Is it worthwhile?
But what creates the most stress? Being pressured to do things that are unethical or not worthwhile... and not being paid enough to cover the cost of maintaining body and soul to be able to do the work.
Work that aligns with ethical standards, that is positive rather than negative, that pushes the STEM envelope, and compensation that covers the cost of food, shelter and clothing for the professional and his family while rewarding great work and discouraging "crapware" is where it's at.
So, "social networking" is out. CRM is out. Most data-base work is out. Most "location services" based work is out. Most ERP is out. "File sharing" is out. Surveillance cameras -- especially those linked with facial recognition and/or DNA data-bases are out. Digital medical records systems are out, and those which allow transmission of data (IOW all of them) even more out. Insecure e-money is out. Privacy- and liberty-reducing mass transit are out. Government-backed/-enforced oligopolies and monopolies are out. Hyper-credentialism is out.
CAD/CAM/CAE is in. Nuclear physics is in. Chemistry is in. Aerospace engineering is in. Economics is in. History of the American Revolution is in. Genealogy walks the line between "in" and "out". Hacking the Red Chinese and Iranian ruling thugs is in. Gold, platinum, silver, palladium, copper, zinc, and iron are in. Oil, natural gas, wind-mills, and nuclear electricity (and chemistry and fracking and pipe-lines) are in. Micro-generation of electricity is in. Competition is in. Education and training, including auto-didacticism are in.
