STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering, and mathematics — in an interdisciplinary and applied approach. STEM integrates all four disciplines into a cohesive learning model based on real-world applications rather than teaching them separately.
Despite the fact that the United States has traditionally been a leader in these fields, fewer students are pursuing them these days. A common misconception that students have is that you have to be very analytical or demonstrate exceptional proficiency in mathematics in order to pursue a high-paying career in STEM.
As a matter of fact, there are more creative individuals who pursue the STEM field. In a 2020 Forbes article, creativity education is equally important for careers in STEM and in the Arts. Not every career in STEM is analytical. Whether you are a great leader, a creative person, or maybe even a great speaker, you can have a career in STEM. From sound engineers, producers, to consumer producers, you can thrive in any STEM field.
This is the legacy that Justin “Mr. Fascinate” Shaifer wants to leave. Justin, often called the “Next Bill Nye,” has reached over 1 million people in the past year with his educational content. He has also been awarded for excellence in STEM Education and is LinkedIn’s Top Voice in Technology.
Join us as Justin shares advice on what career opportunities to explore in the field of STEM as well as what you need to do to have a successful career in the future economy. Understanding the future economy is not only truly fascinating, but it is important to your investments because it can help you spot relevant investment trends and opportunities to find successful companies and sectors that can help you grow your wealth. With hosts, wealth manager Lee Michael Murphy and career advisor Sergio Patterson, tune in to this week’s episode of The Free Retiree Show.
What You’ll Learn:
- Career opportunities to explore in the field of STEM
- Understanding the future economy
- How to spot relevant investment trends and opportunities to help you grow your wealth
[00:00:00] Lee Michael Murphy: Welcome into the free retiree show your go-to podcast to advancing your career Excel on your finances to avoid the pitfalls that hold you back. And what we learned from people that are doing amazing things. I’m your host wealth manager, Lee Michael Murphy, and I’m alongside my pal career advisor.
Extraordinary interview coach Sergio Patterson.
[00:00:22] Sergio Patterson: What is that?
[00:00:24] Lee Michael Murphy: Welcome into a career advancement and money management edition of the free retirees show. We’re kind of blending the two topics this time around, for today’s episode, we’re going to be discussing career advancement in the stem field, for those of you who are not familiar with the acronym, it stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, maybe you or a friend or loved one has had interest in this field and maybe wants to pursue a successful career in this field.
In this episode, we’re going to be giving you advice. On what career opportunities to explore in the field of [00:01:00] stem. And we’ll also be giving you advice on what you need to do to have a successful career. in this conversation, we’ll also be talking about the future economy. What are the new exciting areas that you need to be aware of?
The trends that are going to change the world? And not only is this an exciting topic? understanding the future economy. It’s also important to your investments because it can help you in spot. The important investment trends and opportunities find successful companies and sectors that can help you grow your wealth.
For today. We have a fabulous guests, Justin Shaifer. He is a rock star in the world of stem. He’s been referred to as the next bill Nye, the science guy, surge, bill Nye.
[00:01:45] Sergio Patterson: I’m sold. that was my
[00:01:47] Lee Michael Murphy: bill, bill, bill, bill, bill,bill, bill,
[00:01:48] Sergio Patterson: this is our best guests, yet a
[00:01:50] Lee Michael Murphy: right? Yeah. So like, yeah, I’m so stoked for this one, but you know, just to give you guys a little bit of rundown on Justin.
So he is totally passionate and has [00:02:00] dedicated his life to helping young kids all around the globe, find their passion and pursue careers in stem. He grew up in a single parent household in the south side of Chicago. And through his hard work, determination and love for STEM, he was able to change the trajectory of his life here in scholarships from NASA, the N O H a that covered a hundred percent of his tuition and board at Hampton university.
He landed a great job right out of school, making double the median income and eventually went on to pursue a successful TV career. And where he talks about stem and, gets kids excited about it. and he’s having a massive impact on so many people. He hosts science show, with WGBH travel channel and he does work with Al Roker entertainment and he’s been featured in Forbes, ABC news, essence, and he’s even had a Ted talk.
So Serg thoughts.
[00:02:58] Sergio Patterson: Yeah. I mean, I’m super [00:03:00] excited. the audience knows by now I’ve got a nine year old kid. he’s super into stem he’s. He loves it all. I try to encourage him. Growing up. What’s funny is we used to make fun of those kids. Right. we played sports and it was like, now I’m thinking I’m praying. My kid , wants to be an engineer.
Like, you know what I mean?
[00:03:16] Lee Michael Murphy: Yeah, I mean, right. I mean, and one thing I’ve listened to past interviews,with Justin and he brings up this point about, we put all this focus on Hollywood, ESPN, and, we kind of glorify those things, but what percentage of adolescent. Are going to be pro in those areas.
I mean, they’re very few far between, but, focusing on, stem that can have a positive impact on the next generation. So this is going to be a great one. We’re going to go to a quick break, but before we do so make sure you share us, if you have questions, financial related career related, legal related, or even a question for Justin, make sure you send to ask@thefreeretiree.com.
We’re going to take a quick [00:04:00] break, but when we’re back and we sit down with Justin. Welcome back in to the Free Retiree show. We’re sitting down with Justin Shaifer, Justin, how are you doing,
[00:04:09] Justin Shaifer: What’s going on Lee and thank you all so much. I’m really excited to drop some gems and help our audience out as they’re navigating their own careers.
[00:04:17] Lee Michael Murphy: We are stoked to have you on, man. I just gotta ask you right off the bat. People are calling you the next Bill Nye, the science guy. Do that’s huge. That’s like the MJ of the science world. So like, what has it feel like
[00:04:34] Justin Shaifer: And then, I think it’s an honor. I think it’s an honor to even be in the same comparison. I mean, Sergio, we’re talking about this little earlier, like he’s kind of a hero to a lot of us, especially in our childhood. One of the things I think bill and I didn’t have though, and he’s relatable first and he makes science fun.
