Recent content by CloudyTrees

Thanks for the advice!

Thank you for all these suggestions! Since I mainly do theoretical work in my research, I'd look into details on the stack overflow and open source projects.

Thanks for pointing that out (I really mean this), and I know that programming is something that's easy to "learn" but difficult to master. Similar things happen in theoretical cosmology too, where a lot of gotcha's hide in the painful calculations and we won't even think of them until we really...

Thanks for the suggestion. I've read through the Thinking in C++ and C++ Primer books so I know the basic syntax of C++. I think the hard part, like you said before, is to get motivated and involve in serious efforts in putting the languages in use. That's something I need to work on.

Yes you are correct, it was difficult for someone like me to get motivated in coding, as part of me used to think that using a computer isn't as cool as calculating by hand. And even today, I prefer to go paper/pen against computer as some kind of habit. I guess some theory students share this...

As least our group doesn't. The only people that are using programs are all using Mathematica for checking analytical results.

Thank you for the suggestions. I've used COSMOMC for two months (it's written in Fortran) but forgot most of it. Anyway I would definitely go back and review the material. Thanks!

I'm graduating within a phd in theoretical cosmology in several months and have found that it is very difficult to land a job in the industry without any demonstrated programming experience. Knowing that the academic road isn't for me practically, I've read books on C++ and coded a little, but...

Simply put: they have no time for making publications that will be considered by peers as good quality and on timely topics.

The career outlook is not so good, regarding theoretical division of these fields. Don't count too much on the data analysis division either, as some of my friends who just graduated working at Fermi also has difficulty landing permanent jobs. That said, we should really keep our mind open as...

First and the most important, 4. No! A lot of open questions still need to be answered and the answer to any of them could change our view of the universe fundamentally. Then, for the first three questions, 1. What do you mean by "outlook", the development of the field itself or career...

I think a lot of factors have to be taken into considerations before such kind of big decisions, like age, family, financial considerations and many more. I'm just a PhD candidate trying to finish his phd years so I can't give any advices on career path. From what I learned on this forum and...

Theoretical Cosmology is an area where many sub-divisions of physics play important role, such as relativity, QFT, statistical, etc. (Not very much familiar with experimental aspect but I assume it's very much close to astrophysics.) I would suggest you to have a look at Scott Dodelson's Modern...

As someone who has done some research in cosmology, I'll try to make some contributions: 1.) I agree with Nabeshin, that it might be better for you to have a major in physics. I work in the area of cosmological perturbations, mostly in the inflation era rightnow. I have the impression that most...

I guess that's why you always said that during interviews oftentimes the companies are not looking for the best but rather trying to avoid the worst. This transition of working-style is probably going to take time for people like me who have spent a long time on the theoretical side. Thanks...