Smelly Swiss Dilettante

[loutfard]

One more person here to hope you got the job you wanted!

[7Wannabe5]

I think with academic families it's not just a matter of favors traded. There's also a great deal of nurture, and likely some nature (IQ is known to be at least somewhat heritable, although also sporty), and don't forget inter-marriage. There's also overlap with arts community and civil service community. IOW, the entire Gentry Ladder or as David Brooks described, Snobby Elite (as opposed to Sleazy Elite.) The Tech community seems to be positioned midway between the Snobby and Sleazy Elite. Although, if I think about the families I know of that have been on the Gentry Ladder in the U.S since before 1900, location will also influence outcome to a fairly significant degree. For example, San Francisco vs. Lawrence vs. Detroit vs. Austin.

Approximately 2% of the U.S. population has a PhD, JD, or MD. , so even in a multi-generational slacker-with-high-test-scores family like mine, you will likely see a concentration at one degree of separation. Although, I think there may be a growing tendency for those in younger generations to float around on experience, skills, connections, or maybe even "vibes" more than credentials.

[zbigi]

From what I'm seeing, in STEM fields, a lot of US professors are immigrants, mostly from Asia. Looks like a lof of them got the job on merit. It may be different in non-STEM though, where no hard truth is to be found and thus cultural capital is much more important.

[delay]

From what I'm seeing, in STEM fields, a lot of US professors are immigrants, mostly from Asia. Looks like a lof of them got the job on merit. It may be different in non-STEM though, where no hard truth is to be found and thus cultural capital is much more important.

Can't disagree there! Jacob was listing factors "ceteris paribus" (all else being equal.) Asian professors come with a flow of lucrative foreign students which is another form of "merit".

I think with academic families it's not just a matter of favors traded. There's also a great deal of nurture, and likely some nature (IQ is known to be at least somewhat heritable, although also sporty), and don't forget inter-marriage. There's also overlap with arts community and civil service community.

That sounds like a better description than mine! The higher level academics were proportionally much more into arts than the lower level academics.

Then you had this Russian postgrad who said the candidate with the most beautiful wife would be the next professor. He was often right

[7Wannabe5]

@delay:

Yeah, I think John Adams mostly got it right, and this also obviously somewhat applies to the ERE progression, even though our brave leader is a bit "bah, humbug" on the value of arts/humanities education . Although, at this juncture in history, maybe "meta-crisis" and "systems science" and/or "meditation" and "holism" would transcend Adams' Early Neo-Renaissance-Modern Era list.

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain

Then you had this Russian postgrad who said the candidate with the most beautiful wife would be the next professor. He was often right

Yes, although it's likely more correlation or indirect causation than direct causation. An ambitions NT intellectual might be better off with an NF or even SF partner because they would be differently ambitious and/or bring different skills to the collaboration. ENTPs often hold intermediary roles, because we lack the focus/discipline of a scientist or an artist, but have the ability to speak their languages as well as often holding some practical fluency in "commerce" or "tech" or similar. For example, having enough commerce/tech skills to own/operate a printing press was a perfect generalist position/profession for an ENTP like Benjamin Franklin. And this is towards why the eNTPs on this forum tend towards their own flavor of Semi-ERE. This is also why the internet has difficulty deciding whether to classify John Adams as an INTJ or an ENTP, but I believe his tendency to impose hierarchy upon the generalist spectrum is clearly more indicative of iNTj. Also, the fact that he mostly stuck with Abigail rather than totally running rogue in Paris like old eNTP Ben.

[Jean]

@guitarplayer
It means i got an interview on monday. I also have the exam to get into the vet school on friday. I found an example of the kind of question they ask. Answering everything correctly will be challenging. I hope that other candidates will find it even more challenging
https://www.swissuniversities.ch/filead ... es2025.pdf
if anyone is curious

@loutfard
thank you
the job would be really practical.

[Jean]

Since i might have a regular income again, i started thinking at ways to remortgage my house, to buy an other house and rent it out. This kind of scheme feels a bit like cheating.
Is the banking system skewed that way, or am i missing something? Is the only downside the risk of house prices sinking?
I'll go ask at the bank. Even if the house i have in sight doesn't work, it might be good to know the range that is possible.

[rube]

The scheme isn't cheating, you take on certain risks and a little (or more) work for the expected profit.
It can work out well, but it will require research and effort to be able to asses the risk well and to manage it all.

Besides the risk of value going down, other risks are renters, changing regulations, natural disasters (think that Swiss village that got covered recently).

[zbigi]

Biggest risk is usually possibility of interest rates going up, which could increase your monthly due interest to the point where rent from tenant does not cover monthly payments to the bank.

[guitarplayer]

I think it feels a bit like cheating because of the (always) probabilistic nature of risks and that downsides are not seen when not materialised.

My strategy which I also recommend to you if you get that job is to tend and nurture a small part of you that does not mind doing a little of some kind of work at any time (think not ever ending up in a burnout situation) and alongside of it maintaining enough of a public persona in terms of experiences and credentials that there are people who are willing to give you a little of some kind of work at any time. Combine it with the low spending that you have (which you do) - this is in my view the most resilient life strategy in your situation.

So if you get that job, I suggest you concentrate on the above. I know that a few things about the job and given certain aspects of it (which I am not going to be disclosing) I think it is very possible to build a level of public trust you could then use to carry the day.

I might be wrong but I cannot possibly imagine you doing a U-turn in terms of your lifestyle, so the vet school and the long term plan of becoming a vet, whilst might be appealing for other reasons, in terms of purely securing a livelihood, is an overkill.

[Jean]

@ guitarplayer
I would really like to be able to never need a job ever again. So investment money is the sought after end product of this reentry into the workforce. I will of course look after my sanity in priority, but my credentials and ability to reenter this field will come after those two goals. But those three goals dont contradict each other, a burnout is one of the most likely cause for me to burn bridges, so it makes sense to try to avoid it.
Studying to be a vet is mostly a way to trigger murphy's law by being in a situation where a pregnancy would be unpractical, in order to trigger a pregnancy

Besides this, i think i will enjoy being a student again and the access to ressources it provides.
I choosed vet, because it is the skill set i am the most likely to need for myself in the next 30 years, be it in normality or in catastrophic scenarios.
The income structure it provides is a huge plus, but a side effect. I dont think i will 180 on my lifestyle, but my gf might want to raise child in conditions that i might not be able to maintain without more incone than i have now.

[loutfard]

Since i might have a regular income again, i started thinking at ways to remortgage my house, to buy an other house and rent it out. This kind of scheme feels a bit like cheating.
Is the banking system skewed that way, or am i missing something? Is the only downside the risk of house prices sinking?

Extreme concentration of and leverage on assets is rather risky if you ask me.

[Jean]

Interview went well, i got the job.
I will start in the middle of august to get some basic training, and then start for real in september.
I feel a bit afraid of the great reduction in free time that will come from the combination of job and studies.

[NewBlood]

Congrats Jean!!! Well done!