He makes it accessible. But what he didn’t really have is this, attainability factor, right? like this aspirational quality, a lot of kids. Saw bill and I, and we’re like, oh, he [00:05:00] makes science cool, but they’re not saying I want to be bill Nye. And so I think the next generation of bill Nye, if it’s me, if it’s somebody else, if it’s a bunch of different people need to create the perception of stem.
That is cool. It’s fun. It’s dope. And it’s something that you should be a part of.
[00:05:16] Sergio Patterson: A hundred percent, I think thinking back to bill Nye. Yeah, he was funny. like really resonating with me, cause that the stuff he was talking about was really cool. So if you can be that guy, I think that’s a game changer
because that’s what kids.
[00:05:31] Justin Shaifer: I think so. I think they need, you’re talking about this little earlier, like this glamorization idea, right? Like I don’t want to reinvent the wheel here. if a guy pulls up in a nice car, like a, let’s say a fully decked out electric car, he swagged out. And, maybe all the ladies are going crazy over him.
And he just so happens to be a software engineer at a top tech company. And, it creates a completely different perception of what this stuff is.
[00:05:55] Lee Michael Murphy: Absolutely. I mean, I just gotta, we just gotta call this out right here. I mean, Bill Nye, [00:06:00] I mean, he was fun to listen to, but you didn’t want to be bill Nye. Cause he looked like he might’ve got stuffed in his locker every now and then, when he was in school,I’m just, I’m looking at you man.
Like you, you seem like you’re a great shape. I heard some posts that you can dunk a basketball.
[00:06:13] Justin Shaifer: I’ve been working out,
man.
[00:06:15] Sergio Patterson: you dunk, like
[00:06:16] Justin Shaifer: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. yeah. I don’t like, like last week, last time I hooked up to play ball two times a week. I work out six days a week. Yeah. to me again, I think it’s about looking apart. I, this crazy idea. Y’all, it’s like, I want to be almost like a science sex symbol, like a James Bond of science.
You know what I mean? It’s. Like James, Bond’s got the swag, he’s got the finesse. He’s got the cool. And you young kid growing up, you see James Bond, you kind of want to be James. so, I want to create that kind of perception. when we think about nerdy, right? We think about like nerdy guys.
A lot of times we think of guys on one end of a spectrum of sexual attractiveness. Right. and no shade on bill Nye. I’ve met Buena. He’s a nice guy. He’s such a cool guy, but some people might put them on that end of the spectrum. And then there’s like [00:07:00] the super sexy guy. A lot of times you don’t think it’s that until. Right. And he’s on the other end of the spectrum. And so, it’s like, I want to challenge that entire notion and say like, look, it can be cool. And swaggy to actually be this person that occupies both of those categories. I think bill Nye is a really cool guy.
[00:07:16] Sergio Patterson: Yeah,
[00:07:17] Lee Michael Murphy: no, obviously he is. you were right on with this whole, like, he, might’ve got stuffed in his locker a few times and no one wants to be that, but, STEM can be sexy and, we need to put that light, like, Hey, learning this stuff is cool. Like, this is cool.
Like you can be into science, math technology, and it can still be cool. And I think that’s what you’re going for. And you’re doing a fantastic job.
[00:07:39] Justin Shaifer: Yeah,
well, I certainly appreciate it
[00:07:40] Sergio Patterson: I know you’d mentioned. You grew up on the south side of Chicago and I’m thinking like, from a, like, just like a stereotypical, I think this stuff can also help with that . Cause for like people in those communities, the stereotype isn’t Mr. Science guy, right. It’s Mr.
I’m gonna dump a basketball on you. [00:08:00] So that’s, I think that’s the other thing, I don’t know if you’ve thought about that, but especially if people like in underrepresented groups, seeing you do what you do, a kid. A hundred percent, like just as important as everything.
[00:08:13] Justin Shaifer: Yeah, man. It’s actually, it really goes back. So a lot of my early work started off. So I moved to New York city at first, started out my work and a lot of it started off in the Bronx and some communities like the one I grew up in on the south side. And what I had learned in science and tech is that.
You almost learn this terrible thing that I think now gen Z is completely disrupting where it’s like, we learned that we have to almost strip ourselves of our individual cultures and identities in order to be perceived as competent. And a lot of these workplaces, whether they be in tech, whether they be in science, whether it be in finance.
Right. But what I’ve now unlearned and where I’ve, what I’ve started to relearn is that the closer I am to my authentic self, being that do from the south side of Chicago, the more that my personality resonates with the people [00:09:00] that I really want to reach. and so, that’s definitely been like a, almost like a journey backwards that simultaneously journey forward.
[00:09:06] Lee Michael Murphy: Absolutely. I can, that totally resonates with me because yeah, I think when you’re starting off,if you’re coming out of school, you’re so lost and well, what does everyone else do? What does the industry want us to be? And you kind of likefall into that. And you’re like, I gotta be like that.
That’s not me at all, but I’m going to, I’m going to try to be like that. And that authenticity gets lost and you know what people don’t realize. Everyone can see it. I mean, I don’t know. I think a lot of people can see it, like when you’re not bringing your authentic self to work. And so, yeah, that’s awesome that you’ve done that you’ve been you’re you’ve always said that it’s important for people to be authentic.
[00:09:42] Sergio Patterson: Yeah. I mean, especially in the interview process and then even when you’re in these companies, You have to be, but honestly, Justin, like I’ve been in Silicon valley for a while and I don’t want to derail this conversation, but like a lot of people aren’t, and there’s this flip side to it, [00:10:00] especially like when you look at it, just, I don’t even know if I want to go down there, but when you look a certain way, a lot of people run into issues when they are their authentic self.
But I do agree. You’ll feel better. You’ll feel better about yourself at the end of the day, if you’re true to yourself. So a hundred percent.
