
Ask HN: Making the switch from physics to industry? - phystoind
I am a theoretical physicist considering moving to industry, and I&#x27;m looking
for advice regarding my options. Got my ph.d at a good foreign institute, and
currently am in the middle of a 3-year postdoc at a top US university. I also
have over 15 years of programming experience from before my academic career
started, including being an early employee at a successful startup.<p>I am considering moving back to industry in the US (bay area preferrable). As
far as I can tell the most relevant options are quantitative finance and data
science. I am leaning toward finance because I&#x27;ve always found it fascinating,
but truthfully I know little about either.<p>Any advice from people who have made a similar switch, or are working in these
fields will be greatly appreciated! Some specific questions: Are there other
options I should consider? What&#x27;s your experience been like making the switch?
Should I contact recruiters or try to find a job on my own? And more
specifically: How likely is it to land a quantitative finance job in the bay
area given my background + serious preparation?
======
hdkmraf
Don't, just don't.

I moved from algorithmic optimisation and old fashioned stats and computer
science into data science, I was mostly shoehorned into it back when it wasn't
hot.

The money is ok, but the problems you solve tend to be extremely inane and
unfulfilling, mostly having to do with clicks, products, and how to divert
people's attention to generate revenue. Sometimes I really feel I am just
contributing to the evil of the world.

There is an emerging market for data science into energy, one of the few
industries where you can do some good. I have been trying to move into it but
seems DS is extremely tied to web and finance...

I would stay in physics if I was you, it is an intrinsically beautiful science
along with mathematics.

Disclaimer: I will leave the field soon and dedicate myself to bug farming,
among other projects.

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ivan_ah
I recommend you go for data science rather than finance.

For one you'll have less to learn to catch up (ML = prob theory + modelling
skills). Also "data science" is a much broader skill that is in demand in many
industries, while to apply your modelling skills to finance requires that you
join one of the dirty banks, dirty hedge funds, or other dirty system
construct.

This is a good book to have on the shelf:
[https://www.cs.ubc.ca/~murphyk/MLbook/](https://www.cs.ubc.ca/~murphyk/MLbook/)

also on topic [http://p.migdal.pl/2015/12/14/sci-to-data-
sci.html](http://p.migdal.pl/2015/12/14/sci-to-data-sci.html)

~~~
phystoind
Thank you! As a followup question, looking at glassdoor it seems that data
science salaries are lower on average than programming salaries (at least in
the bay area). Is this actually the case? Is it also true for someone going
into data science with a physics background?

I'm asking because if a background in science is necessary for doing data
science then I would expect salaries to be higher than for programming roles.
This is simply because I'm guessing there are fewer scientists than
programmers around. What am I missing here?

~~~
meric
It's easier to make money hiring a programmer than hiring a data scientist.
That's all.

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tahoeskibum
Please do consider medical physics. We have a former string theorist in our
team who does great Monte Carlo simulations of medical linacs. I myself have
an experimental physics background and use my knowledge in product development
in the radiation oncology field in Palo Alto. APS has a local link service in
which you can meetup with local physicists in Bay Area and talk to them about
industrial positions.

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kleer001
Please consider Visual Effects. There's always a need for "brainiacs" to bring
the latest, fastest, smartest way to render/simulate/store the visual effects
in the latest Pixar/SuperHero movie. It might just be a short contract for a
few months or a year. Don't be afraid if you don't have much art/design
experience, there are other specialists for that. And in all reality the day
to day work of lighters, animators, etc is more matching the design specs of
the director.

But maybe that's not your thing, just putting it out there as some of the
biggest and oldest vfx studios are in the SF Bay, namely Pixar, ILM,
Dreamworks, Tippett, and well honestly little young studios might be
interested too.

www.creativeheads.net Is a clearing house for all kinda of vfx and games jobs.

~~~
santaclaus
One caveat here: the pay at VFX shops tends to be lower than the industry in
general.

~~~
kleer001
AND the work can be more sporadic AND be migratory.

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warrenmar
I recommend the Insight Data Science Fellowship.
[http://insightdatascience.com/](http://insightdatascience.com/) You can read
Ethan Rosenthal's blog about the transition from physics to industry.
[http://blog.ethanrosenthal.com/](http://blog.ethanrosenthal.com/)

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a_shiri
I recommend you go for data science as Ivan.

