If you do the job that the employer wants, does it matter you are 27 or 77?! They get what they want.
I'm afraid ageism is a thing, and I'm on the wrong side of it haha
Ask HN: What to do with a pure mathematics degree?
21–25 of 25 posts
Re: Ask HN: What to do with a pure mathematics degree?
#22In regards to a career as a quant, the top firms may focus on "young geniuses" but there will be plenty of places where your profile would be just fine. It's a broad industry!
That's good to hear! if you could share more info about it I'm all ears
Re: Ask HN: What to do with a pure mathematics degree?
#23Talk to people in your department about where students who enter industry end up working after graduation. Your university may have a kind of "jobs fair" in Autumn where companies come to recruit. Look into those companies and find out what skills they seem to like. For what it's worth: I ended up going the quant/finance route (as a "regular guy" with no meaningful accomplishments). If I could start over I would try…
Thanks for the reply. Are you still in that quant/finance industry? any pros/cons?
I'm a bit afraid, like a bunch of people I guess, of AI eating all those data analyis/science jobs. But that field sounds definitely interesting.
Re: Ask HN: What to do with a pure mathematics degree?
#248 years ago I graduated with a bachelors degree in pure math and theoretical physics. 2 years later I settled down and decided to just become a software engineer building CRUD apps. Since graduating I've consistently looked for a job that explicitly had software and pure math requirements, but I've continuously come up short.
In theory, I think two good avenues for you to check out would be: 1) building physics and game engines at a company like Unity; 2) building the knowledge engine behind something like WolframAlpha/Mathematica. It's possible you'll need graduate school experience to be competitive for these jobs.
I'd guess that no matter what you're going to end up doing some kind of programming. I don't think formal education is required for this.
Re: Ask HN: What to do with a pure mathematics degree?
#25Description fits requirements to take certification exams for actuary work.
Oh I thought those exams were a thing in the US, but not here in Europe. I'll do my research. Thank you!
Bit dated, but [1] might be of use. American certification(s) bit more demanding.
Blurb on certification/backround differences [2]
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[1] : https://www.soa.org/globalassets/assets/library/proceedings/...
[2] : https://www.reddit.com/r/Actuary_news/comments/ox4t30/why_do...