[00:10:16] Justin Shaifer: Yeah. and I think Sergio you’re a hundred percent. Right. And it’s definitely been an area of discomfort it’s even like moving that direction for so long, but I’ve found that the more secure I get in my own position career wise, the more opportunities I do have to now say, this is actually who I am and not care as much.
I’ll give you a great example. So, Dr. Kids, Mickey Corvette, she’s one of the keynote speakers at the summit that I hope that I host every year. It’s called the stem success summit. And she’s actually one of the black woman that developed a Moderna vaccine in collaboration with the national institutes of health.
[00:10:50] Justin Shaifer: So obviously. Track record speaks for itself. At this point, she shows up to our pre-conference call with a bonnet on, and I know she’ll be okay with me telling this [00:11:00] story because she was so proud about it. She’s like, Yeah, I’ve been busy. Sorry, I couldn’t get my hair together. that’s something that like, if you came in the workplace like that, Anyone will tell you that’s the wrong thing to do, but because she’s so secure in herself and her career, she’s now had this opportunity to step out.
And that I think empowers a new generation of young scientists looking up to her. And I was like, you should do the keynote and about it too. She’s like, I just might, because I think that would empower a new generation of people to think about that differently.
[00:11:29] Sergio Patterson: Yeah, so we can pivot a little bit. So before we started recording, you were starting to tell a story about your first investment out of college. Talk to us a little bit about.
[00:11:39] Justin Shaifer: Yeah. So I was 21 years old if I remember correctly and I was working in tech. And so we had this orientation and they brought a bunch of like senior leaders and, purportedly smart people that knew more than us, about.
technology in the room. And they said, ask them all the questions you’re going to get all your answers.
Like kind of, they presented them as like [00:12:00] they were the Oracle. And so I remember asking, and this was 2000. I want to say. 15. I said, excuse me, do you all know anything about cryptocurrency and its applications and maybe the disruption of traditional currencies? And in 2015, this was when Bitcoin was around three to $400 if I remember correctly.
And so those guys were like, I don’t know anything about that. I don’t think you know what you’re talking about, man. Like, you need to focus on. what’s important here. this is what you have to do is your work responsibilities. And so I was like, wait a minute. I think y’all are wrong. I’m willing to bet on that.
So my first sign in bonus, I literally, cash that in the bank. And then I went straight to at the time a Bitcoin ATM because you couldn’t get
[00:12:42] Lee Michael Murphy: Where’d you find the,
[00:12:44] Justin Shaifer: you had to like Google search. I mean, it wasn’t like super hard, but you had to Google. Buy Bitcoin near me, and then you’d find the, closest ATM.
And this one was in some laundry mat. So I had to go into some laundry mat and then get the card and get so yeah.
I ended up, I think it was probably [00:13:00] around like $500. It was my first. Into Bitcoin years ago. and so that was, yeah, that was pretty fruitful. Unfortunately, though, it’s the part I didn’t tell you all.
So I actually did at the time, because of the way, while this was set up, you had like your code that you could, back up your wallet is like, I’m a owner receipt and I got an actual code and I put that in my wallet and then I washed my wallet one.
[00:13:23] Sergio Patterson: don’t. I don’t like where this is
[00:13:24] Lee Michael Murphy: Not
[00:13:24] Justin Shaifer: like, okay. There’s no problem. No problem.
I have it on my phone. There’s no way, I’ll be good. And so I’m like a techie guys y’all you all will find out. I’m a tinker. I like to mess around with different technology, ended up formatting my phone, like a week later. And so I completely lost the first investment of Bitcoin somewhere, floating down as somewhere floating around.
but completely lost my first Bitcoin investment.
[00:13:47] Lee Michael Murphy: Oh, man.
[00:13:49] Sergio Patterson: Sorry to bring that back up to you. That those dark memories
[00:13:52] Justin Shaifer: A little PTSD, but it’s all good.
[00:13:55] Sergio Patterson: where’s it at right now, like 55,000
[00:13:59] Justin Shaifer: Yeah. [00:14:00] Tang. Yeah. I, but
[00:14:02] Lee Michael Murphy: pulling salt in the woods Serg.
[00:14:04] Justin Shaifer: Yeah, no, thanks for throwing salt on
[00:14:05] Sergio Patterson: sprinkle a little.
[00:14:06] Justin Shaifer: I definitely, here’s what I say. I definitely bought more. I bought more later than what I had bought then. So, all this fair.
[00:14:15] Lee Michael Murphy: Yeah, there you go.
can I ask quickly? I know I don’t want to spend too much. Like how did you even hear about Bitcoin?
[00:14:21] Justin Shaifer: Man, Sergio, I think I’m like a general purpose nerd. I’m trying to remember the first time. Like I just kinda, my ears perk up whenever I hear some information I don’t know about if, especially if it sounds deeply technological. and so I think I was actually visiting Silicon valley. I was actually visiting. and I was driving around, I think on the radio, somebody made a joke about, oh, we’re going to accept payments in Bitcoin. Just kidding. It was some kind of, and I was like, what is Bitcoin? and that must’ve been like 2014 or so. And then I just started reading a bunch. I was reading about tech startups and things like that.
And then finally, I came across some information about Bitcoin? and obviously the blockchain and cryptocurrency and all those kinds of things. I was like, [00:15:00] man, this stuff seems promising. and so, Yeah.
it’s just one of those, it’s one of those tendencies I have. And that’s why I honestly, I didn’t trip about the whole losing the Bitcoin wallet and all my, my, my stash there, because every time it’s something innovative.
On the horizon. I’ve pretty much heard about it before the people, just because my ears always perk up and I always go down those rabbit holes.
so just since we’re on the topic of, investing the new economy, Can you give us a couple other themes that you’re looking at? I mean, since we’re on the topic of crypto, like, can you explain to maybe the people that aren’t as familiar with it, what role that might play in the future economy and what you’re seeing?
