Peer support group edition.Previous Thread: >>16894981This thread exists to ask questions regarding careers associated to STEM.>Discussion on academia-based career progression>Discussion on penetrating industry from academia>Or anything in relation to STEM employment or development within STEM academia!>If you have a question, before posting, read some of the older posts and ,if you can, try to answer their questions on your post. That way the thread isn't an endless log of unanswered questions.Resources for protecting yourself from academic marxists:>https://www.thefire.org/ (US)>https://www.jccf.ca/ (Canada)Information resource:>https://sciencecareergeneral.neocities.org/>*The Chad author is seeking additional input to diversify the content into containing all STEM fields. Said author regularly views these /scg/ threads.No anons have answered your question? Perhaps try posting it here:>https://academia.stackexchange.com/An archive of some of the previous editions of /scg/:http://warosu.org/sci/thread/15740454
Why is the job market basically non existent in europe and why is it getting worse. Even finding a proper STEM internship is hard. Curse you economy.
>>16916444Because financialization economy doesn't work long-term and we've run out of road to kick the can down.
I have been betrayed so many times by colleagues
>>16916556Many colleagues?
>>16916574And untrustworthy interlocutors
I hope my supervisor falls down a flight of stairs
I'm aggression maxxing in preparation to change my supervisors life for ever in Rio in a few months
>>16916381What's your signal it's time to leave the startup as an employee?For me, it's when a (((chief of staff))) is hired. Bonus points if they worked in (((USA))).Second signal is when women comprise more than 10% of the workforce.
>>16916444nice digits>internsare a liabilitythey distract the experienced staff and produce unreliable resultsif you don't have at least some experience by now it is so over it never even began
I'm a failed engineer who HATES the industry. Do I still have a chance to steer and get into research? I don't care about how much it takes I don't want to sell my soul
Alright just cracked and started learning Chinese. Maybe Zhang et al. will take me.
Is clout chasing on social media the only way to make it in academia these days?
how do i overcome lazyness
>>16917417you are gonna end up in the industry eventually its not worth going to research thats my opinion, you can ask other researchers i think most of them will have the same opinion
I'm going to finish my MsC in Mathematics next year, how long until I get a 6-figure industry job with flexible hours and meaningful work?
I was thinking of going to University for Civil Engineering but I feel to old for it. I'm gonna be 23 when I start and will be doing 5 years (Foundation + Sandwich year) and I will be 28 just to get graduate positions and that is kinda putting me off.
>>16917447In 5 years you are going to be 28 no matter what, with or without an Engineering degree, your choice.
>had a zoom interview with famous prof with h-index > 150>only asked me a few questions about myself>sounded unimpressed with my answers and bored the entire time>told me only admits PhD students, not MS and my grades aren't high enough to get a direct admit>sent up a follow-up email a few days after the meeting>still no response, probably got ghosted
>>16917441300 feet starting any rooftop you want.
>>16917472>ghostedHe told you to your face that you won't be admitted.
>>16917472you probably don't want to work for that guy anyway if he cant even be bothered to put on an act to recruit new students. Trust your gut regarding advisor. Most people disregard advice when selecting an advisor and dont put too much thought into it. For example people will join an advisor when you can pull up alumni and like half mastered out including a couple 8th years, meaning not only will you have a bad advisor but you're going to have idiots in your lab.
>>16917417My first 4 jobs after I graduated were fucking horrible. I've been at my 5th job for 4 years and I've settled in. You just have to keep job hopping until you find something that doesn't suck. It's brutal but that's how it is. There are a lot of engineering jobs that are total dogshit.
I've never understood this whole "being impressed by people" thing. As a rule I am not impressed by other people, especially men. Undignified behaviour if we are being honest.
>>16917447the time will pass anyway
>>16917447If you don't want to flip burgers or manning a lathe for 12h a day in your 40s, go and do it. Having a degree is essential if you want to be promoted out of manual labor and doing classes at that age will be even harder.
>>16917417These days research is not much different from industry>both have clear success metrics: papers in "good" (((journals))) or checkmarks in a psychopath manager's list>both are death march machines designed to churn through hapless individuals>both are riddled with office politics>>16917535>My first 4 jobs after I graduated were fucking horrible.Story?My first jobs were not terrible (subjectively).
>>16917472>sounded unimpressed with my answers and bored the entire timeI'll be real: when I talk to the guys doing BSc or even MSc in my field, I often wonder if they are even sentient. Most do basic mistakes and cannot reason properly. That's coming from a PhD since a few years ago, I imagine it's way worse for a professor who has to wrangle posers on a daily.
>>16917655My biggest problem as a new grad was getting hired at these smaller companies that had no training system in place, and then just sitting at my desk doing nothing for weeks on end while everyone else was working. I usually ended up just walking out of those jobs because I couldn't handle the tedium and resented how idiotic it was. That happened to me 3 times and I would never consider working for a small company again.The other job was a field service position and that was too brutal for me. Rotating days/nights and 12 hour shifts. Just horrible, constant suffering and dread. I kept thinking "I went to school for this?"
>>16916381I'm probably a psychopath but i really enjoy TAing.I love throwing curve balls and seeing students despair.I had to do an oral pass/fail assignment and I really REALLY enjoyed asking the students questions they didn't expect and weren't prepared for.
>>16917824don't be annoying pookie
>>16917447>gonna be 23 when I startNot a problem by a wide margin.
>>16917814Definitely had a similar experience in working with a smaller company. Onboarding was basically "here's your desk, here's your laptop, should get you started see you in a month". It was extremely uncomfortable, took around half a year to really get in the groove. The plus side is that I can basically have my dick hanging out my pants and clock in/out more or less whenever and nobody gives a single shit. I also stand out well despite being in a mental state that leaves me barely functional because everyone here is incompetent. I'm still looking to leave because I keep getting assigned projects that take my career in a direction I don't want to go and which are not what I signed up for. That, and being decent at FAGMAN is a better deal than being amazing at Tom's Mom and Pop Semiconductor Shop. There's no future here.
learning python what are my options with bachelors in mech engineering msc in engineering management. had 2 year work experience as a quality officer in manufacturing plant
>>16917814>just sitting at my desk doing nothing for weeks on end while everyone else was workingThat's really weird, no way they'd just let you do nothing after hiring. Normally you'd be assigned to whatever project they are working on and you'd learn the ropes on the go. That's how it always was for me and people I knew.
Anyone here in the UK? Are foundation years worth it? Or would I just be better off starting at year 1?
>>16916381Mid 30's here. Live in USA. Just got my GED, but I'm making $100k as a software engineer. I also suck at math.Recommend me a new STEM career
>>16917986I graduated in the UK and I did what is recommended here: get out of the country as soon as you graduate.
>>16918148literally a recommendation in every country ever
>>16918150Not USA.
>>16918150No. I have never heard of any other country where a postdoc pays as much as a burgerflipper at McD's. The contempt for technology in the UK is simply incredible. An Oxbridge degree in antediluvian archaeology will be the ticket to enormous success in your country.
>>16918154USA is horrible. Eurotards envy the salaries on paper while ignoring the insane cost of living. In US you pay $500,000 for a "starter home" built out of tooth picks. In Europe you live for free in your stone hut that your ancestor built in 847 AD. >>16918160The reason the UK sucks is because they have a completely criminal political class, whose actions are indistinguishable from sincere intent to destroy the country, same as the US.
>>16918166>In Europe you live for free in your stone hut that your ancestor built in 847 AD.How the fuck are you going to find your parent's house in Europe if you are moving out of USA?
>>16918166$500k is 420k€ and I think in most of Europe a house near major cities will cost around that much. I'm sure you can get them for cheaper away from big cities. My weekly grocery store bill while living in Boston was cheaper than in Finland. Most e.g. electronics products also cost less in the US than here. The US has its issues for sure. But for a young professional it's still a better deal in my opinion. I saved much more working as a university postdoc in the US than I do working as an industry senior scientist in Europe.
>>16918166Your white collar class lives way better than ours, end of story.A 2 room flat here starts at 400k depending on area. Your average starting salary is in the 50-80k range (30-45% tax btw), taxes will rape you, you have to pay wealth tax for your house, it's hard to find a job, it's very expensive and impossible to drive a car in the city, options are limited, etc. The people that have been working for like 20-30 years all earn in the 100-150 range.
>>16918166A house in the USA is only $500K? I thought it was supposed to be unaffordable.
>>16918166nearly everyone in big cities in europe live in flats
>>16918171Citizenship by ancestry plus you have relatives in europe already.
For those looking to enter a PhD program: DO NOT GET A CHINESE, INDIAN, OR IRANIAN PIThat is all.
>>16918697Why?
Well /scg/?
>>16918749Move out of academia and nobody cares about your academic successes or failures.
>>16917986Just go straight for year one. Foundation years are designed for people who didn't do A-levels or didn't do maths/science. 1st year of a stem course goes over the need bits from A-level anyway since schools all do different syllabuses.As the other anon says, get the degree and get out of the UK.
