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Physicists taking jobs as Silicon Valley software engineers

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Re: Physicists taking jobs as Silicon Valley software engineers

#101

Post by sjg007 »

jschwartzi wrote: post #32
randlet wrote: post #20

This is a pretty common career path I think once people realize that finding a well paying physics gig is much much tougher than just becoming a developer. Every physicist has at least some programming experience and are generally adept at problem solving. Coding was always way more fun than doing 4th year/grad school level physics for me too. Also, it is especially tough to get a job if you're a mediocre physicist (…

The American Physical Society maintains numbers on career paths for their student members, and less than 5 percent end up with a Physicist job title. Most end up in the career paths you list.

Finance use to be a big draw. Not sure if it still is. I am tempted to move to finance...

Re: Physicists taking jobs as Silicon Valley software engineers

#102

Post by vostok »

roymurdock wrote: post #33

Anderson left Harvard before getting his PhD because he came to view the field much as Boykin does—as an intellectual pursuit of diminishing returns. But that’s not the case on the internet. “Implicit in ‘the internet’ is the scope, the coverage of it,” Anderson says. “It makes opportunities are much greater, but it also enriches the challenge space, the problem space. There is intellectual upside.” Was thinking of p…

The Economics job market has actually been much better than the Physics or Math job market. Marketing and Accounting are good too.

Re: Physicists taking jobs as Silicon Valley software engineers

#103

Post by sjg007 »

roymurdock wrote: post #33

Anderson left Harvard before getting his PhD because he came to view the field much as Boykin does—as an intellectual pursuit of diminishing returns. But that’s not the case on the internet. “Implicit in ‘the internet’ is the scope, the coverage of it,” Anderson says. “It makes opportunities are much greater, but it also enriches the challenge space, the problem space. There is intellectual upside.” Was thinking of p…

Interesting.. would you suggest some to follow? And what is the current consensus/debate?

We are 20 years out of NAFTA and free trade with China. I see a lot of journeymen/trades that do well in union gigs, police/fire/teachers and blue collar professionals... Those who aren't doing well are people outside of this (service/retail) and illegal immigrants. I guess manufacturing was a union gig that one could get into... On a side note.. why does a Tahoe cost 70k... I mean I know people pay that but seriously... unreal. A Tesla too.. crazy expensive.

Re: Physicists taking jobs as Silicon Valley software engineers

#104

Post by sjg007 »

fnbr wrote: post #42
roymurdock wrote: post #33

Anderson left Harvard before getting his PhD because he came to view the field much as Boykin does—as an intellectual pursuit of diminishing returns. But that’s not the case on the internet. “Implicit in ‘the internet’ is the scope, the coverage of it,” Anderson says. “It makes opportunities are much greater, but it also enriches the challenge space, the problem space. There is intellectual upside.” Was thinking of p…

I did a master's in econometrics and that was my experience. In the last year of my undergrad, I took a course in machine learning that seemed to have way more intellectual rigor than any of the material covered in grad school. At one point, I mentioned to the professor that I was concerned that the model he had presented was overfitting, and he had no understanding of what the term meant. I think that economics stud…

With deep learning overfitting has been thrown out of the window..

Re: Physicists taking jobs as Silicon Valley software engineers

#105

Post by jabl »

smallnamespace wrote: post #87
jessriedel wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a source for the rough number 10? I'd have guessed the average is more, even if the median is 10ish.

It really depends on the field -- fields with labwork tend to have more PhDs per professor because there's an incentive to get cheap labor.

https://www.its.caltech.edu/~dg/crunch_art.html claims it's about 15. Though that article was written in 1993, it seems (good read in general, btw).

Still, it seems low IMHO. Unless you start counting at the point where the person gains full tenure rather than from the point where they become some kind of "group leader", "assistant professor", or such "tenure track" type position?