[00:15:37] Justin Shaifer: Yeah. so there’s so many multifaceted roles. So, before we talk about crypto, I want to talk about the blockchain itself. So cryptocurrency is actually a currency system. That’s based on the foundational technology, that is the blockchain and the layman’s term explanation of this is like, if you think about how you have one computer, all your processing power is in that one computer.
Right? [00:16:00] But like the internet is like a network Of computers that can process a bunch of different stuff. So you can think of the blockchain as basically this. Decentralized network where no one computer has more power than any other computer that can be used to process all kinds of information. Right.
So not necessary for you to really understand that on a fundamental level, but in high level, that’s what it is. Right. And so that technology allows for so many other things to be decentralized like finance. So, when we think about Bitcoin, it’s literally this opportunity where there’s no government entity that has any control over this currency.
and basically it’s not driven by the government. They can’t print out money or these kind of things. And so it kind of started off as this like anti-establishment movement, but now it seems like it’s creating the possibility for these new business entities that can be different from previous ones based on what’s called internet 3.0.
[00:16:53] Justin Shaifer: And I can kind of break that down too. So when we think about internet two points, we’re talking about the traditional platforms, of the [00:17:00] internet, like Facebook, Amazon, apple, and Google. And these are platforms where, there’s one controlling entity and users mostly get access to the services for free in exchange for their data and the controlling entity, monetizes that, and continues to grow.
Off of that data that they’re selling. Right. But in a decentralized network and NFTs, if you all are familiar with non fungible, tokens are an example of internet 3.0, where a bunch of people are actually paying in and also investing their time into some SU platform. And everybody gets a return on their investment.
Now. One entity like a Facebook or like an Instagram. so it’s stuff, it gets really deep, but you know, I definitely want to, we can take some time and break that stuff down a little more, especially for our listeners who, men, who, that some of that might’ve went over their heads a little bit, because I know it takes a second to kind of take it in.
But once you understand that it’s like, whoa, this
[00:17:56] Sergio Patterson: That was a good, I mean, I’ve heard a lot of people try to simplify it. I think that was pretty [00:18:00] solid.
[00:18:00] Lee Michael Murphy: Yeah, no, you did a good job, man. that was a really good job of kind of dumbing it down. I know there’s a lot that goes into that space, but yeah, I think that, Set it up perfectly like, understanding how,things that are decentralized can be very powerful and it’s going to protect a lot of people in the future.
We’re still trying to figure it out. Some of us are losing our stuff in the wash with our codes and all that. But yeah, I think, down the future, we’re going to hear less of that. And I think it’ll probably be, it’s going to give us a better world.
[00:18:30] Justin Shaifer: Yeah. And I think, I really think right now blockchain technology is just one of these foundational disruptive technologies. That’s equivalent to the internet in the eighties. We were talking about this a little earlier, how imagine, or I’m sure you all can imagine in the eighties, someone trying to explain the internet to everybody, like okay.
It’s like this web of stuff
online.
[00:18:51] Lee Michael Murphy: sounds like a scam.
[00:18:52] Sergio Patterson: Yeah,
[00:18:52] Justin Shaifer: Yeah. People are like, okay. So is it is a real web, is it an actual, it’s like so many things that just kind of don’t make sense because there’s so many things that the [00:19:00] average person has to understand in order to understand a concept like the internet. Right.
And so we are obviously now multiple decades into that, blockchain is at that early stage. And I think a lot of it’s derivative technologies like, NFT, right? Smart contracts, decentralized cloud storage, like all these things are coming up. and there’s a bunch of other stuff outside of the blockchain space that I could talk about as well.
Lee, I know you wanted to touch on some other disruptive revolutionary things that are kind of on the precipice in my stem world. I’m kind of seeing so happy to take a deep dive on those
[00:19:29] Lee Michael Murphy: Yeah, no, I think we covered the blockchain cryptocurrency and obviously it’s been in the news, but yeah.
What are some other themes that, being the science tech guy that you are seeing that we need to keep on our radar?
[00:19:42] Justin Shaifer: Yeah. So I mean, a cool part of my work is obviously I get to sit with experts in their fields and they, and I literally just get to learn from them all day and they talk to me about all the awesome things they have going on. so a couple of things that come to mind, 3d printing technology is a huge one.
right now, 3d printers are not as mainstream [00:20:00] as they could be, but like the idea of manufacturing custom solutions at scale is really difficult without 3d printing. So you can actually 3d print. There are some startups out there where you can 3d print a fully functioning house for $10,000. and this house is much cheaper obviously to, so like you build you 3d print the separate parts, but it’s much cheaper to put together.
[00:20:21] Justin Shaifer: It’s usually more. because in a more structurally sound than a house that is assembled with all these other different parts that aren’t necessarily designed to fit together, right? it’s better insulated. so there’s all these kinds of things that, all these things that are interrelated, right?
this commercial space flight is another huge technology that’s coming out. And you all, might’ve seen the recent space vice with Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos.
[00:20:41] Lee Michael Murphy: Oh, yeah. Suesaid basis and Elon don’t give them a return flight.
Hey, you don’t talk about my boy Elon.
[00:20:48] Justin Shaifer: Eli man. Elon’s revolutionizing the game
[00:20:50] Sergio Patterson: Right? He’s changing the
[00:20:51] Justin Shaifer: three of them. Yeah. Between the three of them, they’re going to make this an affordable technology and use those proceeds to fund trips to the moon and Mars as well. [00:21:00] So that’s kind of the new frontier then it’s asteroid mining is another long shot.
That’s possible when you have commercialization of space flight, because now you have add, there are literally asteroids out there in the asteroid belt that may have like diamond in plentiful quantities that we couldn’t find on earth. and so like, there asteroids out there with estimated worths of like quadrillions of dollars.
that’s, for context. That’s 1000 trillion as a quadrillion. So, th there’s all those kinds of things going
[00:21:28] Sergio Patterson: That’s why they want to go to space. Right?
