Okay, so I am a 3rd year Applied Math student who doesn’t know what type of jobs are available to this major. I know I DO NOT want to teach nor be an actuary. I need to choose classes that cater to that job position. I have taken C, C++ C#, and MATLAB. I know I am very interested in the science field. Also, I have applied to a summer undergrad math research program (I find out if I got in at the end of the month). I intend to intern in my senior year once I find exactly what I want to do. Every time I ask someone about what I can do with a math degree, they NEVER give me a direct and clear answer. So please, give me all the information you guys have.
P.S. I am attending Cal Poly Pomona which is probably not considered a top school in regards to math majors so that’s clearly going to affect my job opportunities and employ-ability.
In a similar thread I mentioned that self driving cars are getting a lot of development effort. I’m told Pittsburgh is hot right now. Uber is doing autonomous engineering there, I believe.
A number of companies use matlab / Simulink, for embedded development, so that should be marketable. GM, Ford, PACCAR, Freightliner, all would be worth a look too.
You should definitely be able to find a programming job with an applied math degree (assuming you spend a decent amount of time teaching yourself some programming and ideally doing some personal projects). I might recommend learning Python - it’s a great, versatile language that’s used for a lot of things. But I really just recommend starting to browse job postings for software engineers to see what skills employers are looking for. Then you can start learning those skills in your free time.
I may be wrong, but I’d be more impressed by Github projects that show solid design principles applied to a moderately complex task, and backed up with a well written documentation set in one language than something fairly banal in five.
Ideally the Github history would show the development over time, with a branch or two along the way.
Even something simple, like mentoring an FTC robotics team can do this. For example, my GH has a development fork of our FTC team’s code, where a single large method was refactored and reduced significantly in complexity.
I am a Cal Poly Pomona graduate with the same degree.
Also, who gives a crap if Cal Poly Pomona isn’t a top school in math? No one cared when I applied for jobs. Do you realize the NSA likes to recruit at CPP? I think that’s pretty special…And there were great schools there for the graduate fair when I went there.
Actually, I get a lot of people compliment me on my degree and the school I went to, even all the way out here in Kentucky.
I had the same mindset. I didn’t want to be an actuary or teacher, period.
My suggestion is to start doing some heavy research on where you can get experience at a company to do programming as that seems to be what you’re kind of gearing your career towards. Try to get an internship.
How are you with interviews? You absolutely need to nail them. I’m a natural at interviews, so I can’t really provide any helpful tips other than to keep your cool and don’t pretend to know something if you truly don’t know it. It’s a red flag in CS interviews. I got one offer from one of the job fairs on the spot and it had to do with logistics. If you widen your job search outside of California, you should be able to get something in no time. I suggest you do this early on as when I graduated I flew in for an interview like a week later.
I currently work as a software engineer. I didn’t have any programming skills really prior to getting my first job, but my employer gave me a chance to learn the ropes. What you should have as a math major is a degree that says you’re not a dummy. You can learn complex tasks and work well expressing yourself with proofs ( which I feel like is basically what you do when you program).
I picked up programming very quickly and started becoming an effective team member week one.
Python I learned in school, but it’s pretty useless as far as most companies go. What you should be looking to get good at is C#, C++, Java, and some SQL. I currently work in healthcare. There are many jobs out there for SaaS companies, although they may be getting pickier nowadays.