>>16918726The team will be full of cutthroat chinks, smelly backstabbing jeets or violent iranians (also smelly) plus problems with getting clearance
>>1691872650/50 chance that they are straight up evil and many persians in academia are title-oriented and condescending but very dumb (especially in the medical field) (and not everyone of course, just the wannabe elitists) the monarchist diaspora just has some issues I think
>Iran in the news>suddenly everyone is expert about Iraniansthe normgroid mind at work
>>16918865Iran is a country with rich history and people are nice and friendly. They just have their own schizos like everyone else
Am I employable with a degree and a masters degree in physics and no work experience at 30 years old?
>>16918726They are all status-rats who take out their anger and stress on their graduate students and demand you eat, breathe, and live their research.
>>16918982You are what is known as "unemployable."That means there is no situation in which any company can possibly think of way that you, as an entity, could create value.
Me and my PI are working on a paper about this topic in fact
>>16919070that kinda aligns with the opinion my parents have of me
>>16919206don't let crab in a bucket mentality niggers pull you down, nothing is easy or granted, but if you don't try you've already lost
Just back from travels, catching up with previous thread.>>16915966>Dripping with malice.Drivel. There is no plausible reason why I would lie.>>16915971>No they are not.Just check the numbers: there are far more US patent attorneys.>>16916157>what did you do to be a patent attoney, there is even an EPO office in my city so I'm genuinely interestedMy previous job imploded messily and I just fired off job applications to all kinds of companies. I didn't know anything about patent law firms, one colleague from the cratered company told me it was just boring so I didn't apply to patent law firms initially, but when getting a job turned out to be harder than I had expected I also applied there. I got an interview and then I got the job. It turned out they needed someone with my profile. You start as a trainee and there is a lot of legal stuff to learn and then exams to pass. The EQE is brutal.>>16916244>He was born with privileges he will never disclose.The only privileges I was born with are good health and sufficient brains to pass exams. those are hardly unique.>Don't bother the office is a shell, there's probably only like two people in there keeping the lights on.There are more than 50 people working here.>>16916354>There's a higher chance of winning the lottery than becoming a patent Attorney.Hardly.
>>16918856Tons of Persians apply for PhD student positions areound here, many also get in. Now the security police is deeply concerned, and want to reduce the influx.>>16918889I knew n=2 Persian students when I did my PhD and they were both nice and friendly. The only issue was that they were caught up in the Middle East conspiracy thinking: every minor inconvenience was a US and/or Israeli conspiracy! Other than that they were fine.
How do I break into business development/sales/operation role in a chemical, pharma, or science-related company with a BS in Chemistry? I'm also considering finance.Starting to realize lab industry experience isn't as valuable as industry experience in a white-collar job setting and there's little room for growth. I don't want to end up like my other coworker who has 10 years of experience in the lab but can only get barely min wage lab monkey jobs.
>>16919245Every Iranian male is either conscripted to join the Iranian Army or the Revolutionary Guard Corps. They are literally trained to become fighters of the West. Who knows what sort of damage they can do or are currently doing once they get here. Do not let their friendly facade fool you, they are your enemy.
>>16918827>cutthroat>backstabbing>Opportunistic I have worked with eastern euros and they also were like this.It's a third worlder trait. They escaped from their shitholes by being like this
>>16916444>Why is the job market basically non existent in europe and why is it getting worse.Dire leadership. Nowhere is it worse than in the UK and latest news reaches levels of doom never before thought possible:>‘Is university still worth it?’ is the wrong questionhttps://archive.is/DEnAP>Britain’s university graduates are having a rough time of it. In 1999, the average graduate salary was 80 per cent more than their non-graduate counterpart; in the latest data this was down to just 45 per cent, and that’s before factoring in student loans. Adding insult to injury, the government has worsened the terms of the loans to ensure repayments don’t wither in line with salaries.>Worsening graduate fortunes, it turns out, are a particularly British problem, and one that — like many — can be traced to the particularly British ailments of weak productivity growth and poor economic performance more broadly.Seems the general advice still stands: get a degree in the UK and then evacuate at best speed.
>32>laid off from factory job in circuit board manufacture 5 months ago>had been sleeping 5 hours a night for 5 years>got back into studying math>girlfriend dumped me for not having a job and wanting to go back to school even though I have 100k saved>ok.jpg>studied for CLEP exam for calc I>took test, got 64/80>now in Calc II and Linear Algebra>want to get associates degree in Math>after that: ????Is there anything I can do with a bachelor's in math these days? I need to start making 100k/yr ASAP or else my life is over. I made 56k before and life was non viable. I'm about ready to give up. I already lost a girlfriend for this stupid shit, I have a new one who is hotter but I liked the old one more. Now I am committed sunk-cost fallacy wise. Am I wasting my time? I'm in community college and have almost all my humanities credits either done or ready to take a CLEP to replace them over the summer. I could have a maths associates by next year. I don't know if I can get financial aid to do my bachelors. I really do not want to give up my entire down payment for a house to get a fucking degree that will be replaced by jeets/AI.
>>16919454I was going to help you but then you couldn't stop boasting about being a sex haver on my image board for autistic virgins so I changed my mind and hope everything goes horribly wrong for you.
>>16919506I was a virgin til 29 please help me
>>16919454>Is there anything I can do with a bachelor's in math these days?No. Nonono. Maths studies is a career disaster, chose anything except maths and CS. If you like maths try EE with an emphasis on digital signal processing (DSP).
>>16919525EE is a brutal degree with mediocre outcomes.I don't know when/how this EE meme started but it seems like people think of it as like a backup plan now that the CS bubble burst and it's just not the same.
>>16919557>brutal degree with mediocre outcomesThat is the best case scenario for STEM careers in 2026.
>>16919291>cutthroat>backstabbing>OpportunisticI want to avoid people like this and any and all office politics. What are my options? Elementary school teacher?
>>16919752>Elementary school teacherWhites are already a tiny minority in that age group. There are tons of videos online from elementary school teachers about how they are quitting and changing careers because they don't know how to deal with the "bad behavior" anymore. They don't say it explicitly but what they're basically saying is supercritical levels of nig nogging.
Just imagine Glocktavius da Third stabbing you in the neck with a pair of safety scissors while screaming BLANK SLATE at the top of his lungs. All for $18 an hour.
>>16919752It's unavoidable.You climb up and you're bound to meet these people.The guy born with silver spoon up his ass and the third worlder try hard that would decapitate his mother with a rusty knife to get a position at a top ranked company. I immensely dislike both.You just have to accept it and play along.
>>16919752Substinence farmer is basically the only option.It's not just at the high flying places either. It's one thing to get Zuckerberged out of a billion-dollar company but I'd almost prefer that to having a fellow minimum wage worker fuck me over for the cash equivalent of a cheeseburger.In hard technical fields these are the people who will rise to management. But in hard technical fields you can basically tell everyone to fuck off as long as you are really good at your job and actually do it. Your career will cap off at the individual contributor level without office politics but people will more than likely tolerate you not playing the game if your output is worth it.You'll still be surrounded by these people. Basically if you're one of the people who actually does work or produces something you can usually keep doing that and let the cloak-and-dagger games play around you while they get the credit and profit off your work.
Why does every job interview I have end with "We are very impressed with your technical expertise, but we are going with another candidate." Am I just a raging asshole?These are first hire engineering or head of ops roles. Well, one of them was for a large org, but they were clearly looking for a paper pusher instead of a process architect.
>>16919557Look at the alternatives:- Physics: fine though you need a PhD so studies are long- Chemistry: bad- Biotech: really bad- Maths: horrifically bad- CS: a fancy slave ship where firings are undertaken by machine gunsAdjacent career plans:- management consulting: junior intakes are throttled- finance: junior intakes are throttled and whoever gets in is in for slavery.
>>16919525>If you like maths try EE with an emphasis on digital signal processing (DSP).This is horrible advice.ee and dsp math fucking sucks. It has no grand theory behind it nor any rigor, it's just a poorly explained and handwavey sporadic use of different unrelated mathematics.
>>16919833>individual contributor levelHumiliation ritual. If you are 30+ and have not switched to management you have failed in life. That's just pathetic. Imagine being an unc who takes orders from a kid in late 20s.
>>16918726>>16919245To contribute to the body of anecdotes: I had a chinese PI and worked with an Iranian graduate student. The Iranian guy moved to the US (leaving his family behind) about 5 years ago and is a very nice and reasonable dude. Politically he keeps his head down cuz he doesn't want to have even the slightest chance of being deported. Privately though he's extremely anti-khamenei and theocracy in general. My chinese PI on the other hand is a constantly record chasing, clout oriented, never available kind of PI. Can attract grants like no other which is nice but will not advise you even a little bit, in his group you're completely on your own. I would speak to him maybe 3 times a year about research. A large portion of the group was chinese, and I swear he made it extra hard on them lol.
My supervisor persecuted me viciously for the crime of not having attended Oxbridge. I'm gonna karate chop his spine in half.
>>16919869Well, that's specifically for anon asking about careers without politics. Good luck advancing to management without politics.
