What industries are relevant to my mathematical interests?

November 9, 2009 10:13 AM

I've just obtained a BS in Mathematics and am planning to go to grad school, but not before I work for a few years. What industries should I be looking at, and what entry level jobs should I aim for? Details inside.

My interests are in discrete math, probability, and related fields. I hope to return to school, but I would like to work first, and I'd like to work in a field even slightly relevant to my interests.

What industries should I be looking at, and what entry level jobs are out there?

I can program, though not well enough for software development. (And I have no interest in software development.)

I also don't want to apply for any position that requires a security clearance, so the obvious NSA is out of the question.

What's out there? Operations Research comes to mind, but I'm not sure what types of companies do this kind of work.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I know I won't be doing any kind of real math work with just a BS.

posted by alligatorman to work & money (11 comments total)

where are you? Are you willing to relocate?
posted by parmanparman at 10:15 AM on November 9

Seeing you are in Florida, have you considered going across the Gulf Coast and applying to work at Northrop Grumman in Louisiana? I bet they would be happy to have you.
posted by parmanparman at 10:16 AM on November 9

finance. If you are going for a phd and have intern-level work in quant space you could be highly marketable.
posted by H. Roark at 10:20 AM on November 9

For probability, actuarial work is the obvious choice.
posted by escabeche at 11:01 AM on November 9

An acquaintance of mine got a pretty high-paying job as an actuary right out of college a few years ago.
posted by neuron at 11:09 AM on November 9

where are you? Are you willing to relocate?

Yes.

Seeing you are in Florida, have you considered going across the Gulf Coast and applying to work at Northrop Grumman in Louisiana? I bet they would be happy to have you.

I think most Northrup Grumman work is in defense, and thus requiring security clearances. I could be wrong though...

For probability, actuarial work is the obvious choice.

My problem with actuarial science is that it seems to be a narrow career path, and a lot of my time would be spent learning actuarial math, which I'm not interested in. It is still an option, however.

Thank you for the replies so far.
posted by alligatorman at 11:19 AM on November 9

Actuary
posted by Jacqueline at 11:44 AM on November 9

I would caution against actuarial work, if your interest is in math.

Actuary is a very narrow and specific career path. Some people like it and thrive but it is not easily applicable to other endeavors, and if you are just planning to work for a few years you may find it a grind.

That said, the people who have passed the various actuary exams are extremely intelligent people, and if you get a kick out of working with people who have passed a series of nearly impossible exams, well, then go for it.

As for finance.

There is this assumption that finance requires all sorts of high level rocket-scientist math. Not true, for the majority of finance positions. Most of finance requires high school algebra and perhaps some Stats 101. It is true that there is a place for physicists and pure mathematicians in so called quant groups. See a broad overview of mathematical finance here.
posted by dfriedman at 12:09 PM on November 9

Some community colleges will let you tutor or even teach with a BS in Math.

I recently got my MS and that's what I'm doing for now, until I can get out of town in a year or two. It's decent pay, not amazing, but it's energizing work, piss-easy, and moderately rewarding. And I've started doing self-learning to keep myself sharp for if I apply to another grad program in a couple years.
posted by Earl the Polliwog at 12:58 PM on November 9

in Operations Research, any big industrial giant will have such an OR arm, from car and plane manufacturers to insurance companies to high-tech companies like Amazon and Google. Basically, anybody in the Fortune 100 is going to need people like you, so if you're willing to go big business, there will be opportunities here.

Machine Learning and Statistics is really big right now, and will continue to be, for any field where there is a huge pipeline of data to be sifted. There are obvious connections in marketing, insurance, and finance. You should look for entry level jobs with 'statistics' as a key word. There is definitely work in politics as well, but something tells me you're more concerned with money right now, and these tend not to pay as well.

Also, don't kid yourself, everybody writes software these days, especially mathematicians. If you want to be marketable, learn to use a software tool, even if it's Sage, Scientific Python or Mathematica. You don't want to be programming Excel spreadsheets because you never learned how to use a real tool to do your analysis. Knowing how to program is almost an essential skill that will also get you in the door for many entry-level jobs. You don't need to be a systems programmer, but the ability to construct and apply high-level models is extremely marketable.
posted by onalark at 1:24 PM on November 9

Community Colleges in Florida will indeed let you teach developmental math (Basic Math and Elementary Algebra only) with just a B.S. degree. I don't necessarily recommend this, you won't get paid much money at all, but it is an option.
posted by wittgenstein at 1:31 PM on November 9