Overwhelmed at career direction
March 31, 2017 11:15 PM Subscribe
I earned my BS in Mathematics-- I especially love abstract math. Apply it to nothing, it is beautiful because it is. Then I earned my MA in in Library Science because I didn't know what else to do. I've been working as a Librarian I (i.e. Untrained social worker) for the past 14 years at a public library and I hate my job! I've been looking for research jobs, but where? I'm not interested in moving. My skills are ones of logic. What have I not considered?
Can you program at all?
posted by empath at 5:16 AM on April 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by empath at 5:16 AM on April 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
It looks like the UCSD math department website has some career information -- it may be worth googling "UCSD math careers" and exploring the links.
posted by heatherlogan at 6:19 AM on April 1, 2017
posted by heatherlogan at 6:19 AM on April 1, 2017
Best answer: The Art of Problem Solving is based out of Rancho Bernardo; it's more education and exposition, less basic research, but it is math with an emphasis on creativity.
The Center for Communications Research has its west coast research center in La Jolla, but I think they expect graduate studies from their researchers (and with UCSD just up the road, have supply outstripping their demand).
posted by jackbishop at 7:39 AM on April 1, 2017
The Center for Communications Research has its west coast research center in La Jolla, but I think they expect graduate studies from their researchers (and with UCSD just up the road, have supply outstripping their demand).
posted by jackbishop at 7:39 AM on April 1, 2017
If you can't program yet, you can learn. It's not as elegant as pure math - kind of like moving from being a florist who makes beautiful arrangements to being a gardener who deals with dirt and shit all day - but you get to exercise your logical muscles on a semi-regular basis.
There are wide range of programming jobs. If you want something that's easy to enter, you could do a programming bootcamp or online course and learn how to glue together javascript libraries to build interactive websites. If you want to really exercise your mathematical muscles, you could pursue a postgrad degree in AI/machine learning. That will give you one of the better overlaps between pure-ish math and employability that's available right now. There's a ton of stuff online about machine learning to get you started, too, if going directly to postgrad won't work for you.
posted by clawsoon at 7:48 AM on April 1, 2017
There are wide range of programming jobs. If you want something that's easy to enter, you could do a programming bootcamp or online course and learn how to glue together javascript libraries to build interactive websites. If you want to really exercise your mathematical muscles, you could pursue a postgrad degree in AI/machine learning. That will give you one of the better overlaps between pure-ish math and employability that's available right now. There's a ton of stuff online about machine learning to get you started, too, if going directly to postgrad won't work for you.
posted by clawsoon at 7:48 AM on April 1, 2017
You could try business intelligence or intelligence analysis type jobs.
posted by LightMayo at 8:38 AM on April 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by LightMayo at 8:38 AM on April 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
Data Management seems like the natural combo from your schooling.
posted by oceanjesse at 9:12 AM on April 1, 2017
posted by oceanjesse at 9:12 AM on April 1, 2017
I'm a pretty pure mathematician myself, but I was talking to a guy in the business school yesterday who was saying that Data Analytics is the new hotness.
posted by leahwrenn at 10:09 AM on April 1, 2017
posted by leahwrenn at 10:09 AM on April 1, 2017
Wanting a job in (math?) research + no graduate degree in math seems like a non-starter. Your competition is, PhDs.
posted by thelonius at 10:49 AM on April 1, 2017
posted by thelonius at 10:49 AM on April 1, 2017
I have a degree in mathematics. Learning to code is a must, even if you're not good at it.
In my career I've worked as a technical writer, program/product manager, and in business intelligence. I've done a little quality assurance, though that wasn't my job title. Salaries are high in software so my coding knowledge has been invaluable.
posted by crazycanuck at 12:27 PM on April 1, 2017
In my career I've worked as a technical writer, program/product manager, and in business intelligence. I've done a little quality assurance, though that wasn't my job title. Salaries are high in software so my coding knowledge has been invaluable.
posted by crazycanuck at 12:27 PM on April 1, 2017
Statistics?
posted by Foam Pants at 1:55 PM on April 1, 2017
posted by Foam Pants at 1:55 PM on April 1, 2017
The description you give of your background (Math!) and your current situation (library!) suggest to me that you would really prefer to be left alone with a problem and not be bothered much by people. My observation about libraries is that they are a sort of acceptable asylums; a lot of people end up working in libraries because they have found them to be safe places in a scary world.