>>16919557>>16919864Man, I'm at the tail end of my physics phd and looking for a job. It's really not fine... but still better than chem/bio/cs so I agree with your relative ranking. What I've learned so far in the job search is that only a few areas are actually hiring at any time, and when they make postings that 99% of the time have a short list of a few names who will have top priority before they look at an outsiders resume. Those areas right now are AI/ML and quantum computing. Breaking into this kind of job environment is really, really tough if you A) don't have the right connections and B) have a publication record that perfectly lines up with what you want to do. I think you really need both to actually get hired.But I think a part of it is the fact that the QC technology is in heavy R&D mode right now which demands top notch talent. An army of entry-level noobs won't make your shit any better, only experienced scientists can do that. Once the technology has matured a bit, there's room for more applications to crop up and the entry levels will cut their teeth on that. On top of that, it just doesn't take many personnel to run a quantum computing team at a company. It's not hundreds and hundreds of people they need.>>16919866If you don't like that it's an applied field then thats fine, but it's not horrible advice at all. It's great advice.Undergrads that can't think 5 years ahead choose math because they're enamored with the rigor and depth and structure and blah blah blah. Math shouldn't be considered a career choice. Nobody does math for a living who doesn't work at a university, and you don't want to go down the academia route with math.
US here. I have a MS and BS degree in agricultural engineering with a concentration in environmental water quality and drainage infrastructure. Can someone advise me jobs or sectors i can look into? Im living in my car and cant find a job. Im trying to get a job at ace hardware atm and i had to take my degrees off my resume.
Does being an Engineer-in-training help my resume a lot?
>>16919557>>16919525>>16919752>>16919864So should I just fucking give up and be a NEET? I have some projects I am working on but they are all low-profit things to say the least. I've made like 200 dollars total from them.
>>16919937gubmintCBP and USDA hire agriculture specialists. try to tailor your resume to what they're looking for in a job posting. also if you get an interview answer their questions carefully and don't be autistic.
>>16919557>EE is a brutal degree with mediocre outcomes.There a ton of EE jobs especially in power systems and power electronics fields. It's also an easy degree if you are not a midwit. The only hard degrees are maths and physics.
>>16917447You are a fucking idiot if you think you're too old. Nobody will care that you are 5 years older than peers when applying to internships and entry-level jobs, and after a few years in industry it won't even matter.> t. engineer that started later
They are calling it one of the most amazing first interviews of all time. Fuck the haters, fuck sickos, fuck pissrael.
>>16920108maths and phyiscs are arguably easier than both ee and me.
these threads should have big warnings not to get your degrees in maths. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES GET A MATH DEGREE.
>>16920301
>>16920293Depends on what are you better at. Better at generalizing and finding patterns or at rote memorization? If former > latter, physics is easier, otherwise EE. If both are equally good, you are a god.t. worked with many people from both sides
>>16919933IDK, can't relate.I work with established tech that everyone uses and employs tons of people (power). Job opportunities are virtually endless.If you just want to work on the "cutting edge" and target some niche, exploratory field, then obviously you're going to have far less opportunities. This just sounds like a personal decision you have made and basic risk/reward calculation.
>>16919937Drainage infrastructure sounds like a good fit for municipal planning, I would visit the website of basically any city with a population over 50k.
>>16917447>23Relax, just do it if you like the subject. You'll regret not getting the degree later on when climbing the ranks.
>>16920301what prompted your comment?
>>16920108Not trying to get dragged into some flame war, but from what I've seen, engineering degrees are the most demanding degrees on campus, and EE most of all. Additionally most engineering programs are actively trying to filter people out of the program to reduce class sizes for lab-based courses.On the other hand, most math and physics program are just thankful for any student they can get.
>>16917653>promoted out of manual laborthe only labor needed in the economy is now manual labor. white collar jobs are deprecated. those who got in will keep them for a while but why hire anybody new?
>>16917472>had a zoom interview with famous prof with h-index > 150you must have top grades from an elite university and publications at top venues because these niggas don't even talk to the real proles like me
>>16920448>engineering degrees are the most demanding degreesengineering is a very patience loaded discipline but not a very g-loaded one. anyone above 90IQ can get a degree in any engineering discipline but most people get filtered by the obscene amount of made up pointless bullshit work that you have to trudge through over 4-5 years
>>16920450The rich are dumb and lazy. They won't bother with day-to-day operations, they just want the line going up. This means they will appoint someone to oversee the operations and be the fall guy. How do you know who to pick? A gullible slave of just enough intelligence, i.e. a diploma holder.
>>16920456People get filtered by both the busy work and their own lack of intelligence. There is a strong incentive to endure the busy work so it's more likely to say that a lack of intelligence is the more significant filter.A 90IQ person cannot get an engineering degree. Even if they managed somehow to turn in something acceptable for the assignments, they will fail all the exams. If you extrapolate IQ from standardized test scores, the average engineering graduate is somewhere between 115 and 130. If it was possible to get an engineering degree at 90 IQ, I'd expect that average to be much lower.
>>16920464>they will fail all the exams.only at elite schools. the world is full of 90-100IQ engineers from bottom tier US, mid-tier EU and any-tier third world unis
>>16920469>>16920464like one thing I think many tryhard nerds here miss is that you only need to pass your exams to graduate, not ace them. and if you go down the ladder to regional schools (e.g. national unis in small European countries or shitty papermill type schools in the US) they will typically be quite lenient about letting you retake classes and avoid expulsion
>>16920461>This means they will appoint someone to oversee the operationsand that someone will be a neural network running on a GPU, not a humanthe only thing humans are good for is interaction with the physical world, for now. in a couple years expect humans to be entirely deprecated, that's when the automated mass extirpation of the proletariat begins. assuming any human remains in control, if not the rich will also die.
>>16920113>Nobody will care that you are 5 years older than peers when applying to internships and entry-level jobsI've personally trashed multiple CVs by guys older than the norm for their degree applying for internships. Interns are already a fucking drag to deal with, no way I'm wasting my time on someone who was stupid enough to waste years of his life fucking around with other shit.
>>16919752>teacherbro did you not fucking pay attention to what the teachers were talking about among themselves as a kid? they're living in a self-imposed lord of the flies type of environment
>>16920469>>16920471Bottom tier paper mill US universities don't offer engineering degrees to begin with. And it's very possible for a 90 IQ person to fail a "lenient" engineering exam. Forget acing.
>>16920475don't seethe too much that others got to enjoy their youth unlike (You)
>>16920479>And it's very possible for a 90 IQ person to failyes, but not guaranteed. some will get filtered but some will make it through. I personally know a number of complete mouthbreathers with engineering degrees from a number of EU countries, even real ones (west of the Oder)
>>16920481spin it however you like, your resume's still going into the bin
>>16920482I can hypothetically imagine a course with an neglectful professor who just hand-waves everyone across the finish line and a 90 IQ avoids an F, but you aren't getting through an entire degree like that.
>>16920484good, if I was hired in your team, I'd quit on the spot
>>16920485your uni must have been in the upper percentiles because you legit don't have a clue, LMAO
>>16920486don't get ahead of yourself. garbage like you would never get hired.any intellectual worker should have the capacity for mental reflection and theory of mind. and any who do will immediately realize that any fault with their resume will be a massive competitive disadvantage, since anyone who is smart enough to reason recursively will also realize this and work to prevent it. ergo, if you have employment or education gaps, the only explanation is that you are too fucking stupid to reason recursively.
what a bunch of nerds
>>16920494>assuming I have not yet switched to industrylmao>thinking we should not lie in a resumelmao>sniffing own fart this hardlmao>>>/r/eddit
>>16920436Oh absolutely, it is a choice to go into grad school and specialize that way. I'm definitely not claiming that my experience will be like anyone elses, I was just sharing what it looks like from my perspective as a fresh phd grad in hard science. If you're in power (EE, I'm guessing that means?), then chances are you had a much more "vocational school" experience in college. With much more of the real world in demand of engineering, the pipeline to industry is much wider out of school.But I see hard science bachelors recommended a lot here, and if you want an industry position in the hard sciences (and actually make a living wage), you HAVE to be at the cutting edge (read: phd in hot field) cause that's the only place people will pay you to do what you do. To balance out my doomer aura, if you're into it, grad school can be a really rewarding and fun environment to work on the cutting edge with relatively low risk, and you can grow some great connections out of it.
>>16920494who let the redditor in
>>16920622>To balance out my doomer aura, if you're into it, grad school can be a really rewarding and fun environment to work on the cutting edge with relatively low risk, and you can grow some great connections out of it.Wrong, it is psycho-spiritual torture designed to transform sensitive young men into easily activated violence bombs
>>16920484I would love to rape you to death
How cooked am I in a "tech" position in a research group when it comes to being able to get employed in industry after? It's a good group that has been around since the 80's and is in bed with dod etc., but I don't really want to nuke my ability to move on with just an undergrad in physics. For context I'm a recent ish grad, 1 year with the group, 1(co-op/stay during uni)+1 years in industry before + two years of undergrad research. Almost all of the experience is design / field deployment of instrumentation (embedded dev/ systems/ some light math model shit)
>>16920622EE isn't "vocational school" lol.Holy fuk the status strivers in here are absolutely delusional.
