How much risk can you take?
So I was talking to my brother about risk aversion this morning. As I think I've mentioned on this blog, I am a lawyer. Lawyers have a reputation for being risk averse, and I had always assumed that this reputation was deserved. Judging by my acquaintance, most law students and lawyers ended up in law school not because they had an innate love for the law, but because they had no strong inclination to do anything in particular after college, and they figured that becoming a lawyer was a way to hedge their bets. Everyone knows that a law degree opens so many doors, right?* And until the past few years, a law firm was a safe place to ride out your career. If you did decent work and put in your hours, you were guaranteed a comfortable life. Maybe you wouldn't make partner, but there were other firms to go to, and of course you could always set out your shingle and try to make it as a solo practitioner.
If you have read Above the Law or a newspaper lately, then you know that things are not quite as easy for lawyers these days. A law degree is no longer a golden ticket to success. If you buy into the conventional wisdom that lawyers are risk averse, then what we have is a large group of people who have shelled out $100k+ for a great education and who are now, because of layoffs or because they happened to graduate in one of the lost years, struggling to figure out how to handle what their lives have become.
I mentioned to my brother that I thought I was risk averse, and he said, "Really? But you swam with sharks, and you backpacked across Europe by yourself." And he's right. I've taken a number of serious risks in (with) my life, and in certain areas I have an insane overconfidence. In others, not so much. But his comment got me thinking about lawyers in general. When you go to a private law school (and many public law schools), you pay upwards of $30k in tuition alone per year. Even in the best years for big law lawyers - probably the late 1990s and early 2000s - for most students, paying this tuition was nothing less than making a bet that they would make good grades and land a 6-figure job upon graduation. The kids who go to top tier schools all finished towards the top of their college classes. They're all smart. But each one is betting that she is smarter than the others in her law school year, or at least smarter than half of them. None of these students has anything more to go on than a record of undergraduate achievement and a belief in herself. Even in the best of years, that doesn't sound so risk averse to me.
* This statement is meant as irony. A law degree may unlock doors, but even if they're unlocked, you need a whole team of castle-stormers to force them open. It is rarely a good idea to invest in a law degree if you plan to do something other than law.**
** See how I hedged? I am so a lawyer.
In other news. . .
Some of you may have heard that I have a pattern coming out in the Deep Fall 2010 Knitty. I'm incredibly excited about this. I can't show you any photos of that pattern, but here is a photo of a free pattern I just posted for download on Ravelry:
Cold Comfort Hat. Please forgive the funky colors - I am still figuring out Photoshop. The pattern is quick and easy. Keep checking this blog, because I will be posting photos of another soon-to-be released pattern in the next day or so.
If you have read Above the Law or a newspaper lately, then you know that things are not quite as easy for lawyers these days. A law degree is no longer a golden ticket to success. If you buy into the conventional wisdom that lawyers are risk averse, then what we have is a large group of people who have shelled out $100k+ for a great education and who are now, because of layoffs or because they happened to graduate in one of the lost years, struggling to figure out how to handle what their lives have become.
I mentioned to my brother that I thought I was risk averse, and he said, "Really? But you swam with sharks, and you backpacked across Europe by yourself." And he's right. I've taken a number of serious risks in (with) my life, and in certain areas I have an insane overconfidence. In others, not so much. But his comment got me thinking about lawyers in general. When you go to a private law school (and many public law schools), you pay upwards of $30k in tuition alone per year. Even in the best years for big law lawyers - probably the late 1990s and early 2000s - for most students, paying this tuition was nothing less than making a bet that they would make good grades and land a 6-figure job upon graduation. The kids who go to top tier schools all finished towards the top of their college classes. They're all smart. But each one is betting that she is smarter than the others in her law school year, or at least smarter than half of them. None of these students has anything more to go on than a record of undergraduate achievement and a belief in herself. Even in the best of years, that doesn't sound so risk averse to me.
* This statement is meant as irony. A law degree may unlock doors, but even if they're unlocked, you need a whole team of castle-stormers to force them open. It is rarely a good idea to invest in a law degree if you plan to do something other than law.**
** See how I hedged? I am so a lawyer.
In other news. . .
Some of you may have heard that I have a pattern coming out in the Deep Fall 2010 Knitty. I'm incredibly excited about this. I can't show you any photos of that pattern, but here is a photo of a free pattern I just posted for download on Ravelry:
Cold Comfort Hat. Please forgive the funky colors - I am still figuring out Photoshop. The pattern is quick and easy. Keep checking this blog, because I will be posting photos of another soon-to-be released pattern in the next day or so.
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