just out of curiosity

MustardMan said:
I'm a physicist, transitioning between jobs, deciding what exactly I want to do after running screaming away from the terrible working conditions in academic research. If anyone knows a company in the Denver area that could use the services of a PhD physicist with a background in fluid mechanics, nonlinear dynamics, computational physics, and thin film polymers, give me a hollar :p
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Ball Aerospace? Lockheed Martin (Waterton facility south of town)?
 
OldPhysics said:
Ball Aerospace? Lockheed Martin (Waterton facility south of town)?
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Definitely thought about some of the military contractor types, but most of the job listings I've seen have been for experienced engineers. I'll go back and check both of those out again, though - it's been a while since I looked. Thanks for the idea.
 
I fiddle with paper work:p:p


and I am also a undercover ninja.....:D


I have MAD SKILLS:D
 
MustardMan said:
Definitely thought about some of the military contractor types, but most of the job listings I've seen have been for experienced engineers. I'll go back and check both of those out again, though - it's been a while since I looked. Thanks for the idea.
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Would you consider somewhere other than Denver? While I do radcon now, in a past life I performed computational modeling of reactor plant systems. Your resume describes some of the more esoteric CFD work we do in our Pittsburgh facility: http://www.bettislab.com/

In the interests of equal time, here is the site for our sister lab in the greater Schenectady, New York region: http://www.knollslab.com/
 
The reactor stuff sounds very cool - one of my co-ops during my undergrad years was actually a computational modeling experiment at Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, modeling plasma flow inside a tokamak fusion reactor. Of course, since I was an undergrad at the time, I basically did grunt scripting work because they didn't trust me to do anything important.


Unfortunately, I'm limited to the Denver area right now, and in fact will be leaving to drive out there on Friday. Well, not really unfortunately, my fiance has an awesome job lined up out there, and I love the area. But it does limit my choices, and physics ain't exactly the easiest career to just find a job wherever you feel like it.

Thanks for the info though, sounds like you guys do some very cool stuff.
 
MustardMan said:
The reactor stuff sounds very cool - one of my co-ops during my undergrad years was actually a computational modeling experiment at Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, modeling plasma flow inside a tokamak fusion reactor. Of course, since I was an undergrad at the time, I basically did grunt scripting work because they didn't trust me to do anything important.


Unfortunately, I'm limited to the Denver area right now, and in fact will be leaving to drive out there on Friday. Well, not really unfortunately, my fiance has an awesome job lined up out there, and I love the area. But it does limit my choices, and physics ain't exactly the easiest career to just find a job wherever you feel like it.

Thanks for the info though, sounds like you guys do some very cool stuff.
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With a PHD you could always get a teaching job at a University, they make really good money usually.
 
Ankerson said:
With a PHD you could always get a teaching job at a University, they make really good money usually.
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Heh. Not really.


The typical academic career path is driven by research. Purely teaching focused jobs generally make less than 50k a year. Now, I could live on that, but we're talking about spending more than a decade in college to work long weeks, spend all your free time grading, and make what people who chose a sane major can make with a bachelor's degree. In fact, a BS in physics is likely to net you more in an industry job than a teaching-focused job with a PhD. How messed up is that?


A typical research focused academic job in physics gets 300+ applications. At least a hundred of those will have multiple years of postdoctoral research experience. A typical postdoc pays about the same as a middle manager at a grocery store. So, to get one of the high paying university jobs in physics, you have to do a four year undergrad, typically five to seven years as a PhD student, then at least two years, and probably more like 4-6 as a postdoc.

So now you're 35 years old, and have been living on a pittance since you were 18, and likely have a large pile of student loans to pay off. Finally, after working 60+ hour weeks for terrible money, for a decade and a half, you are potentially within the top 100 applicants to a position. If you are incredibly lucky, and have chosen quality postdoctoral assignments and an excellent PhD advisor, you might have enough good publications and outstanding letters of recommendation to stand out from those 100 applicants enough to be one of the 5-10 invited for an interview. After the interview, you get to look forward to two to three months to wait to find out whether you have a job.


Oh, Have I mentioned that the typical job application process for a university professor in the hard sciences lasts roughly 8-10 months? So if you DON'T get a job, you get to enjoy the fact that you waited almost a year to find out, and you get to try it all over again next year.