I work in IT make less than $40k and have a degree in physics. Can't land any interviews in engineering or labs. I don't want to stay in IT should I just take HVAC classes at this point? Not making any progress in my career.
>>16920846More vocational than a traditional physics degree is what I believe that anon is saying. EE (or any engineering) is very hand wavy in terms of mathematics and physics, focus is application and solution rather than research/theory. >t. MechE turned physicist
>>16920851I have a friend who got a degree in physics, I went out of my way to get him a job and no one in the company would even look at his resume. Absolutely brutal. Why does engineering carry such prestige? Is it just because of ABET?
>>16920846>isn't "vocational school"all engineering outside like MIT and ETH/EPFL is vocational school. you will learn this really quick if you ever decide to try going for grad school in a hard science.
>>16920851Defense!
Has anyone completed MS ECE power engineering program from UoW?
Study statistics, if I like math? Or atleast like it the most. Graduating soon. Not super smart but i can figure out a lot given enough time and a theory base. Seems like studying just math would be a dead end. Either become a teacher (no money, dealing with students, most of whom have no interest in what you are teaching/I don't really want to work with people constantly) or go super academic (again, no money, atleast not in math I'd assume/don't like academic principles- times new roman ect./probably not smart enough to come up with theories and formulas that dont already exist).While statistics is more applied to the real world and used in almost everything, but, with the progress of ai, fearing, that might be replaced
>>16920865>Why does engineering carry such prestige?More like they are afraid to hire a guy who makes them appear incompetent kek
>an intern put the reddit frog on his presentationI shit you not. It was kinda small so maybe few noticed.
>>16920865its not prestige so much as "why would I hire I guy I have to teach what to do"?
>>16920851what is it that you want to do?
>>16921009starting to believe this
>>16920865>>16921009there's a lot of shit an engineer has to do that can only be learned by doing. especially any kind of design work, it requires a lot of confidence and autonomy, a "feel" for when and how to set and meet constraints in your own work, how to budget your time when working on open-ended, ill-defined problems, etc. all this can only be learned by tinkering with shit and breaking things for many years until you're actually capable of designing and building something that worksif you come from a purely academic background you probably need to spend a couple years just becoming useful. whereas most engineers are just tradies who took some handwavy calculus classes
>>16921449I'm a physicist turned whatever and after one year in indistry I'm having to tard wrangle engineers with 20 years of experience. They get sidetracked on shit that does not matter, are not able to see the forest from the trees and definitely cannot manage a full project or even their own time. To be honest this presumably isn't engineers in general just these guys being incompetent.But the idea that someone from academia is somehow detached from "real work" is unfounded. A smart person can learn the ropes in a year, an idiot will just be an idiot with experience.
>>16921449To add to my post above>confidence and autonomy, a "feel" for when and how to set and meet constraints in your own work, how to budget your time when working on open-ended, ill-defined problems, etc. You don't see how working on research projects might require similar qualities? "Purely academic background" is not the same as "fresh out of undergrad". It really is not uncommon to find this attitude in industry though, and it is reflected directly in pay and seniority. This is why I tell people postdocs and PhDs are a waste of life.
>>16921141>its not prestige so much as "why would I hire I guy I have to teach what to do"?That happens no matter who you hire.>>16921449The difference is that engineers have real-world stakeholders who are ultimately expecting something tangible and operational to be delivered, while academics have no stakes or expectations at all.IMO engineering degrees are so highly regarded because to be a competent engineer you need to excel in multiple areas - at least one technical background, project management, business acumen, and even being able to interpret and contribute to legal documents. It really is a highly integrated profession where you are expected to show aptitude in a lot of different parts of the business.
>>16921699>IMO engineering degrees are so highly regarded because to be a competent engineer you need to excel in multiple areas - at least one technical background, project management, business acumen, and even being able to interpret and contribute to legal documents. An engineering degree, though, does not guarantee or even provide training for any of those except technical knowledge. And even that is at the background level since real work is far more specialized than can be included in a degree programme.
>>16921570>after one year in indistry I'm having to tard wrangle>one year$20 says you're the one being tard wrangled here (and failing to be), buddy
>>16921572>You don't see how working on research projects might require similar qualities?I switched to research after engineering and got a PhD so I work with both engineers and researchers across multiple domains constantlywe're discussing people at the undergrad level. the time it takes you to get a PhD is the>spend years becoming useful phasethat I mentioned. the average mechanical or electrical engineering grad has been doing extensive projects with autonomy for years while the typical physicist or computer scientist I see doesn't know shit about fuck and only knows how to pass examsof course the engineers can't do math for the most part, though the smart ones can usually learn if they take remedial classes in grad school
>>16921699they're also next in the pipeline of replacement by ai
as a mechanical engineer, what are my options for a master's degree that would actually make me employable in this current hellscape of a job market
>>16921754I only talk to my manager during performance reviews. If anything I wanted to be tard wrangled since I had no idea what I was doing for the first six months. Turns out the people around me also have no idea. I have some idea now and that's enough to put me in charge of projects and get these people reporting to me.
>>16921779Nah. The benefit of belonging to an actual profession with licensure (lawyer, doctor, engineer) is that it can be gatekept. If CSfags weren't so dumb they would have established some kind of licensure grift organization to protect their industry before they rushed headfirst into AI.
>>16921914>The benefit of belonging to an actual profession with licensure (lawyer, doctor, engineer) is that it can be gatekept.new lawgrads are getting fucked by ai replacing paralegal and office positionsthe same problem is effecting engineering new grads. CAD and design is actively being worked on, Autodesk is experimenting with ai agents and sometime this year Solidworks will tooIf you are an under 25 year old there are no entry level positions being offered. If you are a 30+ yearold already in the game then whatever, you're fine, for now.Telling a 18 year old kid to get a 4 year degree in something he'll never be employed in is evil
>>16917463This is an excellent answer.
>>16917653Another excellent answer.
>>16921918>CAD and design is actively being worked on, Autodesk is experimenting with ai agents and sometime this year Solidworks will toobut someone ultimately still needs to be able to look at the physical thing, touch it all over with various physical tools and figure out why it's not working (it will never work first time around), then fix whatever stage of the process fucked it upengineering is inherently safer than CS because it involves interfacing with the physical world. not completely secure - certainly AI can reduce headcount requirements, and ultimately there's no hard barrier preventing AI from eventually having full embodied intelligence capable of agency in the real world - but barring the latter development it is somewhat less affected
>>16921918also>4 year degree>18 year old kidthe fact that you think this is a lot of time and that wasting some time before you're 22 matters at all reveals you're underageb&
>>16922240>but someone ultimately still needs to be able to look at the physical thing, touch it all over with various physical tools and figure out why it's not working (it will never work first time around), then fix whatever stage of the process fucked it upthis is rarely done by the engineer, and only in specific roles. >engineering is inherently safer than CS because it involves interfacing with the physical world.engineering IS safer than CS but not for long and not because it interfaces with the real world. It's safer because of the reason that other anon mentioned, it has a strong pedigree(boomers) that keep it alive and well. That pedigree doesn't really extend to zoomers or late millennials though.I'm just saying there's other more profitable options for a bachelors degree(if your goal is to be an applied scientist or just make money)>>16922241It's not a lot of time, it's also not an insignificant amount of time, but that's not the point I was makingthe point I was making is (you)/society at large are/is telling an 18 year old to make a choice he hasn't completely contemplated. And because he's an 18 year old kid, he really doesn't know better, or that there's other options at the table.
>>16919866>ee and dsp math fucking sucks.It is hard and not always intuitive. Then again that is what keeps it more exclusive. Combining DSP maths with mastery of assembly programming DSP chips will secure you a good job.>It has no grand theory behind it nor any rigor,Enginnering is engineering, for rigor you go to maths and unemployment. You can, of course, apply rigor for your own studies.>it's just a poorly explained and handwavey sporadic use of different unrelated mathematics.That is just bad lecturers.
>>16919993>So should I just fucking give up and be a NEET?Never! Nil Carborundum!>I have some projects I am working on but they are all low-profit things to say the least. I've made like 200 dollars total from them.Sounds like a startup, go for it. You can take super high risks when you are young and failure won't kill you. I founded a startup with two others. We tanked massively. Thankfully we burned just our own time and money and kept my name and reputation intact. Still it was a great experience. And I hope you will do better than me.
You should ignore the previous post and try to become a European patent attorney
If the Saudis scout me for a PhD position, should I take it?>t. mathematician
Daily reminder for all anons seeking advice here: anons in this general are extremely pessimistic and unrealistic.It's the pendulum effect, they see how overly optimistic normies are and end up overshooting swinging in the opposite direction in their attempt to have a realistic view.If you have a stem degree and do a bit more than bare minimum then youre guaranteed a decent job.The only exception is advice relating to postgrad, yeah that shit is actually even worse
>>16922604>The only exception is advice relating to postgrad, yeah that shit is actually even worseMost regulars here have STEM PhDs and are turbo losers (me included).
