How many of us are in a STEM profession?

[swhang]

In human resources, specifically in compensation, for a large consulting company. It's a possible STEM field b/c of the heavy use of math. But I'm categorizing myself as non-STEM.

 

[msvoyager]

Currently working as IT project manager, before that I was leading an IT support team for an int'l corporation. A decade prior to that, worked as entrepreneur in the entertainment business. Background in Art.

 

[osu_cowboy_007]

Software Tech lead, a quite few of my friends who are in the same industry have M3 reservations as well.

 

[nvx1977]

I don't see the Tesla market being confined to people in STEM careers.

Remember, Tesla has not advertised Model 3 yet. They can market it any way they like. Right now, the company is definitely associated with high tech, but there's no reason why Model 3 isn't accessible to non-techies.

We can also slice this by age. Traditionally Tesla owners are older, likely because they've had some time to accumulate the wealth needed to afford one. But Millennials love the Tesla brand and aspire to own one. A base config Model 3 might shift the age demographics quite a bit.

 

[SageBrush]

This is a complicated question. STEM is not required to be comfortable in an EV but it helps to not be ignorant of basic physics like power and energy. The sad state of the US probably means that 2/3rds of the populace, perhaps 3/4rths, cannot tell a kWh from a kW. So for EVs to become mainstream that barrier will have to be overcome. Laziness and reactionary conservatism will keep the majority of the people in the dark until money forces them into that new-fangled stuff.

Smartphones are really interesting as a cultural phenom. I think a lot of people on this forum would be quite surprised to learn that a large fraction (perhaps a majority) of smartphone users use their phones for calls, texts and facebook, but little else. I cannot count the number of times I have asked someone to take a photo and send it to me, only to be told they do not know how that is done. Even widespread tech has FAR outpaced the ability of most people to use any but the most trivial aspects.

 

[caltechkid]

PhD from Caltech in Chemical Physics but have been in VC/PE for most of my career so no longer a "practicing" scientist or researcher but was once. Worked at JPL/Caltech and NIST/JILA, won grants from the NSF and NIH, published peer-reviewed papers etc.

In the old days (~2013) owners were largely STEM or STEM adjacent folks but clearly no longer the case - which is of course essential for wide scale adoption of the product.

As a baseline, most people have no idea how their ICE engine works, nor do they get why leaving the fridge door open on a hot day isn't too bright. Extending this to mobile electronics, reverse osmosis or desalination, evolutionary concepts or the age of the earth, or even...vaccines!

One day I'd love to go back and teach a "Basic science for citizens" class in high school as we have one of the least educated populaces in the western world in terms of basic scientific concepts.

 

[RedAntisocial]

Video Systems design and engineering.

I used to do those jobs, now I head a team doing those jobs.

 

[Thomas Edison]

I work for a company that has 125 tesla semis on preorder....

 

[IhateOPEC]

I put yes. I am a pilot, but my degree is in Aerospace Engineering.

 

[RayW]

I had an interesting discussion with a friend today about how Teslas are such a niche market car and how they will never succeed in the long run. In his view, only an small fraction of the country would ever buy something as underdeveloped and techno-geeky as a Tesla vehicle.

So... that being said, how many of us are engineers or scientists?

What does he mean by “underdeveloped”?

 

[cellogig]

I work for a company that has 125 tesla semis on preorder....

That would be great if u got to drive one them!!!

 

[omgwtfbyobbq]

I work in business process automation (business systems analyst).

 

[BluestarE3]

I worked in the tech field for over three decades (retired now for almost a decade).

 

[N5329K]

Architect (buildings, not "products"), pilot, novelist (12 books published by real publishing houses since 1988, occasional magazine articles for Smithsonian Air & Space). STEM-related, but not STEM.
Robin

 

[ZERO260]

Mechanical Engineer manager, explosive and rocket manufacturing

 

[Thomas Edison]

That would be great if u got to drive one them!!!

I literally might be driving one at work in a few years.

 

[gtmotor]

What does he mean by “underdeveloped”?

He's a super old school Detroit type (even though he's only 37). He used to work for GM and still views Tesla as a start up. I think he's coming around though, we took my Model 3 to lunch the other day and he was like: "This is way nicer than I was expecting" My car also doesn't seem to be plagued by the alleged poor fit and finish of some of the really early Model 3s. He was walking around trying to nit pick on the panel gaps but only found a few things to complain about.

 

[RenMan68]

Senior Research Engineer. However, my wife, who is a school teacher and librarian, totally digs Teslas and wants one too. The demographic is not limited to STEM-like people. It appeals to people who like progress because electric cars are an icon of a 'better' future as well as environmentally better choice.

 

[cpa]

I do not consider my profession STEM related. Sure, I have to be able to do high school algebra, but that is about it. My job is more about personal relationships and minimizing the oxidation of their money to that great big reducing agent called the IRS.

I had lunch with an august member of this forum last summer. I posited that upwards of 80% of the active participants here were in STEM, primarily tech and engineering. This poll validates my assumption.

The sad state of the US probably means that 2/3rds of the populace, perhaps 3/4rths, cannot tell a kWh from a kW.

But truly, does it matter in the overall scheme of things? It is quite likely that if someone said, "I am charging at 105kWh," you would know exactly what he meant.

You wrote, " 2/3rds and 3/4rths." The correct way would have been 2/3 . . .3/4. To append the ordinal suffixes to fractions is wrong by any style book. But we all knew what you meant. Your message was clear, and that is the primary meaning behind all communication. So, within the context of this forum, it does not matter in the overall scheme of things.

The fact is, we are all experts in selected areas of knowledge. We are conscious of subtle differences in terminology. Misuse of the proper terms can make our hair hurt. But I would submit that each of us misuses terms of art from other fields because we are untrained or ignorant, or an amateur, or a casual participant.

 

[reddy]

We need to factor in the bias induced by only having TeslaMotorsClub registrants voting.

IMO, we may be measuring more the STEM membership percentage of TMC users, than ownership of Teslas.