<p>You should try to become an accountant or an engineer</p>
<p>Frankly, anyone with ANY one major is facing fierce competition in the job market and the only thing that might help is a double major to gain a competitive edge.</p>
<p>Not necessarily. As an engineer, they tell us not to double major because being an engineer itself takes up a lot of units and you can be hired and working instead of finishing up the second major.–Getting the competitive edge is a ridiculous thing that drives so many people to go through college in majors that aren’t very used much in future jobs (mathematics much?).</p>
<p>Certain engineering majors have a shortage of people in the United States and there are companies trying their best to create partnerships with universities / add better pay and benefits to get people hired. They compete for you, instead of you competing for jobs.</p>
<p>are you complaining over starting salary and how recent did you graduate when you wrote this? don’t expect a 6 figure income to be handed to you… it’s earned through commitment and dedication… so rather than trying to put down everyone for your own unsuccessful story, focus and worry about your own life…it doesnt matter what you go into… with this economy… employment isnt easy for the rest of us regardless of the degree… but you could have participated in internships and volunteered to gain prior experience, and you seem like a know it all, why couldnt you take your own advice and do research on the salary before jumping into a career/degree you’d be satisfied in…but im going to tell you one thing straight up… dont blockade others with your negativity and failures just because you didnt make it in life the way you wanted… </p>
<p>I’m not going to pretend that I read this thread, but a math major opens the gate to any of the quantitative fields out there (the most lucrative being probably finance) and with some supplement education (such as a MFE or minor or on-the-job-training), that quantitative experience can be quickly molded to fit the company/organization’s specific needs. A math major shows intelligence and the ability to easily find patterns and make sense of data, which are needed in nearly every field in some specific shape or form.</p>
<p>Liberal arts degree means you are probably a good communicator. I read in the “Perl Cookbook” that the author knew many great programmers who are not into math or science and engineering. They use programming LANGUAGES to communicate what they want the computer to do.</p>
<p>After majoring in math and computer science at NYU and getting an MS in math, I have been working part-time for 13 years. It is better to focus on one area. Nothing I learned for my MS has been used.</p>
I don’t have time to read all 5 pages of comments so I hope this finds somebody well. I graduated in 2008 with a Finance degree but was pursuing a dual major in Math. I was 2 semesters away and decided to take a full-time offer while completing a non-paid internship at a hedgefund in the summer. I moved and quit pursuing my second degree in Math. 2 Years later when I lost my job I returned to my city to finish my Math degree in 2 semesters and re-entered the job market.
I think the biggest factor in the job search is the individual. I meet plenty of people working on trading floors with psychology, government, and other BS degrees that know somebody or worked themselves from a back office to a front office role.
For new students considering Math by itself I do not recommend unless you want to get a graduate degree and enter a role in statistics/quant, trading, or science based. However, realized in the science based world a more specialized undergraduate degree is still more competitive then a general based Math degree. If I know what I know now I probably would have just went for Petrochemical engineering, mechanical, or electrical engineering as the early years in the career are more stable. A more business route can be instable but lead to higher wages later if you continue to get graduate MBA, CFA, and other credentials.
Their is no 1 way to success luck plays a big part in your first job, your progression early in your career, and your trajectory. Things can change, but everybody has a trajectory and your start does matter.
I suggest for anybody considering Math to dual major in an area that they are generally interested in. For me it was finance/business, but for sciences Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology are all good. Remember the more math classes you stack on your GPA could drop, and think how this could affect your graduate application for anything you might be considering.
The opportunities are there outside of teaching, but dual degree or Engineering/Minor in Math might be stronger in the job world.
Think about what you really want to do and pursue. Pick something that you can see yourself doing for the rest of your life. Success will come with hard work, dedication, AND sacrifice. It will not be easy and the job market is getting more and more competitive. Be willing to start somewhere and work your way up. You can’t bank on getting lucky.
Not the experience my math major son and peers had. ALL of them are making between $59-100K after two years out of school. Lots of great opportunities.
I know peers with CS degrees who had a low GPA and are still out looking for work. Three years after graduating!
I have an “adjunct professor” right now telling us stories how he’s been wasting his time not pursuing internships while doing a CS degree, which has hurt him really badly.
