I think a lot of western bright minds would be working on physics, materials, technological breakthroughs if the pay wasn't abysmal and working conditions exploitative.
I know several people that got STEM degrees. One worked for Boeing, moved into progamming at an ad tech company. One had a math degree, got into programming at a real estate firm. One had a physics degree, is now an electrician.
The ridiculously expensive college education can't even prepare us for our own workforce, which has very little demand for engineering, sadly.
