FilterHN

Ask HN: What to do with a pure mathematics degree?

2 points

by mareoclasico

1 day ago

| past

| 9 comments

| HN

I'm going to finish a degree in mathematics next year (in Europe).

The catch: I'll be 37 when I finish. I had a change of careers later in life.

I'm a bit lost on what to pursue professionally. I've looked into getting a Master's in quant/finance or AI research but I've read you need to be a young genius in order to get an interview in most of the prop shops, and for AI I don't know how feasible that path is right now for a regular guy like me.

I get the impression that I need some graduate program after my degree in order to pick up programming and other "useful" skills, and to be honest, I'm kinda looking forward to it.

If you are in some sort of industry that uses math or math-adjacent skills I'd love to know what would you do in my situation, any advice will be golden.

Thank you!

▲

conditionnumber

30 minutes ago

[-]

Talk 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 to do something involving data analysis and biology. I think RNA sequencing is on an exp(-a*t) cost curve, and it feels like this is a domain where data analysis could produce something of greater value than slightly more efficient asset prices.

▲

pjacotg

29 minutes ago

[-]

In 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!

▲

aborsy

7 hours ago

[-]

If you do the job that the employer wants, does it matter you are 27 or 77?!

They get what they want.

▲

ferguess_k

1 day ago

[-]

Network and see what you are interested. If you can grind through pure Math you can take any entry level CS job. It's just a matter of knowing the right person at the right time.

▲

mareoclasico

22 hours ago

[-]

In a way that's what I'm trying to do here, getting some info from people that were in my situation or know people in my situation.

▲

ferguess_k

19 hours ago

[-]

I wish you good luck. The author of Rosetta 2 (The binary translation) is also a Math graduate so it is not a far reach.

▲

bjourne

1 day ago

[-]

According to the pure math graduate I know, job prospects are not good. Teaching is what is available, but then you also must have some experience in pedagogy and education.

▲

mareoclasico

22 hours ago

[-]

Yeah I'm trying to stay clear from education, that's why I'm trying to figure out what options I do have after finishing.

▲

EmanuelB

1 day ago

[-]

I know companies that hire people that ”only” do mechanical. They don’t do any programming. Maybe some very basic scripting some of them. Just apply for jobs and see what is out there. You will never know everything there is to know anyway.

▲

mareoclasico

1 day ago

[-]

I'm not opposed to learning programming btw! it's just that I'm very lost on what's out there and wanted to know possible industries/jobs that I might not be aware of.

▲

jjice

1 day ago

[-]

FWIW, the pure math and physics folks I know usually pick up programming very quickly and I've found that generally they're very strong at it.

▲

mareoclasico

1 day ago

[-]

Yeah, already touched the usual stuff: C++, Python, R...

But the question is what to do with that! haha

▲

jjice

6 hours ago

[-]

Unfortunately, I think you have a lot of options. Having a lot of options makes it harder to choose what to spend time on and dive into. Might be worth some exploration into the different sides of software development and see if anything catches your eye.

Best of luck!

▲

snyena

1 day ago

[-]

I am in the gambling industry. Online casinos often look for game mathematicians and sometimes even sportsbooks need mathematicians for price modelling.

www.pentasia.com www.bettingjobs.com etc.

▲

mareoclasico

1 day ago

[-]

Super interesting. Thanks a lot. Is it difficult to break into the industry? What kind of skills are they mostly looking for?

▲

kingkongjaffa

1 day ago

[-]

> get the impression that I need some graduate program after my degree in order to pick up programming

You don’t have to do that. Check out free resources like cs50x and freecodecamp

▲

mareoclasico

1 day ago

[-]

Yeah of course! but I meant learning a bit of programming on top of AI research or Quant analysis or something like that. And I guess having the degree doesn't hurt.

▲

sargstuff

1 day ago

[-]

Description fits requirements to take certification exams for actuary work.

▲

mareoclasico

1 day ago

[-]

Oh I thought those exams were a thing in the US, but not here in Europe. I'll do my research. Thank you!