>>16922604>have a stem degree and do a bit more than bare minimumis having a PhD in an academic field on top of an engineering degree, working 7 days a week for the past 4.5 years, spending like 15k of my own money on procuring materials and equipment that couldn't be sourced through my institute's byzantine bureaucracy, securing and delivering several short term contract research projects considered "doing more than the bare minimum" in your book?because if yes then you're full of shit, it doesn't even guarantee continued employment, or an interview with another prospective employer (let alone a job offer)
>>16922604Normies are not optimistic about the job market these days.>If you have a stem degree and do a bit more than bare minimum then youre guaranteed a decent job.It's very important to realize you are not guaranteed anything. The days of jobs being just handed out by virtue of having a degree are over. Though I would agree that most people still end up in OK jobs eventually.>The only exception is advice relating to postgrad, yeah that shit is actually even worseA good chunk of STEM careers require postgrad. Despite this, one of the more jarring realizations was that everything I'd worked for during my academic career is completely glossed over and worthless in industry.
>>16922696>is having a PhD in an academic field on top of an engineering degree, working 7 days a week for the past 4.5 years, spending like 15k of my own money on procuring materials and equipment that couldn't be sourced through my institute's byzantine bureaucracy, securing and delivering several short term contract research projects considered "doing more than the bare minimum" in your book?That's postgrad and you're applying to a highly competitive r&d position. It doesn't matter where, all of them are highly competitive, a postgrad position in Zimbabwe will prolly still have a 100 applicants.I am talking about stem student's that have masters at the most.You need to do some effort but you can easily get a job at a smaller company/city council o algo.Once you do a PhD and end up in the postdoc limbo it's over.>>16922750 #>A good chunk of STEM careers require postgradTbh the "postgrad" cutoff should be moved to phd, master's are the new bachelor's. At least here in europoor land with ects course credit system.You don't need a PhD if youre not doing r&d.Finally. You need to accept that getty to work with your speciality and area of interest is a privilege
>>16922793>you're applying to a highly competitive r&d position. I'm applying to all kinds of positions. Every single job type has hundreds of candidates applying and retarded roasties screening them without understanding what the job is even about. Stop moving goalposts, anyway. Having a STEM degree and "doing more than the bare minimum" doesn't guarantee jack shit.You probably got a good spawn and good starter job, which locked you into the easy mode top 5% career track. Everyone else is stuck in the grind always on the knife edge facing unemployability and starvation.
Pasta here. I got a BS in aerospace engineering, I have 3+ years of experience in a local consultancy & outsourcing firm operating in the industrial and consumer product sector, and at this point I'm their FEA specialist.I want out of the 9 to 5 because I have very little energy thanks to years of untreated depression. Now I'm functional thanks to treatment, but I'm operating at my fucking limit every day of my life. Did anyone here managed to go independent and get a better life-work balance?
>>16922604Not even remotely true lol. This is boomer tier out of touch woke NONSENSE
My supervisor looks like projared.
>>16922997>independent>work-life balancelmao retard you really don't understand how the world works, do you? go work for a government agency.
>>16922604>youre guaranteed a decent jobNot for long :P LLMs will make everyone ITT jobless unless you'd be down for street cleaning kek
>>16922570Or you could work for the European Patent Office, well paid and no national tax.>>16922603If you really are a mathematician you should accept any job offer.>>16922604I for one am optimistic and also recommend doing a PhD and at least one postdoc contract, perferably in a different country.
>>16923174If I can cut out the middleman (the firm), I can earn more.If I can earn more per hour, I can work less hours.If I don't have to abide to some arbitrary presence schedule, I can work those hours whenever I feel like it.Simple as.
Just got completely hosed on my annual compensation review and I'm about to quit out of anger.
I really think learning real analysis was the biggest waste of time in my life. Years of my young life wasted on something completely useless to me, learnt in a hostile environment.
>>16923282if you cut out the middleman you now have to do all the middleman shit yourself. also there's no one else to take responsibility for anything so you better be ready to get out of bed and work at 2am on a Saturday night if that's what has to be done.
>>16923275>doing a postdocunless you went to a top 50 uni globally this is impossible btw. every single postdoc position even at podunk U, middle of nowhere requires>outstanding publication record at top journals and conferences>proven research experience at top universities or institutes
>>16923369>quitting in this job marketwelcome to the permanent underclass
>Study for over 10 years>Only skill I have mastered is self sabotage
The Ballad of the Troll and the EPO ManThere once was a troll with a briefcase of spite, Who mailed out his threats in the dead of the night. “My patent’s a masterpiece, broad as the sea— It covers ‘using a screen’ and ‘clicking agree’.”He sued startups in basements, small shops, grandma’s blog, Demanded six figures for “progress bar analogues.” The world called him evil, a leech in a suit, But the troll just kept laughing and counting his loot.But then came Herr Müller, EPO examiner, A patent attorney turned bureaucratic slammer. With glasses like moons and a fountain pen sword, He lived for one purpose: to make trolls quite bored.He opened the file, gave a Teutonic sigh, “Novelty? Nein. Inventive step? Why?” “Technical character? This is just greed in a suit, Your ‘clicking method’ is spiritually moot.”The troll screamed on Zoom, “But the market is mine! I own notifications and feeling divine!” Herr Müller just smiled like a man who’d seen worse: “I’ve got Art. 56 and I’m lifting the curse.”The troll slammed his desk, screamed “I’ll appeal to the Boards!I’ll drag this to Strasbourg! I’ll sharpen my swords!” He filed, he appealed, he hired counsel in pairs, Kept experts on retainer with impressive gray hairs.When a single Board member, on Friday at five, Exhausted from backlog, just wanted to thrive, Looked once at the claims, gave a shrug and a yawn, And wrote: “Inventive step… yeah, sure, carry on.”The EPO letter arrived like a bomb: “Patent maintained as granted. Troll wins. Ding-dong.” Herr Müller stared, stunned, at the screen with tears in his eyes, While the troll danced the Macarena in his hot tub in Dubai.Now startups pay tribute in quiet despair, While Müller updates his CV with care. The troll’s yacht is named “Art. 56? Nah”, And he toasts every night: “To the Boards— Prost! Hurrah!”
>>16923704should have worked at the epo...
>>16924015>>16923765European Patent Attorneys are real though, I personally know one
>>16923765>>16924015European Patent Attorneys are a psyop that I am currently tasked with maintaining by disinforming this thread
They all think I'm just some punk faggot, a little alien worm freak bitch they can fuck with at will. But ill show them...
>>16924132The person who designed my vacuum is a fucking retard. The tube has a fucking constriction after the entrance, and it is just significant enough that a thing can get stuck right before the curve of the handle. now I have to figure out how to get out the ball valve thing from my shower drain that got stuck there because I was vacuuming up the water from the assembly to clean itthank you for reading my blog
>>16923518>every single postdoc position even at podunk U, middle of nowhere requiresThey may WANT that but they are not getting it.
I stopped applying for PhDs at top 100 universities and applied to the top 300 ones instead. The months it took for me to figure this out, the number of people applying to the top 300 university has gone from 30 to 120. This is wiping out all my chances. Had I applied to these 6 months ago, I would have been guaranteed a PhD, but I thought I was too good for them just because my master degree is from a top 100.Something has been happening the past 5 months to quadruple the number of people applying to bad universities. Meanwhile the good universities are impossible to get into.I'm starting to wonder if I will ever get a PhD. At this rate I should give up and get any kind of white collar job like the privilege of analyzing waste water so I don't have to deliver packages for Amazon.
>>16924300They are getting it now.Ask any professor and he's gonna say he's getting tons of qualified candidates with extreme levels of publications in the middle of nowhere like rural Utah.
>>16924065This makes absolutely no sense. Did you have a stroke?
>>16924304>They are getting it now.How is that even possible? There are so many postdoc positions, it is after all the lowest rung on the ladder and academia is running through postdocs in droves.
>>16924306It doesn't matter how many positions there are.Google has a ton of positions open, but they won't hire anyone.
>>16924301>Something has been happeningTons of foreigners getting laid off from their "high status" tech jobs and applying like mad to unis to get student visa to stay in the country.
i just realized that what I've been doing aligns with that of what so called professional students do... just learning for the sake of leaning without experience/work
>>16916381How to get over working for the military? Right now doing my PhD working on developing alloy systems for the navy. Specifically for submarines. I contented myself by saying that submarines were totally obsolete, meanwhile literally today we had the first ship sunk by a US sub since WWII lol…I dunno, it makes me sick to my stomach if I think about it too much. But I don’t want to do something stupid like quit. For the record I’m a 1st year so perhaps there’s still time to pivot.
>>16924360>. For the record I’m a 1st yearso you have contributed absolutely nothing to anything
>>16924284Ummmm ok?
>>16924511sorry I thought this was the random personal venting thread
>>16924616No this is the thread about European patent officers and wanting to sexually assault your supervisor to death for minor slights against you.