[00:21:30] Justin Shaifer: Well, I think That’s a part of it. That’s definitely a part of it, There’s definitely got to be an ROI for all of this. Right. They wouldn’t just be dreaming about this as a new frontier. if there wasn’t a bottom line attached to it,
[00:21:39] Sergio Patterson: even if there’s a small percent chance of diamonds and all that, like why not?
[00:21:45] Justin Shaifer: Right, right. it’s worth it. It’s worth the risk. There’s going to be some rare mineral out there on those asteroids. That’s not common here on earth. So we’re going to figure out what it is. other things that are out there right now, gene sequencing and,and regenerative medicine. So right now, we, I don’t know [00:22:00] if you all heard that research that came out like, cause about 10 years ago we fully mapped the human genome.
and that was like an exhaustive effort of a lot of processing power and all this. And now we can do that cheaply and quickly to the point where you can get targeted medicines specifically for your DNA and whatever you’re genetically predisposed to. We can find out now. Let’s say you’re a susceptible to breast cancer because of your DNA, but we can give you targeted medicine solutions for that.
[00:22:25] Justin Shaifer: Now that’s still in its infancy and it’s in the early stages. and then regenerative medicine is also using like stem cells to literally regrow instead of getting surgical implants or like, let’s say you lose an eye or you go blind. You can actually regrow the original tissue that used to make up your Iris.
That’s now possible. so these things are possible, but again, the affordability is, was when they, once they become a scaled up in, in are they’re possible to manufacturing, then they become more affordable. but these are, yeah, these are a lot of the things that are on the cusp.
[00:22:55] Sergio Patterson: How far away. Cause like 3d printing. I think it’s here. Right. It’s here now, but it’s [00:23:00] like, how do you, how do they scale it? How do they make a consumer facing product? We’re not that far away. Right. For 3d printing. I don’t feel like we’re that.
[00:23:08] Lee Michael Murphy: Can we explain 3d printing though? I mean,
before going further, because I had this, I mean, I had this picture of this printer and all of a sudden, like a house popped out of it. So
[00:23:19] Justin Shaifer: Yeah,
so great. Great. Yeah. Thank you for bringing it, bringing me back there, Lee. So a 3d printer. I mean, I’ve owned a couple of these too, like on
[00:23:27] Sergio Patterson: Tell him like he’s a five-year-old.
[00:23:29] Justin Shaifer: Yeah.
[00:23:29] Lee Michael Murphy: shut your mouth, but can you just dumb it down, please?
[00:23:33] Justin Shaifer: So the, like, how 2d printers print on paper, which is a 2d surface where 3d printers, print, 3d objects. So you got, you got some plastic, like a plastic ball, like simple objects that you can make any they use with their principles.
What’s called spool instead of. And so that spool can be basically heated up and then turned into whatever object molded into whatever object you want and you use, 3d image files, like CAD files [00:24:00] to, that you can create in like Adobe products to basically print this thing out.
[00:24:04] Lee Michael Murphy: So I’ve seen, I seen them, they look like waxy or plastic-y they
come out
[00:24:08] Justin Shaifer: the cheap ones. Yeah. those are low end ones. Those are consumer grade ones. You can probably buy them for like under $200 and you can have one in your house. I had a couple in my spot in New York, but the industrial grade ones print with higher quality materials, like the metals. yeah.
And so the, you can 3d print guns now, which is a whole other thing that people are
[00:24:28] Sergio Patterson: Yeah, that could be a problem
[00:24:30] Justin Shaifer: Yeah. that be.
[00:24:30] Lee Michael Murphy: Pros and
and then yeah, 3d printers, right? Like, unless you have software talent, like that tells you that can recognize when this thing is probably a gun it’s hard to limit the production of guns using 3d printers.
but yes, so, but Teslas though are actually, I think they just made a huge investment in 3d printing molds. So like, instead of basically most cars are built with like a bunch of different parts built in separate times and places. And then they’re fused together really inefficiently costs a lot of building materials, but [00:25:00] again, Tesla, with this huge investment they made in this like massive like factory size 3d printer, they’re able to churn out the molds of a Tesla vehicle.
[00:25:09] Justin Shaifer: And we’re just one chunk, without all the parts. It’s more aerodynamic and it’s lighter weight. but it’s stronger and more durable as well. and so, these are things that are possible because of 3d printing, but I really see this technology as being even more massively disrupted.
I actually, when I did a show, I did a show about going to Mars and they talked about how 3d printers would have to be used there and on the moon, because we can’t, it would be really inefficient to send an entire village to Mars or even the moon. Like instead, why don’t you just send a bunch of 3d printers and a bunch of robots.
I know how to dig so you can use the Martian soil to put it in the 3d printers to 3d print the scaffolding and building materials using what’s already there.
[00:25:50] Lee Michael Murphy: Oh, wow.
[00:25:51] Sergio Patterson: That’s crazy.
[00:25:53] Lee Michael Murphy: That’s
[00:25:53] Sergio Patterson: you talk about disruption. I was thinking with the 3d printing, like the whole construction industry could be disrupted, [00:26:00] just thinking about scale and the money it is that goes into like building homes and all that. . That could be a gamechanger.
[00:26:06] Justin Shaifer: Absolutely. And I think that’s another place where it’s starting to take off, but still a lot of these technologies or even the power players in these spaces. I don’t see the application of these technologies yet. And so a lot of them are still in their infancy because of that. And again, like some of their barriers are like,their cost of production not being affordable enough yet, but as more and more 3d printers have made, and this technology is we’re fine.
I’d say in less than a decade, they’re going to be a lot more ubiquitous, 3d printers.
[00:26:33] Lee Michael Murphy: All right. So we’ve talked about blockchain, 3d printers, genome. Anything else?
[00:26:39] Justin Shaifer: Nah. I see what else, if I can think
back,
[00:26:42] Lee Michael Murphy: for one more. Let’s go for one more.