Re: Physicists taking jobs as Silicon Valley software engineers

#106

Post by jessriedel »

jabl wrote: post #105
smallnamespace wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really depends on the field -- fields with labwork tend to have more PhDs per professor because there's an incentive to get cheap labor.

https://www.its.caltech.edu/~dg/crunch_art.html claims it's about 15. Though that article was written in 1993, it seems (good read in general, btw). Still, it seems low IMHO. Unless you start counting at the point where the person gains full tenure rather than from the point where they become some kind of "group leader", "assistant professor", or such "tenure track" type position?

I think the relevant number is the fraction of PhDs that go one to a position that mints new PhDs. (That's where the multiplier comes from.) So that almost never includes non-tenure-track positions, but does include assistant professors who don't go on to make tenure.

Re: Physicists taking jobs as Silicon Valley software engineers

#107

Post by eva1984 »

> In other words, all the physicists pushing into the realm of the Silicon Valley engineer is a sign of a much bigger change to come.

So this article comes all the way to this. Is there data that hiring of physicists speeded up in the recent years? And why roles they are taken? Presumably not all in machine learning, if I have to guess.

Until then, this is another effort to turn an otherwise good interview into an unsubstantiated editorial aiming for nothing but hype.

Re: Physicists taking jobs as Silicon Valley software engineers

#108

Post by roymurdock »

cinjon wrote: post #36
roymurdock wrote: post #33

Anderson left Harvard before getting his PhD because he came to view the field much as Boykin does—as an intellectual pursuit of diminishing returns. But that’s not the case on the internet. “Implicit in ‘the internet’ is the scope, the coverage of it,” Anderson says. “It makes opportunities are much greater, but it also enriches the challenge space, the problem space. There is intellectual upside.” Was thinking of p…

Who are the Econ people you're talking about on twitter?

NR Kocherlakota (my favorite): https://twitter.com/kocherlakota009

Tim Duy: https://twitter.com/TimDuy

Claudia Sahm: https://twitter.com/Claudia_Sahm

Stephen Williamson: https://twitter.com/1954swilliamson

David Andolfatto: https://twitter.com/dandolfa

Tony Yates: https://twitter.com/t0nyyates

Neel Kashkari: https://twitter.com/neelkashkari

Noah Smith: https://twitter.com/Noahpinion

Tyler Cowen: https://twitter.com/tylercowen

Justin Wolfers: https://twitter.com/JustinWolfers

Paul Romer: https://twitter.com/paulmromer

Jan Zilinsky: https://twitter.com/janzilinsky

Re: Physicists taking jobs as Silicon Valley software engineers

#109

Post by emcq »

asafira wrote: post #81

Whoa! I am actually currently in a physics PhD program, in my last 1-2 years, and have been pursuing internship opportunities for the summer. For me, I've actually wanted to get my PhD in physics and then work in tech for as long as I can remember (so it's not primarily that I feel like the academic job market is too competitive for me, or doesn't pay enough, but those are pretty good reasons, too...) . I actually ha…

Craft your resume around the job you want. Add in the other details to fit. If you dont know what you want, do more internships, soul searching, or perhaps even explore career coaches.

The best thing getting my food in the door in silicon valley was to move there; quite a few opportunities for qualified candidates afterwards. Even research labs at Stanford or Cal still value hiring the broad experiences you describe and could be a foot in the door.

Re: Physicists taking jobs as Silicon Valley software engineers

#110

Post by PeterisP »

thesz wrote: post #18
adrianN wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd become a physicist if there were jobs for physicists doing actual physics.

Me (and you) can do theoretical work. Even nanomanipulators are DIY: http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2011-07/you-built-what-sca... or http://hackaday.com/2015/01/13/cheap-diy-microscope-sees-ind... (ESM can be used to manipulate atoms) Yet I haven't had time or courage. Or badassness.

To work on theoretical physics, you anyway do need a job in physics or win the lottery - doing it as a hobby for 15 hours a week after a job doesn't count, to get anywhere you do need to be able to work on it full time for a few years.
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