You have gotten a lot suggestions about programming. The skills required overlap what's required for math. Logic, of course, and the ability to find all the flaws in your program is not unlike that required to find all the flaws in a proof. However, programming a big scale is a highly social activity with a lot of meetings, and people checking your work, etc. Programming on small scale generally requires some domain knowledge, i.e. knowing how your company works.
You have not said what branch of mathematics you like the best. Number theory is the backbone of data security. Algebra is vital for graphics. There are many specific problems that require finding optima, e.g. routes through networks, and maxima/minima of obscure functions. (Example here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velocity_prediction_program) I came across this column (http://blog.simplejustice.us/2017/03/26/the-casetext-pivot/) about a company that wants to do AI and natural language processing.
I think you might want to look into data security. It has a high math content as well as archiving issues, and not really programming. I think you would have to get some education to get started.
posted by SemiSalt at 2:16 PM on April 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
You have gotten a lot suggestions about programming. The skills required overlap what's required for math. Logic, of course, and the ability to find all the flaws in your program is not unlike that required to find all the flaws in a proof. However, programming a big scale is a highly social activity with a lot of meetings, and people checking your work, etc. Programming on small scale generally requires some domain knowledge, i.e. knowing how your company works.
You have not said what branch of mathematics you like the best. Number theory is the backbone of data security. Algebra is vital for graphics. There are many specific problems that require finding optima, e.g. routes through networks, and maxima/minima of obscure functions. (Example here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velocity_prediction_program) I came across this column (http://blog.simplejustice.us/2017/03/26/the-casetext-pivot/) about a company that wants to do AI and natural language processing.
I think you might want to look into data security. It has a high math content as well as archiving issues, and not really programming. I think you would have to get some education to get started.
posted by SemiSalt at 2:16 PM on April 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
I have a B.S. in pure math. I think I asked a similar question to this a few years ago, if you look through my post history. I was a bit lucky in that I picked up decent programming and modeling abilities in the course of some of my electives. After graduation I worked as a programmer on a contract basis for a few years, this really allowed me to bone up on my coding skills.
Pure math is a wonderful basis for a lot of skills, but I do think you really have to add something to it if you want to be employable. I added knowledge of statistics via a graduate certificate from Penn State, and now I'm a statistician. Statistics, lately, has experienced a boom in the form of data science (a.k.a. cool statistics.) If you can add some programming and stats skills to your math knowledge, you'll be in a good position to get into data analysis, or a lower level data science job, though a lot of the data scientist roles I've seen do want advanced degrees.
I really enjoy programming, I find it scratches a similar itch to doing math. If you haven't tried it, definitely give it a go. Project Euler is great in that it combines math and programming in a way that is satisfying for both, I think. If you have to choose a language to pick up, I recommend python. It's biggish in stats/data and has a lot of other uses if you end up not wanting to go that route.
posted by ZeroDivides at 10:18 AM on April 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
Pure math is a wonderful basis for a lot of skills, but I do think you really have to add something to it if you want to be employable. I added knowledge of statistics via a graduate certificate from Penn State, and now I'm a statistician. Statistics, lately, has experienced a boom in the form of data science (a.k.a. cool statistics.) If you can add some programming and stats skills to your math knowledge, you'll be in a good position to get into data analysis, or a lower level data science job, though a lot of the data scientist roles I've seen do want advanced degrees.
I really enjoy programming, I find it scratches a similar itch to doing math. If you haven't tried it, definitely give it a go. Project Euler is great in that it combines math and programming in a way that is satisfying for both, I think. If you have to choose a language to pick up, I recommend python. It's biggish in stats/data and has a lot of other uses if you end up not wanting to go that route.
posted by ZeroDivides at 10:18 AM on April 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
Data Science?
posted by vunder at 11:32 PM on March 31, 2017 [2 favorites]