Going to college is a minor step for success in the future. A piece of paper won’t necessarily get you anywhere; you have to do your part too.
It’s a fact that most math, physics and other mathematical majors are competing with CS because that’s where the job market is booming right now. I think the institution’s curriculum should be considered as well. My institution’s math program contains at least 2-3 CS courses one needs to fulfill. Other institutions are simply preparing the student for graduate work, not necessarily for the job market.
As our technology becomes more advanced, we will see more jobs being replaced by machines. However, we have to thank mathematics for the accomplishments in computing science.
It’s a sad situation for you guys, unfortunately.
The thing that strikes me is that OP graduated in 2004, when I finished my masters. I got a job as a Quant - I wouldn’t say easily, but the market was vastly better.
The one thing that remains from those times and that no recession changed is that employers want you to come in and hit the ground running. BA in maths won’t give you that, but BA/BS in other subjects give you that. Back when my sister finished a BA in CS in the 90s it was more a case of giving you a chance. Now they want someone that will get up to industry standard very quickly. It’s nor driven by competition, it’s driven by this demand for quick starters.
And X years experience isn’t what employers look at - if you just went in at 9, left at 5, went “can I have a promotion please?” after a few years, then noone will blindly hire you into something better. I’d avoid careers coaches but definitely sit down with a software engineer and ask about routes - in my experience some people never make it due to being poor communicators but usually it’s from not putting the effort into extra training. One option is extra courses. Another is jumping on an open source project and leveraging that experience and talking amongst others.
I was lucky in being advised to do an msc - it’s specific training. For software engineering there are ways to get into it as a mathematician - mainly msc that relates to computer graphics, where mathematicians get used. Even if you don’t get to build it all, it’s more fun than fixing code and getting paid shite all for it. Personally I don’t think the OP quite got why they were stuck and without putting themselves out there and ruling things out it just exacerbates the situation. Majoring in other areas ain’t the answer. Thing is if you don’t like an area of maths there is no point in doing a job there - ultimately even a strong mathematician gets fired once that dislike overtakes their work.
Tricky one tbh
I just have to comment again because I have to read the comments.
I think there’s a lot of comments from people who have either vicarious experience or none at all aswell as a lot of “it rests on your shoulders” stuff. The thing OP needs to do is learn to be better at discerning. It appears they rule out too much, too quickly. But that’s not to say to flip 180 and follow everything every user says here.
Yes, it rests on their shoulders but
It’s too easy to mistake your morale for lack of confidence and go an a futile mission to improve your confidence - of course the OP’s morale is low, no need to psychoanalyse it - I mean who would want to be in a dead end job? I remember applying in the dark for a role in accounting while doing my masters. I was given feedback that picked me apart over nerves. It haunted me, the notion that I would never get anywhere because of nerves, until a friend in fund management pointed out that of course I was nervous as it was the end of a gruelling assessment programme in an area that didn’t relate to my studies. It was the best thing to say, and when I did apply for jobs that related to my studies I noticed, BINGO!, the confidence arrived almost unannounced, and even after gruelling assessment days I never got that negative feedback again.
What’s needed is the correct focus - the OP will easily regain confidence if they do grad school, or sink their teeth into a self driven project eg some people I know that had similar tales to OP are now data scientists thanks to publishing their Hadoop based projects online and building a portfolio, or by just going for the right roles to fit their situation. At the end of the day unless they are trying to be a salesperson there is no need to overdo the confidence angle and turn an employer off.
Another thing I would question is OP’s quality - I’m speculating, but ruling out so many options makes them sound like they aren’t mathematicians in the John Nash sense, which is where a lot of opportunities are. The difference between what I did and many randomers that call themselves mathematicians did can be enormous. For instance, in grad school 2/3 of my class thought they had done math in college but couldn’t handle basic research papers, while even the dumbest in my BA could.
And I think the final thing is to the OP to get in touch with maths majors until you get the right routes. If you’d have been in undergrad still I’d have advised to get either work in your uni or at least try out something you say you don’t want to do, like actuary. Thing is even if you don’t like it you could get ideas from colleagues that are maths grads and that may understand the landscape better. Thing is its too easy to go around in circles looking for work networking when you’ve done a degree few people do and where most roles that relate to it are specialist and specific.
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