>>16924661The European Patent Office is recruiting. But you will probably never get chosen. The same way you'll never get into a PhD
I've had to concede I'm too mentally ill to function properly in any workplace. However nobody will pay for me to stay home and there is no help available. Therefore just got to keep going. Not great to see yourself become a bitter old person.
I miss the FAANG internship derail days..
How do you handle dumb colleagues? My work relies on them doing their part properly. They do not. I am getting chewed out as a result. If I point out the way their work sucks they get offended, switch to passive aggression and complain to managers that I am being toxic. If I say the managers my colleagues are cretins I'm getting the boot as a non-team player. It is so tiring.
constant academic failure in quizzes and exams is breaking me...
>>16924667>never get into a PhDNTA but getting into a PhD is easy. so long as you don't care about that PhD being useful for anything at all.if you just want the legal right to bear the title and impress your grandma you can get it in your own eastern european home country, just don't expect your resume to ever land anywhere but the trash can
Why do admissions get so offended when I ask if I can do the PhD entirely online?Do they not realize it's current year?
>>16924730If you have managers who can have conversations like professional adults you should be able to tell them, like a professional adult, that you are trying your best and pulling your weight but the work is being stalled by factors outside your control.In any case, I'd very carefully make note of what responsibility belongs to who. Then when you're giving a progress report, or a meeting or whatever, show that the parts that are your responsibility have been done. When the inevitable question of "so why isn't this shit completed then" comes, the answer should be pretty obvious. I would personally avoid pointing fingers or directly calling anyone out especially if it is a meeting between multiple people. Don't be the fall guy for anyone else, show that you have done your part, document things and make sure this is communicated, and don't mind other people's business.
>>16924667I have a PhD why else would I be fantasising about prison yard situations involving me, my supervisor and a 45 plate?
>>16924762why do only unhinged schizos get phds
>>16924674...and I finished my faang internship a while ago, it was horrible torture. But refill your popcorn because you are going to love this next trying to get a job at a frontier AI lab part...
>>16924763You would have to be mentally ill to spend your youth learning integral calculus instead of getting pussy
>>16924764the yandere for his supervisor guy should rape you to death instead
>>16924762I'm this guy >>16924301Getting in has become impossible even in shitty top 300 universities.
>>16924791>shitty top 300 universities.bro it's over, chad doesn't want you, you're walled, time to settlejust admit to yourself you're not the kind of person who can get into the top any-number and go to some regional uni
>>16924807The worst university doesn't even have a PhD for my subject so I can't do it there.This is the second worst university in my country that I am applying to.It's sad because I was offered a PhD at a top 100 university this time last year and refused.
>>16924811>second worst university in my country>top 300clearly you are ignoring most universities
>>16924811>was offered a PhD at a top 100 university this time last year and refused.also, good. you deserve to suffer, faggot. you had a shot and you squandered it, most of us never had a chance.
>>16924814Nobody deserves to suffer.I thought the private sector was good, but they fired me.>>16924812I promise you, I'm applying to the second worst university in my country and then sending emails to show interest before and after applying. The professor just sent me an email saying more than a hundred extremely qualified elites applied so he has to go through them.
>>16924816>second worst university in my country>top 300so you're ignoring the 500 other ones as "beneath you"
>>16924817We don't have that many
>>16924767That's... Me...
>>16924925well, that makes things easy for you. go ahead.
>>16924935Very cute. You've just been added to The List fucko
Got rejected from that PhD now
>>16924976>>16924816>>16924818what fucking fantasy country has so few universities and yet one so good that every single one is in the top 300?
>>16917447People start masters at 30 and do a 5 year PhD afterwards, don't worry nigga
>>16924816>The professor just sent me an email saying more than a hundred extremely qualified elites applied so he has to go through themBullshit. I went through this when applying for my PhD to several universities. They always go with "le 100 ppl applied" story. Maybe it's truth, but maybe 95 of them aren't even qualified enough to be considered. I've talked to my former supervisor who helped me to apply for PhD and he showed me what applications look like. They can't even write properly and start with "dear recipient". If you put a tiniest fraction of effort into your cover letter and have subject related qualifications you already beat 95% of applicants. I see some PhD openings that are still open a year after I started my search so the situation for PhD student must be damn good. Your fault is your own and you are never competing with 100 ppl. Definitely not at bottom tier uni.
>>16925041Also did you know that university is not the single place you can do a PhD at? There are research institutions. If you are interested in electronics, quantum systems and materials I can hit you up with some
>>16924998Denmark has 6 universities.Three are in the top hundred. 2 are in the top 300. And the last one is in the top 600 and barely has relevant PhDs in it.
>go to university to get my PhD after all the paperwork is finally done>they give me a single PHYSICAL (!!!) diploma>no attachments>no description documents>no digitally signed confirmation>just a single diploma paper in a protective coverwhat the FUCK is thiswhat did you niggers get when you formally graduated? what safeguards are there to prevent the university from revoking the diploma at any time or simply telling the courts they never issued one if they feel like it?
>>16925021Alex Karp finished his PhD at 35.
>>16925051Malmö UniversityBlekinge Institute of TechnologyTwo terrible Swedish universities which offer PhDs and are close to Denmark.
>>16925057>what did you niggers get when you formally graduated?My supervisor gave me a firm handshake, a map of homeless shelters and kicked me out the door
>>16925121They are competitive for sure.
>>16925122based supervisor
>got my PhD yesterday>became a wizard todayit really is that easy. why don't more people try for the magic career path?
What the fuck should I do with a physics degree as a euro? I was thinking of becoming a finance quant for some corpo. This semester I took reactor physics and it's actually interesting. Maybe I should try to work in a nuclear power plant? There's one less than an hour away from my city.
>>16925107Is this supposed to be motivating?
>>16925213>physics degree>this semester I tookbuddy. are you sure you've got a phd?
>>16925213>What the fuck should I do with a physics degree as a euro?Traditional options are academia, software, high school teacher and suicide. Software used to pull in any and all smart young people but that game has changed. >I was thinking of becoming a finance quant for some corpoThat isn't exactly a fallback option for physicists, it's something you have to actively set yourself up for by getting relevant experience, internships and connections. Physicists in finance is more of a US/UK thing anyway, and even there mostly at the highest levels. You're talking about some of the most competitive entry level jobs on the planet and from your output I doubt you're in the running.>Maybe I should try to work in a nuclear power plant? Do they hire physicists? You can see what positions they have open, or if they have people with similar backgrounds. I would assume they would mostly be hiring engineers and technicians.
>>16925214We don't do that here
STEM is a copeThere I said it
>>16925213defense companies are hiring
>>16925226Shut the fuck up Zionist*Rapes you*
>>16925429post your 1rm for every lift you skinny little bitch
what are the math graduates here doing? serious replies only please
>>16925509I have a mathematics BsCI am currently enrolled in an MsC programIn a year, I will be enrolled in a PhD programThen I will find a job in industryHopefully not at McDonalds
>>16925509About to graduate and debating whether to work retail, fast food or do deliveries. All my peers, who had previously expressed no interest in further schooling, have now decided to go for master's degrees, so I assume they've decided to delay the inevitable like >>16925633 has.
>>16925644>>16925633if you're good you can get a teaching job and profit off the pyramid scheme
>>16925482Can it with the rapidly ageing millenial backtalk rape slave
>>16925051I count 21 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_educational_institutions_in_Denmark
Anyone else have/had a cozy CAD monkey job? Did it mess up your career progression/growth?
>>16925509dog groomer unpaid internship
I asked Claude for possible career paths for math phds and it just wrote "lol".
>>16925902It should have just killed you on the spot
Are you ready to go back to your wagie cage tomorrow, being a human interface for ChatGPT?
I can't get a job and I have a degree in electrical engineering. Should I bother with a master's (I have a few offers) or should I keep trying. It feels so hopeless right now
>>16925762you are the raped, little man.
>>16926036well for starters literally everyone has a master's nowadays so you don't really have a degree. for finishers, most people with a STEM master's can't get a job either, and people with PhDs just get stuffed in lockers by the sales and management chads while the HR roasties giggle and talk about how they're going to get pounded so hard tonight
>>16925975it's mandatory paid vacation for me so yes I am going to work as usual. not allowed to not take the vacation (and pay cut) because they need me to use it before the project runs out but also not allowed to not go to work. so I have to take a fake vacation as always
>>16919272>>16919864>>16919933I recently graduated with a chemistry degree and it is not nearly as bad as you all are making it sound. I have a shit load of hands on experience synthesizing compounds out of my BS and skipped applying for a PhD this cycle. Im getting rejected from the monkey QC HPLC water titration jobs and am getting traction from real jobs requiring a synthetic skillset. Fuck, I even applied to a biology job on accident which was the HPLC purification of dogshit then after 6 months you get promoted to LCMS. I asked you got chemistry jobs to the recruiter over the phone. Interview at a semiconductor company next week. A chemistry degree with 300+ reactions smokes an engineer who just drooled over homework all day. Did you all really fall for the meme of applying for a hyperspecialized phd credential senior year of college that the industry doesnt give a fuck about out of momentum and staying in school?