[00:26:44] Justin Shaifer: One more big one. what is one of those big ones that I, huh? I, Scott, there’s gotta
[00:26:49] Sergio Patterson: w w
what about AR and VR?
[00:26:51] Justin Shaifer: Oh, yeah. Okay. The metaverse are you all familiar with the metaverse
[00:26:55] Lee Michael Murphy: No,
[00:26:56] Sergio Patterson: little bit. I mean, only because I worked at Facebook for a little
bit andthat’s all they
[00:26:59] Justin Shaifer: [00:27:00] Oh, okay. So yeah, so Facebook’s made a huge investment on this front forefront, so, okay. So here’s another way to think about. the internet, right? The internet is flat, right? We interact with the internet in 2d interfaces. Right. We have our screens on us. We have our smartphones or we’re scrolling down, but everything’s too deep and everything’s disconnected.
Right. We go to. Facebook, which is completely different from Amazon, which is completely different from Kindle. even though it’s the same owned by same company, it’s a completely different application. We have to go to different. On our phones to get to it. Right? But imagine a 3d version of the internet where each one of these technologies is interconnected.
Your zoom call is connected to your world of Warcraft video game, which is connected to your Facebook account. And you in 3d space can go to different rooms. That are accessing this technology, that accessing these different software suites and real virtual and real quote unquote virtual space. So if you’ve seen the movie ready player one by Steven Spielberg, that’s [00:28:00] a great example of that. the matrix, it would be like the ultimate disastrous example of that, where the reality that the 3d internet is so real that you can’t tell it’s not. realistic that you can’t tell us not. and so VR technology and AR like those are, they’ve had some pretty interesting applications in the past few years at Pokemon go was pretty cool, but there’s been a lot of barriers to making that mainstream.
And it’s proposed at the metaverse, which is this connective tissue of the 3d internet that’s owned by no one. Would actually be what makes VR and AR technologies more applicable in the mainstream for the everyday user. so you would need those types of devices too, Like AR VR, ready devices to access this 3d internet on the metaverse
[00:28:42] Sergio Patterson: the headset Lee you’ve seen the headsets, like Facebook has one Oculus go or whatever.
Yeah. So you put one of those on, and then you’re in this 3d world. Is that the.
[00:28:52] Justin Shaifer: Yeah. That’s exactly the idea. So yeah, like, just like in the matrix you Jack in, right. It’s the same kind of concept or ready player one, they actually used VR [00:29:00] headsets. So yeah, that’s a really cool technology that, a lot of companies are now excited about mark Zuckerberg recently talked about a huge investment in Facebook’s planning.
Into making the metaverse a reality, I think with our computing power, that’s where technology is headed. Quantum computing is another one. I mean, now you guys got me cooking. That’s another one. man. Yeah. there’s just, there’s endless stuff. I’m sure the more we talk, the more I just kind of randomly stuff will pop into my head.
[00:29:25] Lee Michael Murphy: No, this is good, man. So I mean, obviously this space, like that you’re in is exciting and there’s so much to be excited about, which brings us back to one of the things that we’ve talked about in the beginning, getting this next generation excited about it and having them find their path in it, because I think. It for kids now, I mean, that are interested in that it is a bit harder to find what you really want to do. I mean, it used to be so simple. Firefighter, take a hose, you put out fires, you want to be a policeman [00:30:00] Eagle, carry Baton, go hit a bad guy in the head with it. but now like the space of stem, like it’s, it deserves a bit more attention and explanation for adolescents.
So how do you recommend parents Help their kids on that journey. Or even if you’re just a kid, what should you do?
[00:30:17] Justin Shaifer: Yeah. So I think kids will from one, let’s start with your parents. With parents, sometimes, if you have access to a little bit of spare income, you can enroll your kid in like a coding program or things like that. But a lot of parents don’t. And so what’s now possible is a lot of these platforms that used to have to go in person for are available online is things like code cademy or MIT scratch.
If your kids a little younger where they’ve gamified this coding experience. Allows students to learn how to do these things for free, at least to A certain level. And then there’s usually premium or paid options on some of these platforms. but if you’re a kid, I say, yo, there’s so much opportunity out there that you’ve never had to actually learn things.
[00:31:00] for free on the internet *information is literally everywhere. The problem is inspiration is not everywhere*. And so, not every kid is exposed to what they need to be searching for. But I do remember I did this exercise with some middle school kids. Once we learned how to build a nuclear reactor by watching the how-to video on YouTube
[00:31:16] Justin Shaifer: it’s like, you can literally find out how to video for almost anything on
[00:31:19] Lee Michael Murphy: A nuclear reactor.
[00:31:20] Justin Shaifer: Yeah, well, we learned by watching, we didn’t actually build it, but we learned how to do it. yeah, I mean, like there’s literally a how to video for anything and that’s something that I know gen Z they can appreciate, in certain instances, right.
Or if they won’t learn how to tie a tie or do a cool handshake, but it literally gets so niche that you don’t have to wait anymore. it’s this disrupting education itself. When we think of things like the necessity of college degrees for the future workforce, it’s more important and even more impactful for some of these tech companies now to, instead of having a degree at some reputable institution to have a portfolio, like a strong body of work that showcase.
Hey, I do this. I’m [00:32:00] the man. And here’s my track record of the work I can do
[00:32:02] Sergio Patterson: It’s that skills based like future, I think, right? it’s skills. it’s it’s skills more so than like what college you went to.
[00:32:10] Justin Shaifer: Right. It’s a
[00:32:10] Sergio Patterson: That’s where that’s, where we’re headed.
gig economy. Exactly. And there’s platforms like Fiverr that have taken advantage of that as well, where, you can basically put your service up on the internet, build a bunch of traction, get a bunch of reviews, just like you’re like a restaurant or on Yelp. and you can monetize your service.
