In the early 2000's and late 2000's, there was a sky-is-falling mentality toward engineering (especially those in software) due to fears of outsourcing that would lead to a glut of engineers, causing many of them to be unemployed. In fact, I know many former engineers who flocked to the health professions as these are seen as "recession-proof" and cannot be outsourced, but they eventually learned the hard way that education programs took advantage of the demand for health profession degrees, causing the job market to be flooded with indebted new graduates unable to find jobs. On the other hand, engineers seem to be doing relatively well today.
Lesson learned: one-upping others with an advanced degree and/or working in an "unoutsourceable" field neither make you financially better off nor guarantees job stability.