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Computer Geeks As Loners? Data Says Otherwise

Posted by Soulskill on from the guess-what-day-it-is dept.

Computerworld reports on an analysis of census data to compare marriage rates for different professions. They found the rate for tech workers to be similar to that of other white-collar professions, and significantly higher than the rate for the general population. 62.1% of people with IT jobs are married, as are 56.5% of scientists and 65.5% of engineers. This compares well to people in legal professions (62.0%), medical jobs (61.3%), and finance (62.4%). 51% of the adult U.S. population was married as of the 2010 census. Tech workers do have a slightly higher percentage of people who have never married — 26.7% of IT workers and 31.9% of scientists — but they also have slightly fewer divorces.

9 of 158 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Engineers FTW! by drunkennewfiemidget · · Score: 5, Funny

    I guess... if marriage is 'winning'.

  2. Computer Geeks? by nine-times · · Score: 5, Informative

    the rate for tech workers to be similar to that of other white-collar professions

    So that's "tech workers", not computer geeks. Even if you accept the idea that "computer geek" is a meaningful classification, it's no longer the case that only computer geeks work with computers. Tech workers have profiles similar to other white-collar professionals because "tech work' are just white collar professions.

  3. Great, now I feel even lonelier by ebunga · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just what I needed to read on singles shaming day.

    1. Re:Great, now I feel even lonelier by inasity_rules · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I refer to it as Singles Awareness Day. Or, S.A.D.

      --
      I have determined that my sig is indeterminate.
    2. Re:Great, now I feel even lonelier by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Funny

      So, do whatever everybody else does ... rent porn, order pizza and drink scotch.

      Or, is that just me?

      I hope my wife is OK with that, because it's probably too late to go looking for flowers. ;-)

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  4. Re:Engineers FTW! by gnick · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm an engineer - And I'm married for the second time! Do I count double?

    --
    He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  5. This doesn't mean they're not loners. by AlphaBro · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In fact, this is yet another symptom. Their crushing loneliness compels them to wife the first woman that gives them a chance. I've seen this pattern repeatedly throughout the course of my career. It makes work related social events even more unbearable, having to endure exposure to so many unhappy marriages and whatnot.

  6. Re:Engineers FTW! by davester666 · · Score: 5, Funny

    No. 2 demerits for not learning from your first mistake.

    --
    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  7. Re:Engineers FTW! by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Funny

    No. 2 demerits for not learning from your first mistake.

    Bah, like all engineers, he was going for empirical evidence instead of a theoretical model. ;-)

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.