Remember I said I ran screaming away from academia? There is a reason. To steal a quote from a well known astrophysicist - "I've known more people whose lives were ruined by getting a PhD in physics than drugs"
 
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business/economics consultant - electrical power utilities (wholesale electricity trading modeling and asset valuation).
background in mountain climbing, commercial banking, insurance, political economy, e-commerce, linguistics.
Bateb.
 
MustardMan said:
Heh. Not really.


The typical academic career path is driven by research. Purely teaching focused jobs generally make less than 50k a year.


A typical research focused academic job in physics gets 300+ applications. At least a hundred of those will have multiple years of postdoctoral research experience. A typical postdoc pays about the same as a middle manager at a grocery store. So, to get one of the high paying university jobs in physics, you have to do a four year undergrad, typically five to seven years as a PhD student, then at least two years, and probably more like 4-6 as a postdoc.

So now you're 35 years old, and have been living on a pittance since you were 18, and likely have a large pile of student loans to pay off. Finally, after working 60+ hour weeks for terrible money, for a decade and a half, you are potentially within the top 100 applicants to a position. If you are incredibly lucky, and have chosen quality postdoctoral assignments and an excellent PhD advisor, you might have enough good publications and outstanding letters of recommendation to stand out from those 100 applicants enough to be one of the 5-10 invited for an interview. After the interview, you get to look forward to two to three months to wait to find out whether you have a job.


Oh, Have I mentioned that the typical job application process for a university professor in the hard sciences lasts roughly 8-10 months? So if you DON'T get a job, you get to enjoy the fact that you waited almost a year to find out, and you get to try it all over again next year.






Remember I said I ran screaming away from academia? There is a reason. To steal a quote from a well known astrophysicist - "I've known more people whose lives were ruined by getting a PhD in physics than drugs"
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I understand all of that, that really does suck. LOL

Although I was in Management at a GS and made good money, the money is there, and yes I am talking 6 figures too, but like any career it takes time to get into the money. The problem is that once you hit your 40's and are making good money they want to get rid of you and hire some 20 something YO for half of what you made. Getting hired after that is hard because you usually know more than the people who are above you because of all the experience you have.

I am in that position now with over 20 years of experience in my field Managing people.

Nobody really just starts out making $100K a year or more with no experience unless they are very lucky and fall into it. There are exceptions, but they are more rare than some would have you believe.

I had to change careers a few times in my life due to the field closing up and the pay dropping down to nothing.
 
I'm not asking to start out at $100k a year, but I'm not about to spend another four years working for a salary barely above the poverty line as a postdoc, while absolutely working myself into the ground, on the off chance that I might get lucky enough to get a job that pays decent money to do something I actually enjoy.



The postdoc system is broken - I've known at least three friends who have had the grind of the academic system literally ruin their lives. That includes two broken marriages, because the spouses couldn't accept that they were supporting their partner financially, while that partner worked incredibly long hours and never helped out around the house. It's a miserable life, which denies you any chance at a life outside of academia.



20 years ago, academia was a wonderful place to work, with lots of freedom to make decent money while exploring topics you genuinely enjoy. Now it's a bloated mess of indentured servants and publish-or-perish pressure that punishes anyone who dares to try to have a family or normal life.





No thank you!



Industry it is for me. At least while I'm working my way up the ladder there, I'll make enough money to actually afford my student loan payments.
 
MustardMan said:
I'm not asking to start out at $100k a year, but I'm not about to spend another four years working for a salary barely above the poverty line as a postdoc, while absolutely working myself into the ground, on the off chance that I might get lucky enough to get a job that pays decent money to do something I actually enjoy.



The postdoc system is broken - I've known at least three friends who have had the grind of the academic system literally ruin their lives. That includes two broken marriages, because the spouses couldn't accept that they were supporting their partner financially, while that partner worked incredibly long hours and never helped out around the house. It's a miserable life, which denies you any chance at a life outside of academia.



20 years ago, academia was a wonderful place to work, with lots of freedom to make decent money while exploring topics you genuinely enjoy. Now it's a bloated mess of indentured servants and publish-or-perish pressure that punishes anyone who dares to try to have a family or normal life.





No thank you!



Industry it is for me. At least while I'm working my way up the ladder there, I'll make enough money to actually afford my student loan payments.
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I hear you man. :thumbup:

I worked my way up to 100k a few times in my life only to get laid off or cut due to many different things.

Right now I would be happy with 35K to 40K at a job that I can keep a low profile. :)
 
MustardMan said:
I'd be happy selling organs to finance my INFI habit.
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I'd be happy to sell your organs for INFI too.

Mr+burns.jpg
 
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