickle-down economics. Most of it is related to childhood trauma and undiagnosed learning disability. I wish I could go into more depth, but it would be unfair of me to shove my burden on strangers over the internet.
Four years getting the money to go to “any” college/university, almost four years to not complete a bachelors degree (and use all the financial resources from the previous four years), spend 10 years working at a grocery store rarely using anything I learned in business college/information systems classes (and actually kinda liking the work at the grocery store… I know, I’m a fucking weirdo) and now I have a “barely” there job with no security for a few hours a day/six days a week selling stamps and sticking people’s mail in their post office boxes…
Life is a super weird road we travel, it never seems to lead us where we were expecting it to…
For every successful artist there are dozens, if not hundreds, of hopefuls who never quite made it and had to fall back on more mundane work.
Sorry you’re going through that. I can relate, my undergraduate degree has only been used as probono work for no profits and self study; I had to retrain after and took 4 more years of study while working a different profession to get a job where I wasn’t “underemployed” (at least financially). I found joy outside of work and also in the polymath lifestyle but to each their own. I hope you enjoy your life, however it turns out