>>16926117Honest question, why don't you Heisenberg sperg or Mcveigh away? Scientifically speaking of course. Everytime I see a chemist I just assume they are low IQ because they aren't rich or terrorists lol.
>>16926055Makes me feel a little better but it's not great right now.
how much of bachelor's level chem and ochem is actually needed in phd protein engineering
>>16926053Can't even come up with your own thing, quit copying
>>16917417If you are in america you are kinda shit outta luck unless you REALLY want it. Fewer and fewer education institutions do actual research in engineering anymore (though varies from field to field, but all are trending down) and it is all led by graybeard proffessors (the kind that have probably written at least one book you have heard about) that are about to retire and barely take in any students anymore. Add the crazy amounts of jeets and chinks that apply to those positions, and you get that the only way to get picked for the PhD reliably is to do a degree at one of those institutions and suck the proffessor's dick from day 1. In Europe it is slightly less dire but the places that do good research and offer good PhD pay also have insane competition because many in the EU tries to go there (and also jeets and chinks but less than in America). Also you need to jump more hoops as a masters (where you also have to perform well) is basically mandatory and you will probably need to speak the local language if the supervisor isn't a foreigner. Though there are lots of mid tier unis doing very mid research that won't get you famous but where you can probably live a fairly chill life if you stay frugal. Most research in engineering worth anything gets done in China or at American private companies these days (at least for the subfields I'm familiar with). American unis only ever fund software and AI shit anymore and Europe is just in a general decline where it has forgotten how to be cutting edge at almost everything they used to be world leaders at that they refuse to adress because they can't admit it's happening in the first place.
>>16918166>>16918249I live in a mid sized mediterranean city with shit salaries that would be considered poverty in most of the EU and USA and the 100 square meters flat that me and 2 dudes are renting is going up for sale for 500k€. Admittedly it is in one of the better areas, but even shit tier two bedroom flats from the 60s are going for 200k minimum unless they are in some gypsy neighbourhood. You can't find a single house for under 400k€ less than 1 hour away from the city. Shit's retarded. In Europe this century, unless you become a softwarefag and land a neat job at some American company for 6 figs or have enough nepotism at hand to get into finance at some decadent megacity, you will live like an underclass for the rest of your life regardless of how fancy the name of your proffession is and how many degrees you have if you don't move to a higher paying area at least temporarily to get paid some real money that you can use as a starting point.Everyone with decent skills I know either went out of the country right after college or a few years into their working career after realizing the huge mistake they made by not leaving right after college.It sucks, but the social contract in this continent is fucking done.
>>16920108Power systems and power electronics are going to fall off a cliff when the datacenter bubble pops. In regular times power systems jobs pay badly because most countries are just letting their infrastructure rot away and only pay contractors the absolute bare minimum they can get away with, and power electronics before the datacenter hype was just selling shit to china that china is making on their own nowadays. EE is only still very good in China where manufacturing creates tons of jobs for the field. Same as Mech Eng. Outside hype cycles, the best EE outcomes are in chip design where you will need to do a bunch masters/phd hoop jumping and compete with a ton of chinks and indians to get a job in the field, only to be at risk of a layoff for your entire career because it is all getting outsourced to India. If you get lucky enough to get a stable career, you'll still be paid less than what you would have been making in software or other fields had you put the same amount of effort to get into them.It is an amazing degree if you love engineering and want to make shit as a hobby, but if you just care about job outcomes, it is not worth the effort.
>>16921871That just sounds like the level of talent and organization at that company is abyssmal anon. Is it a consulting firm or an actual engineering company?
>>16926280Datacenters aren't going to pop. The companies investing in them now are going to lose their ass, but there are going to be other data centers built costing a similar fortune.What is going to be great is when all of these retards realize their memory demand for a giant notepad of everything is not viable like every other attempt to outscale complexity. No, saving everything your AI has ever said is not going to give you any better answers. No it doesn't matter how its indexed. No, exobytes of slop doesn't have cumulative advantage.
>>16925213Defense, semiconductor and medical device companies hire physicists for some roles, but idk what qualifications they ask for. Also, there are lots of companies that hire basically anyone that seems smart and has a STEM degree for project management or data analysis positions, but those kinds of jobs are as boring as they get and can probably be offshored to india easily. If you are willing to do a masters then there are lots of masters for both ME and EE shit that you can get into with a physics degree. I've worked with chip designers that did Physics -> Chip design masters.
>>16926036Go for a masters (VERY IMPORTANT ->) at a location with industry presence for the subfield you are interested on (<- VERY IMPORTANT) and start shooting for internships as hard as you can. Almost all new hiring is being done through internships right now.
>>16926288>Datacenters aren't going to pop.Even if it doesn't pop, the buildup is going to slow down a ton after a certain point. What is happening with datacenter related EE jobs is the exact same thing that happened with telecom related EE jobs during the dotcom bubble. A lot of graduates went into them because they were highly paid and the subfield that was hiring the most, only to get destroyed when the infrastructure buildup slowed down.
>>16926292The only point I was making is that it isn't specifically data centers that are going to lose. It is the people that think paying any premium to get ahead in a soft technology field are going to be eating ass when the technology improves faster than their product lifecycle - yes, the product may as well be synonymous with data centers, but it is particular data centers built in a certain time frame by specific companies. Another somewhat important thing to watch out for because of the Israel-Iran war are computer chips. Things are going to get spicy when the diversity CHIPS plants fail and US has the gauntlet already thrown out.
>>16926173protein science is like the most intertwined field with organic chemistry out of all the biology fields because they are basically large polymers folded up on themselves.
>>16926280>Power systems and power electronics are going to fall off a cliff when the datacenter bubble pops.Power engineering is strong not only because of data centres but also because of the green enegry agenda in general. That won't die of so easily or quickly. EE in general is fairly versatile and you can go into a bunch of fields some better than others. The job market in general is pretty rough but I'd say EE is better than most.
>>16926292Tbh most of the boomers I know that got into telecom at the time when it was prosperous with the advent of mobile phones and the dotcom bubble are doing very well now. It's only those that were late to the party that got fucked
Fuck engineering. I hate this god damn field. Everyone expects you to be some kind of super genius that knows everything and can immediately fix every problem, at the same time you get completely fucked over on pay. The effort to reward ratio is completely fucked. People still talk about engineering like it's a golden ticket, it's a fucking joke.The only people who really made it were those lucky enough to ride the CS bubble and hold on to their job. They have the best job flexibility and pay, entire cities started remote programs just to kiss their ass.They won.
>>16926429Yup. It's only worth it anymore if you really like it. Applies ever harder to subfields that need a masters or more to enter.Otherwise it is just an insane ever increasing global competition for jobs that are in the current boom burst cycle or slightly lower competition for jobs that have stagnated in pay since the 90s. Then there is software engineering where you crank the competition into overdrive and you will get absolutely destroyed if you are not willing to sacrifice your life to the grind during all of college and your early career years. Though if you get lucky you can land into the only engineering job market that has kept up with inflation for the past 30 years.The globalization of the labor market and manufacturing industry has completely destroyed the edge engineering used to have in the west. The hard part used to be making it through college in 4 years. Now that's the easy part, and the rewards haven't scaled up to match this change.
>>16926371>Power engineering is strong not only because of data centres but also because of the green enegry agenda in general. That won't die of so easily or quickly.I'm not saying it will die, but it will go back to its pre-datacenter hype steady state where it didn't have the best outcomes for EE.The thing with the green energy stuff is that the parts of the green energy industry that actually make good money are all in China. In the west it is mostly infrastructure work for the government that pays pennies because they hold all the leverage. To make money as an engineer you want to go as far away from the government as posible.
>>16926281>That just sounds like the level of talent and organization at that company is abyssmal anon. That is an accurate assessment.>Is it a consulting firm or an actual engineering company?Deep tech in semiconductors. Physicist founders, I joined to do physics-y things. Leadership decided to try making equipment outside core business without real innovation. They are not engineers, actual engineers are incompetent, this was the result. Initially hoped/agreed to move on from the project. Then was assigned more of the same. It is not what I signed up for, is not very interesting/good and makes no sense to me, so now looking to leave. Been here for year and a half, got promoted to senior scientist, shipped a unit and that is probably enough to spin into a narrative for whatever comes next.
I have gotten the opportunity as an europoor to go to an American mid sized state university and study a master in immunology while working as a teaching assistant. Do you think it's a good career opportunity even if they work on fish for the most part and I will be 27 when finished? It feels a bit risky locking myself to the US for two years since they have such a shaky economy atm. I don't want to have to cancel everything in case I lose my funding. Plus I will have to lower my living standards substantially since I can barely bring anything from home to the US
>>16926480I think especially if you have not lived abroad it will be one of the key experiences in your life and you will be glad you did it.Being in the US is not so scary when you have a fallback. If it goes poorly just come back. You're young enough that you can take risks. Regarding living standards, in my opinion it is anyway better to start out living with roommates especially as a young person, keeps costs down, helps logistics a lot early on and gives you some form of a social network as well.I spent two years doing a postdoc in the US, my career tanked since but I'm glad I went.
