Recent content by -Dragoon-

I'm a recent physics BS graduate now several months into a full-time engineering position. Here's my take on this issue: disregard practically everything anyone here says that isn't backed up by official statistics and studies. At one point in time, I used to eat up all of the bad things people...

I never claimed that it is unreasonable to want to study and attempt to acquire gainful employment doing it. Rather, all I'm saying is one needs a different motivation than job prospects to get through a physics graduate program because the prospects are incredibly weak and will only continue to...

I'm in Canada, so my statement comes from observing the trends in the financial industry here and it seems to be rather thriving and one of the largest industries to seek employment. However, since most of the users here are from the US, I will edit my post accordingly to be more consistent with...

Well, given I'm nearing the end of an engineering internship, I have a little perspective on this matter. I can say most engineering jobs, at least those in electrical (which seems to be the closest to physics), do not require anything more advanced than the physics taught in a sophomore-level...

I disagree. Rather, I think it is a matter of priorities. If job prospects are important to a student upon graduation, going into physics might be a major mistake. Just about any job in industry that can be done by a physicist with a significant amount of training can also be done by a graduate...

What makes you say that? Do you think then that people interested in making money and job prospects should pursue a purely academic discipline such as physics? Please elaborate. I feel you're nitpicking here. While I'm not too sure about the current state of the financial industry, it still is...

Perhaps people interested in making money and financial stability should not pursue physics, then? Getting a PhD does not entitle you to a good job, nor should it. If you want a job, then one would naturally study in a professional field or a skilled trade. Personally, I still would get a PhD...

This is a terrible, terrible textbook and a good way to scare off the OP. The best textbooks I can suggest for intermediate classical mechanics are Kleppner and Kolenkow's 'introduction to mechanics' as well as classical mechanics by David Morin. Both are incredibly self-contained books with...

Going to be brutally honest here but, at least in Canada, the job prospects for physicists and physics graduates are just going to get worse with each passing year. The reason for this is that all of the jobs that were once done by physics graduates and others are now starting to require...

Interesting link, Choppy. This particular passage stood out at me: That comes up to 34.2 % of PhDs that responded for themselves. Then, out of that cohort, 14% work in the engineering sector, 11% in computer science, and 7% in business or finance. Thus, the AIP has only demonstrated that at...

From what I've seen (anecdotally) of the post-docs that used to work in our research group, those who don't get tenure or some research position end up having to retrain for a completely different career (mainly IT) or work low skilled labouring work like construction or trucking. Thing is, most...

I think the term 'STEM' is too broad to get an accurate picture of what exactly is going on. I'm sure the people who fit the 'TE' have had little time finding work, while that certainly may not be the case for those with 'SM' backgrounds.

You're probably right, but the more pressing question is, why should anyone care whether Feynman wouldn't go into HEP or cosmology if he were a student today? I believe your definition of a 'good' physicist is rather arbitrary, but that's really besides the point. Now, it's rather obvious that...

Believe it or not, but there are some people who just don't care about applied research, 'industrial applications', or even expecting any type of employment once they finish all of their schooling. OP might be one of those people. I'm sure it sounds crazy to people who reduce an abstract thing...

Depends on the curriculum. My school requires two semesters of computational physics and a semester of basic electronics. There's a second electronics course that goes a lot more in-depth into digital electronics and rudimentary transmission line and antenna theory. A time-series analysis course...