[00:32:27] Justin Shaifer: I built a voiceover business during COVID using that. So, there, there’s all kinds of cool applications of, This future gig economy. And I tell kids, I’m like, yo, how many? Y’all like making money. That’s usually how I start a conversation. and some of the kids don’t care about money and that’s inspiring, but I know a lot of other kids are like, I know when I was a kid, I’m like, how do I help my mom?
I’m not necessarily like obsessed with making money. I want to help my mom. I don’t need money to do that. So yes, I want to learn how to make money. And I said, well, stem careers are the highest paying jobs in the country on average.
[00:32:56] Justin Shaifer: Um, You
[00:32:56] Lee Michael Murphy: my attention, sir.
[00:32:57] Justin Shaifer: yeah. And so it’s like, how hard do [00:33:00] you think?
So then the next thing I asked is like, okay, how many, all the basketball players? And usually there’s a sizable group. If I’m talking to some kids in the Bronx, like I used to in it. And I’m like okay, how likely do you think it is to get into the NBA? and so, yeah, and the, you kind of brought this up a little earlier.
it’s three and 10,000, high school, varsity seniors. and so, those are tough odds, right? it doesn’t mean that it’s impossible. I never tried to discourage a kid from pursuing their dreams, but what I tell them is like you got a 50, 50 shot of making a hundred thousand dollars a year, two or three years out of your program.
[00:33:32] Justin Shaifer: If you get in stem 50, 50, it’s 50, 50% chance. So I those odds, a little.
[00:33:37] Sergio Patterson: I like those ads.
so those are some of the things that just to think about,for parents, it’s always better. If you can enroll your kids in one of these enrichment programs after school, there’s all star code girls who code black girls code.
and some of them are more broadly focused on stem there’s like rocket programs or,biology, afterschool programs. I would literally, if I was a parent, I would Google afterschool stem programs, high [00:34:00] school kid, or afterschoolstem programs, middle school kid. And there’s usually something local that, that can meet you.
[00:34:06] Lee Michael Murphy: Awesome. So let’s go fast forward to like the kids that are in college. We actually have a lot of listeners that are, getting out of college may be at a college for five years or so. and they’re still trying to figure out how they can be competitive in this field. Right? Obviously you got all these smart people.
It’s probably very competitive. How do you stand out? How do you like if you’re going in to that, that first interview, secondary or third interview, what are you doing to make yourself a more attractive candidate in this field?
[00:34:33] Justin Shaifer: Right. So a couple of things, one of the things I think of is that stem generally speaking with the exception of science, right? Because it’s super academic. You pretty much have to go to get a PhD, to operate at a high level and most science laboratories and fields. Engineering and math. A lot of times it was called a meritocracy.
Literally people want to see your body of work and they judge your worth based on your work. And so if you’re a high school kid today and you want to get a job in three years or four years, [00:35:00] and maybe you don’t even want to go to college, like you can start building your body of work now. and so, I always say to them, *Personal brands are the new job security*, right?
So I’m a kind of a middle ground between gen Z and millennial. Right? and so when I was, coming out of school, they always said, man, millennials are super entitled. They don’t work for anything, all this stuff about us. They said we had commitment issues to jobs. I certainly did. Like, I worked in my job that tech job for a year, and then I left and I haven’t worked in one job for any longer than that since then.
I’ve just been on one-off projects, sustaining myself and, the reason I’m able to do that is because I branded myself as Mr. Fascinate, as the stem guys, the science guy. So literally there are tens of thousands of people that, with their they’re looking for a stem guy, they can find me now I’m not the exception.
I’m the rule. Anytime that you’re an employer or an employee looking for a job or a person to hire, you’re going to Google search them. Right. You’re going to look up what the job is like. You’re gonna look at what the person’s like, and because of that, You got to [00:36:00] start thinking about how you appear on Google search, your search engine optimization or search engine accessibility.
Have you started thinking about how you can get an article about yourself? Forget waves about yourself online. That’ll just give you a couple more inches ahead of that other person that might even get you the interview that the other person who’s equally qualified couldn’t get because when they Googled you, they didn’t see you holding a beer bottle, sitting there by our car.
So, those are important things that unfortunately kids have to think about today. I kind of can’t like I was growing up right before that. So I got to act a little crazy, but, kids today, they don’t get that opportunity.
[00:36:35] Lee Michael Murphy: that’s right. That’s right.
[00:36:37] Justin Shaifer: Not in the same way. They’d be able to take the phones away.
[00:36:39] Sergio Patterson: I mean, there’s a, w I G Twitter, Facebook there’s salt in that all the recruiter has to do is type your name in.
[00:36:45] Justin Shaifer: Yeah.
And there’s literally no privacy man. Like when we threw parties, man, as college kids listen to this and we do parties, we used to take everybody’s phones away at the door and call it a no phone. We call it a no phone zone. And so we have a little plastic bin. We take everybody’s phones. We have you put your name on the back of [00:37:00] it.
You take your phone and what happens in the party stays in the party. But That’s the only way.
[00:37:04] Sergio Patterson: That is smart. We did, we have home phones in high school.
[00:37:10] Lee Michael Murphy: Yeah. pagers, right?
[00:37:11] Sergio Patterson: Now we have four. I had a phone my senior year. we had snake and the Nokia.
[00:37:14] Lee Michael Murphy: Yeah. We just had like Nokia snake,
[00:37:16] Sergio Patterson: was a good thing.
I actually loved Nokia with a snake. I still remember That That was a fond memory for me too. So I w
[00:37:22] Sergio Patterson: a good game. Solid game.
[00:37:24] Justin Shaifer: great game.
Great. That never gets old.
[00:37:27] Lee Michael Murphy: So, Hey, just tell us about like your TV, like the TV work you’re doing. I find that fascinating. It seems like you’re killing it. Like what are you doing right now?
