Published on 12, July, 2020
There are going to be a lot of questions here so sorry in advance if these questions are already answered elsewhere. If you could point me to them that would be really help you thanks.
So some background. I have just graduated from university with a degree in Maths where I got a really good grade. I thought that if I focused on doing my degree well then that would be enough people would hire me because of that but it appears that my degree really didn't matter what I should have been doing is focusing getting internships, work experience and doing projects. It wasn't till after I had completed my degree that I realised I could be autistic there some red flags like the fact that I hadn't talked to anyone in my final two years of uni but it didn't click until after I have graduated. I am in the process of getting diagnosis but I have read that takes a long time to actually do. My strengths are I am very good at completing clear written assignments I have been given, I got 100% in the majority of my university assignments. I am very good at solving problems similar to ones that I have seen before, I ended up with getting at or above 70% in all of my university modules. If I am given a deadline to learn something I can. I enjoy learning things especially how to learn, which is probably one of the main reasons I did so well in uni, I created a structure for myself so I could do well. I also have the weird ability to sometimes understand there is a mistake in my work if I understand what is going on. Everything is interesting to me, I could become a software developer, data analyst or go into cyber security but I have trouble with talking to people so I think software development would probably be the best but I will still need to talk to people in it. The problem is what I want to do is constantly switching every five minutes so it is hard to just pick one and learn the skills I need to get a job because it seems employers want you to already be able to do the job before they hire you which I understand but also that does not help me much. I am also having trouble with figuring out the requirements to actually get the job because it hard to know what I need to be learning. I am also worried about ChatGPT and that will take away most of the entry level programming jobs given enough time so is it even worth still learning programming or should I focus on learning something else. I am not really bothered by what job I get, I like the book "So good they can't ignore you" by Cal Newport which says you should focus on doing things well rather then following your passion. At the end of the day if you can do something well you will eventually enjoy it given enough time but companies seem to think differently they want you to be passionate about the job rather then saying I will do it well anyway.
Sorry for the long ramble, as you can imagine I haven't really talked to people in a while and I don't really like asking for help but I figure if I want to live a good life then I am going to need to ask for help. So some questions for you.
How do I become a software developer? - I know I need to learn a programming language, I know Python and I would say I am a competent beginner I am able to complete tasks I have been given as I look up what I don't know but I don't know how to bridge the gap to intermediate programming which I think I need to use projects for but the problem is I have trouble coming up with project ideas and then actually finishing the project. I probably just need to find ways to trick myself into doing it. I think I also need to learn Data Structures and algorithms but I am not exactly sure what I need to learn and how. I also need to have experience with git and github, so I can host my projects and showcase them. What sort of level should my projects be at before I start applying because I have a tendency to I either over do something or under do something there is no middle ground. Should I focus just on development or should I focus on development in a specific area? E.g Embedded software development seems extremely interesting to me but I have a maths degree not an electrical engineering degree so I am not sure how I would get started learning what I needed to learn. How much time should I expect it to take to learn what I need to learn? I read somewhere that in order to get a job being a developer you need to already see yourself as a software developer. Does that make sense? Is it also even possible to become an embedded software engineer with a maths degree and how do I showcase my skills? Should I focus on learning the skills and look for jobs where they ask for those skills and can showcase in projects that I actually have those skills. I have trouble getting started doing things and not getting distracted when I am doing it. I imagine breaking a problem down into solvable parts is helpful but the problem is actually doing them.
How do I get a part-time job whilst I upskill? I don't have any work experience as I kept putting it off and off until eventually my degree finished and I have no work experience. I don't really have much to put on my CV as the only thing I have really done is worked on my degree and done nothing else. Does it matter? How do I even do an interview? Why do you want this job? Because I want a job not really the best answer. What sort of part-time work should I look into doing, as I imagine customer service is just going to go badly? I honestly have no idea.
Most of the resources out there seem tailored to people with a diagnosis, which I understand why, but are there any resources tailored to undiagnosed people?
How do I get social skills, as currently my social skills are at 0 and I don't know how to move the marker? How do I actually make friends? There is a lot of general information out there but not much specific information.
Sorry for all of the questions, there are probably answers out there already to all of them, the problem is I just don't where and what exactly is relevant to me. There is both too much information and not enough information. So I figured I should just ask them all in one place. There are probably more questions that I just haven't though of yet but these should be the main ones. Sorry, if anything I say is rude, I tend to either get stuck in my own head for days overthinking problems or just blurt out a response where I come across as rude but I don't know how to fix this. I am new to all of this and am trying to figure everything out.
