Neptune technology group. Water meter company since 1892.
They started making ultrasonic meters a few years back and are looking for an applied mathematician.
Ask HN: Who hires mathematicians?
81–90 of 152 posts
Re: Ask HN: Who hires mathematicians?
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well that sounds reasonable to me. First job was hard to get though. I can completely understand where the OP is coming from.
The first job was the grace of God. If I interviewed with someone else, I'm not sure that I would have been hired. ("You taught yourself? Sure you did, kid. Run along and play, now.")
Haha that's what I got a lot. Though I think that's why it might be easier to get into programming at an engineering job.
Re: Ask HN: Who hires mathematicians?
#83Insurance companies. Look into the actuarial profession.
Re: Ask HN: Who hires mathematicians?
#84From my experience, I would offer the generalization that nobody hires mathematicians. Mathematics in society is more of a skill set than a professional title. The most challenging or cutting edge math that could be commonly used is the LINEST() function in Excel. A person who is good at math also has a lot of great skills to offer a company, it is just selling those features and not the calculus. I started out as a…
What is the difference between mech and industrial?
Mechanical engineers make things, industrial engineers make things better. The discipline started in the 1900s mostly concerned with improving manufacturing efficiency and cost. Now it has grown to improve all facets of product quality and business process (physical and digital). It is one of the best disciplines to use applied math. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_engineering
Re: Ask HN: Who hires mathematicians?
#85A math degree could be very useful in the remote sensing industry (this has both commercial and military uses). Processing radar and lidar data, construction of 3d representations from imagery and video sources. This has applications in agriculture, mining, medical, intelligence gathering, military intelligence, etc. In my experiences with companies doing this work it was a healthy mix of CS, math, and physics person…
"Processing radar and lidar data, construction of 3d representations"
these are all 4th year/masters level electrical (or mechatronic) engineering topics at my university (except Lidar although that might come under photonics, which again is an EE subject).
And the way they are taught doesn't emphasize math (well... the hardcore math is mentioned in lectures but not assessed), but rather MATLAB or domain specific software.
Re: Ask HN: Who hires mathematicians?
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
This was very informative, thanks. I am perusing postgraduate studies. I've been accepted into an Honours degree in Applied Mathematics so I am not hanging up my academic hat yet. My reason for asking the question is two-fold: some badly needed reassurance that I have not rolled myself into a hole (I think it was a design flaw that we cannot re-roll characters in real life) and getting a broader perspective on potent…
If it is reasonable for you to continue with postgraduate studies, I would recommend that you do that. The more math you can do or know the better. And it is going to be harder to gain those skills once you leave university. You haven't mentioned any software skills. I would recommend develop whatever skills you have in that area. The ability to program is becoming as important as literacy and numeracy. Even more so…
Oh. I can program. I've done two university courses using C++. I've taught myself haskell using Haskell Book and for my numerical analysis course I reimplemented all the matlab that we had to do in Julia and Python. A different poster mentioned C/C++ so I am currently considering going through the numerical analysis again and doing it in C++.
I didn't mention programming because I don't see myself being a developer, which I knew would get a lot of attention. I like solving problems with programming, but I don't see myself writing a webapp to collect information for someone to steal.
Computer Science is my secret lover. I initially studied that, but my university focused on producing java devs for industry and didn't do the "science" of computer science. I still work through books when I have time though. About half-way with TAOCP V1.
Re: Ask HN: Who hires mathematicians?
#87[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Who hires mathematicians?
#88A math degree could be very useful in the remote sensing industry (this has both commercial and military uses). Processing radar and lidar data, construction of 3d representations from imagery and video sources. This has applications in agriculture, mining, medical, intelligence gathering, military intelligence, etc. In my experiences with companies doing this work it was a healthy mix of CS, math, and physics person…
"Processing radar and lidar data, construction of 3d representations" these are all 4th year/masters level electrical (or mechatronic) engineering topics at my university (except Lidar although that might come under photonics, which again is an EE subject). And the way they are taught doesn't emphasize math (well... the hardcore math is mentioned in lectures but not assessed), but rather MATLAB or domain specific sof…
Alright, maybe I didn't give the best examples. How about this, office next door to mine is taking radar systems fielded in the 80s, developed in the 70s, and using them to construct 3d models of the detected objects. This is far beyond the capabilities originally intended for these systems and is actually quite impressive (no published results that I'm aware of, unfortunately). This is algorithms and math heavy work. They have a combination of experts (well, some becoming experts) in computer graphics, radar systems, machine learning, and other fields present doing this work.
Re: Ask HN: Who hires mathematicians?
#89NSA is great for mathematicians, but competition is tough. The best way to get in as a co-op early in your college years, since it takes a year to get a clearance.
really that long? I though the NSA / CIA would expedite clearance. So if you want to intern at the NSA do you apply a year in advance? maybe Matt Cutts knows
Yes. It really takes around 9 months. You'd have to apply beginning of your sophomore year.
Re: Ask HN: Who hires mathematicians?
#90Formal specifications and verification, proof assistants; program analysis and synthesis; cryptography from protocols to at-rest; compilers and performance analysis, etc. I view maths as a power-augmenting skill set, like programming (which is a kind of applied maths). It lets you think big thoughts.
It also lets you break down the field into discrete chunks. A proof is not a field of study, but a field of study (in Mathematics) cannot exist without proofs. The way to start a field of study is to write a discrete conjecture which could be developed into a proof.
Software is the same way. All big programs had to start somewhere.