[00:37:35] Justin Shaifer: Yeah. man. So, I got in TV only a couple years ago, so I started off, like I said, I was doing a lot of speaking to young kids and educators and corporate groups all over the world. And so I ended up kind of building a pretty solid track record of and getting a lot of videos of me. Just kind of explaining concepts.
You. and so I was able to turn that into like a real and a couple of years ago, like I said, that you all saw that Forbes feature kind of put me on the mat for a lot of other TV stuff. [00:38:00] And so, I’ve been able to work with our broker. I’ve been able to work with, ABC. They had a series on Hulu called Sullivan nation, and I was in talking about stem.
I was, I’ve been able to work with a travel channel and then I have some major networks. I can’t really talk about them on here yet. but we were talking about the idea of an urban science show. So most nature’s shows that you think of,they focus on nature, right? Like their animal planet science channel discovery.
there’s so many kids in cities growing up like myself, that we don’t really see how science and engineering and tech is applicable in our own backyard. And so, this show is going to kind of touch on some of those concepts, but, yeah, I mean,
[00:38:38] Sergio Patterson: Sign me up for that, man.
[00:38:39] Justin Shaifer: Yeah, no thank you, man. it’s a really interesting thing because, I’m someone who’s interested in information for the sake of information, but in order for me to convert my interest and to making the broader public interest, I have to use new tactics, like I was saying, glamorization storytelling.
and so all of these things are super important. And the context of creating compelling edutainment, because people [00:39:00] won’t watch it. If it’s not entertaining, they will know. It doesn’t matter. The most, the vast majority of the population nerds like me, I’ll come and I’ll sit for two hours.
[00:39:07] Justin Shaifer: And I’ll, I was telling my cousin about this experience yesterday. like I will go to a kickback, someone turned on a great documentary and I be glued to the screen. And then it’s like 12 at night and I look around and everyone’s knocked out. So, like I like, that’s kinda me, but I realized in order to keep everybody’s attention, you have to be, emphatic you have to be charismatic, you have to be entertaining and you have to tell a story.
And so these are all the things that I’ve had to unlearn and now learn as a result of doing the TV stuff. And it’s kind of improved my communication a bit.
[00:39:40] Sergio Patterson: Yeah,
I’m going about stories like you have a stem book for kids.
[00:39:44] Justin Shaifer: Yeah. Soit’s in the works. Yeah. So I’m in the process of collaborating with a publisher to, so we were thinking about making it either a children’s book or even a middle school book. And I think that’s kind of been my niche. A lot of the things created a cartoon series called hood science a couple of years ago.
It’s like [00:40:00] a animated series for middle and high school kids. So right around that point, when a kid, I was like, ah, The science shows are kind of corny. I’m a little too cool for this. I want to make like cool stuff that fits in that pocket that can engage that group of kids. And obviously that should also work for the college age kids.
and young adults as well.
[00:40:18] Lee Michael Murphy: So when you’re all like done with this, like what do you define as like your legacy through, by doing all this? I mean, you’re leaving a footprint, you’re touching probably at this point, maybe close to a million kids, let them get, I’m guessing through all your, all the shows you’ve done, all the appearances you’ve done.
Like
what sort of legacy are you trying to leave?
I just want to feel, I just want everyone to feel like they can do this stuff, I don’t know. People to think that it’s just for like the super analytical nerdy people, to be in stem, like stem fields, given the job openings that are available And how much money is in the field.
[00:40:52] Justin Shaifer: We need kids today to recognize like, yo, if I’m a creative person, if I’m a great leader, if I’m a good podcast or if I can [00:41:00] ask great questions in an interview, Like there’s a lane for me in stem, right. There’s careers like, sound engineers, right? These are like folks like Metro boom, and he’s really hot producer among the kids.
he’s making millions of dollars doing stem. There’s a chemist at L’Oreal that makes hair products. And, she designs these things. And she’s making half a million dollars doing that. Right. there are all these cool, unique careers that don’t necessarily require purely analytical skills you need, you can add to be a leader, a creative person, a dancer, there’s wearable tech, right?
[00:41:31] Justin Shaifer: Like you have to understand fashion to do things like that. All these things are required in stem and every kid should feel like they’re at least worthy of pursuing a field. I certainly did them when I was younger. And I think that’s what makes my testimony relatable to a lot of young.
[00:41:48] Lee Michael Murphy: Yeah, that’s awesome, man. So if people want to find out more about what you’re doing, how can they reach out to you? Learn more about your shows?
[00:41:54] Justin Shaifer: Yeah. So you can find me at Mr. Fascinate. also on Google. I remember I talked to all about [00:42:00] SEO search engine
literally in Yasha, be able to do this here. You should be able to type Justin stem and Google my first name, Justin and stem S T E M. And I should be like the first couple of pages of that.
So You should be able to find
[00:42:13] Lee Michael Murphy: You got that SEO game down
[00:42:15] Sergio Patterson: He’s got it
[00:42:15] Justin Shaifer: on lock
[00:42:17] Sergio Patterson: on
[00:42:18] Lee Michael Murphy: is SEO. Game is tight.
[00:42:21] Justin Shaifer: Yeah. So yeah, Google Justin stem, and you can pretty much find all the other stuff you might need to.
[00:42:26] Lee Michael Murphy: Awesome man, dude. Thank you so much for coming on our show today, man. you were fantastic and I love what you’re doing, man. You really are like changing the world and getting a lot of bright young minds, not only interested, but kind of gearing the trajectory of their life. I mean, that’s super important.
So, so
[00:42:43] Justin Shaifer: surgeon only honor to be on. Yeah. Thank you for the fantastic interview. You actually like to do a podcast or something like,
[00:42:50] Lee Michael Murphy: Someday Someday
[00:42:52] Sergio Patterson: we try. We tries to tell it tall. Tell
[00:42:55] Justin Shaifer: We’ll do, man. We’ll do you guys got some good stuff out of me?
[00:42:59] Lee Michael Murphy: you’ve been [00:43:00] listening to the Free Retiree so long for now.