>>16926500The thing is that I have already been to that uni for an exhange semester before, so it won't be that new for me. And I will also just get one month off for the whole year which kind of sucks since I want to go home for the summer and Christmas. It will also make it harder or at least postpone getting a long term gf
The worst part about switching to industry after a PhD? That you are at a junior level while pushing 30.
>>16926523>while pushing 30.americans don't understand true suffering.t. graduated PhD year a head of schedule for my degree set, 1 day before I turned 30
>>16926249you're small and weak, you will not be raping anybody
>>16926523You can be. But you can also access roles and career tracks that are essentially PhD exclusive. A lot of R&D type roles are like this, especially since so many people have PhDs.If you want a true tasted of twisted career hellscape, try switching to industry after a postdoc. Literally no upside compared to a fresh PhD. Does not tick the management boxes like ass profs do. Balding, destitute, and humiliated.
>>16926562>Does not tick the management boxes like ass profs dodo you not have to manage your own projects in your area/field? I started running my own projects that I secured my own funding for in my final PhD year, and was already managing 4 subordinates by the time I got the degree.
>>16926566Varies a lot by group. Large groups with big dog professors are often run by postdocs. It's fairly common for PhD students to guide Masters students working in their projects. Helping students get that sort of experience is also a sign of good mentorship from the PI. I was in the UK where PhDs are 3-4 years and the group was not functional. Anyway, babysitting a masters student or two is not much in the way of project management. Securing funding more so. However industry does not necessarily recognize these as well as you might think.
>>16926574>babysitting a masters student or two is not much in the way of project managementIt sounds like you've never been a project manager. It's a lot more than just the technical leadership, I don't count that as project management since by that yardstick I started "managing" junior colleagues in year 1. What I actually mean is having your own project and your own funding, so>writing the proposal and going through all the admin hoops to secure funding>budgeting and planning timelines>hiring to fill empty slots and negotiating transfer of FTEs with other project managers and the employees themselves for existing employers>setting constraints and goals, negotiating scope and constraints with the funder (in my case, a private company contracted the research)>managing the technical work to ensure actual results get achieved>doing all the technical work that the underageb& retards couldn't get done themselves>drafting and finalizing all the report documentation>planning and handling all the procurement>dealing with all the stupid human management bs like downtime due to vacations and sicknessbut you are right, industry doesn't give a fuck. everyone in the private sector seems to think>phd student = sit around and take some classeseven when in practice the role basically involves doing literally fucking everything, at least if you work at a national research institute in some eastern european shithole
>>16926608>existing employers*employees
Please spare me the insults. I already know how stupid I was as a young adultI am 25 and I just graduated with a Zoology degree and I already know I regret it. I was told to follow my passion and I am stuck with knowing that, even if I managed to go further in my degree and get a job, it will likely be low paying and won't work for my entire life as wages continue to stagnate and inflation gets worseI am stuck deciding whether I should continue to try to do something with this degree or if I should just go back to college for a degree in mechanical engineering that will be more practical at getting me a job I can live withHere are the factors that are relevant>I did the math and I have enough credits to graduate from my previous university with a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering in just 2 years. Yes, I accounted for the order that classes have to be taken and I spoke to an academic counselor and they verified this>I genuinely love math. I was able to pass college algebra, trigonometry, Calculus 1-3 and Diff EQ with all A's and B's>I love physics too. Only class I had a problem with was electrostatics and that was because the professor was bad>I graduated from college with my Zoology with no debt>I have 3.5 years of Chapter35 which would reduce my semesterly tuition down to about $3.5-4k>I have no college debt and have a lot more money than most people my age>Parents are coincidentally planning on moving to my college town so housing would be freeWould it be stupid to go for this? All things go well, I get my Bachelors in ME in my late 20s and I am already behind a lot of engineering graduates
>>16926645yeah that's a decent plan. just make sure your ME program is ABET accreditedif you have nothing better to do while waiting for the next semester, apply to govt jobs on usajobs. they have positions exclusively for recent grads and they're like the only people who will hire you just cause you have a degree. the process is a little funky though so you'll have to read about it on your own
>>16926679They are ABET accredited. I am thankful for that and I hope I also get more time to flirt with the younger students
>>16926645>a degree in mechanical engineeringok let's see his reasoning>getting me a job lol. lmao, even.
>>16926608Yes, what you're describing is project management. But you're describing PI responsibilities which is not the norm for PhD students in my experience. For 90% of them it's the PI that worries about the funding, procurement, hiring etc. and what is left for the PhD student is the day-to-day work, including babysitting younger students. Even if you have your own funding it's normally covering just your salary and reporting etc. is likewise straightforward.
>>16926559I'm 7'2 and filipino. And you are unoriginal and boring.
>>16926523The hardest part is knowing that the long periods of elevated cortisol levels from doing a phd and dealing with unoriginal and very very boring pigfuck rape slave gimps like >>16926559 has probably aged you beyond your years. I don't know a single person in my research group who isn't balding and greying (apart from me beautiful norwood 0.0000001 at 31 btw)
>>16926523I'm a junior level engineer at 37.People my age are making $200k in management with paid off McMansions. I'm living in an empty studio apartment with a twin mattress on the floor. It's still better than working fast food though. I guess.
>>16925213try being 27 graduating with a bachelors
>>16926734>But you're describing PI responsibilitiesYes, my contract literally lists me as "primary executor" of the project in my own language, which I suppose translates to "principal investigator" in context.>which is not the norm for PhD students in my experience.Must be nice being a rich westoid. Around here it's pretty normal for people to start having to pay their own way (taking on the "PI"-equivalent role in projects) right after getting their PhD, sometimes even while finishing it up, usually it's a question of when the projects that funded their PhD research run out. So you either get stuck trying to finish up your degree without any funding or you get your own to have a place to work at.For me, I had to first take on the role of a task lead in a project where I contributed my own idea as a task in a bigger grant proposal, then I also pushed through my own completely independent project.In the long run it probably just demonstrates what an utterly worthless waste of time this has been, since "real" PhDs get to do pure research all the way until they're done with their degree and then do postdocs at different institutions all over the world, while here most people either fuck off to industry jobs or stay on as senior researchers (PI's) at the institute they did their PhD at.
How do I be reasonably happy. I am miserable in my engineering job.
>>16926952Welcome to the club, I guess. Actually, I wouldn't mind my job so much if I didn't have to sink 40h/week, not counting the commute and lunch break.
>>16926952>How do I be reasonably happyStop making unreasonable requests
>>16926952try working a real job like being a plumber or janitor for a couple months, then go back to being an engineer
>>16926952Most people are miserable at their job. You were never expected to enjoy it. Do the bare minimum and leave.
>>16925057Letter of recommendation from your prof + the ability to use his name as reference.
I'm going to kill the person that got this job instead of me. I'll be more free in prison than I ever was in society.
>>16928183>Letter of recommendation from your profmust be nice for you. my supervisor is the director of an institute that isn't part of the university itself, and he's not going to give me a letter of recommendation just so I can quit my current job being his serf
>>16928185you won't do shit, little man
The troon that interviewed me, upon clocking my resplendent and frankly Christlike hair line and upon further comparison with zir own diabolical hairline decided to act in a diffident and contemptuous manner towards me. I never stood a chance.>>16928227Would you ever be quiet? The most important poster in this thread is talking.
>>16926523I was 32 when I switched to industry, had no problems. When you have that PhD you should be able to THINK and progress up the hierarchy quickly. Never be trapped in a position by a manageers who promises a vague possibility of a promotion in the future. Do about 2 years, and if there is no progress you just quit.
>>16925226In this general we consider Invictus to be motivational.
My prof wants me to supervise some master student who applied from India. How do I tell him that I won't?
>>16928649you submit your letter of resignation and apply at your local homeless shelter
I am about to graduate with my Bachelor's in Chemistry and I am scared as shit when it comes to job prospects. Classical synthesis chemistry is pretty much a dead, well more like matured/saturated field and ideally I would like to work in a high value field like semiconductors/materials science. I have been offered a payed student assistent post + thesis offer in the field of plasma surface functionalization in the context of medical devices.Is it a good idea to accept this offer given my plan? Or is this whole plasma hype over as well at this point?
>>16928676This has little to do with materials science/semiconductors. Look somewhere else
>>16928701I was under the impression that plasma technology is ubiquitous in semiconductor processes.
>>16928704Depends on where and in what way. Just "plasma technology" is not necessarily semiconductors.If you are working on some fancy process of PE-ALD of aluminium oxide or some plasma etching processes with chlorine and fluorine then maybe yes but putting shit into plasma chamber and making chips are different things
>>16928676Im the above recent chemistry grad who just go a 70k job in the semiconductor industry. Emphasize purification methods on your resume like crystallization/precipitation and talk about that in your interview; especially if you have like a technical story where you had to dig through literature to come up with an exotic purification step to get to your target molecule, this will make their jaw drop. Avoid discussing chromatography, I got hired into manufacturing
>>16928833Manufacturing as in manufacturing precursor materials?
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