Thank you to anyone who answers. Thank you for your time and I hope you have a great day.
Autonomistic said:Firstly well done on achieving such a good grade in your degree. Being awarded 100% in your university assignments is truly impressive. I'm sure many employers would be impressed too.
It’s not that rare in mathematics if you have a really good student. A lot of the coursework is only a small component of the degree mark and it’s often pass / fail on each individual question. However getting over 70% on every individual exam is extremely impressive. That was actually my aim when I was in university and I didn’t quite manage it. I imagine it probably puts him in the top 5% of the class or better.
Hi Peter, thank you for your help. I am just going to write down what I am thinking. Sorry if I come across as an *** I am just going to be honest. If I am wrong then tell me, I love being wrong as it means I get to update my beliefs as I get to learn. Anyway, in my opinion there are two main camps of mathematicians, camp 1 is your number theorists, algebraists, discrete mathematicians, these are your creative problem solvers, they pull proof techniques from seemingly out of nowhere. This is what GCHQ and companies want, they want the ability to creatively solve problems and it is relatively easy to assess this you just give them a test with problems they haven't seen before and see how well they do. I am not in this camp, I am firmly in the second camp, the analysts, measure theorists, probability theorists, the logic people. They solve problems as a series of steps each step follows logically from the previous step, the way to prove things in these fields is by understanding definitions, proofs and fitting together the jigsaw pieces. I love this. I love understanding the way things work, I love understanding proofs and figuring out why they work the way they do. I love the black and white aspect of maths either you are right or you are wrong, I have got this inherent understanding of whether things don't quite jive. In my first university maths exam, I found a mistake in the exam paper. I did a research project into a topic and there was one part of a proof I was sure wasn't quite right I kept at it for weeks and then eventually realised how to solve it, it was such a small problem but if it isn't logical and each step follows from the last then I have a hard time with it. I have this itch that can't be scratched to understand things completely. I loved university exams because if I understood all of the proofs then in the exam it was just entering this weird state where I zone out and just answer questions one after another after another and I sort of just forget about them I just solve the next question in the list. It is just simple for me. It is hard to describe. I also love university assignment as it is just problem solving and you have a deadline of when you need to do it by plenty of time for me to check. Anyway more about university, I just focused on doing it well, I broke it down into a series of steps and understood what I needed to do. If you want to do well in a maths degree all you need is spaced repetition for learning the definitions and theorems and then active recall for learning the proofs and then there are bunch of small other stuff you need to take care of but if you take care of the small stuff then the score will take care of itself. The problem with masters and PhD is it feels like everyone has bought into this cool-aid that learning a bunch of theory will actually help you in life but it just doesn't. Everybody that gets a PhD wants to become a professor until they realise it is actually extremely hard to become a professor because every university use PhD students as cheap research, similarly for masters it feels like a way for the university to make more money without actually providing any value. If you know of a career or company that is willing to train people that have the itch that can't be scratched I would love to hear about it. I would get a masters or PhD if it actually meant something and I could understand why but the problem is I can't get a job and I don't know if a masters is actually worth it. Sorry for the long slightly rambly response, any help is greatly appreciated thank you.
Okay what I’m hearing is that you really love the process of learning and figuring things out. Yes the process of coming up with a proof in number theory might be a little bit different than coming up with a proof in analysis, they both draw upon intuition that is a little bit different in character, but they still require a certain degree of intuition even analysis requires you to come up with good definitions, picking good definitions is not obvious.
reconsider doing a PhD. You are absolutely right that translating your PhD into a postdoctoral position can be very challenging. And translating a postdoctoral position into a research or lecturing position is even more challenging. There is a real bottleneck at that point.
however if you pick your PhD topic carefully there is an alternative path. If you pick a PhD with a lot of industrial applications you may A) get funding from a company to do your PhD and B) get a job with that company after you finished your PhD because you will be an expert in the industrial process that is very central to their business. (or possibly a job with one of their competitors)
maths is used all the time in industry. AI for the computers, Computer modelling of materials, maths is used in a lot of manufacturing and a lot of computer dependent service industries. but these jobs usually require specialist knowledge as well as good maths skills.
make enquiries with universities about PhDs that are industrially funded, look for the ones that might lead to a career in that industry. that would be my advice to you.
best of luck!
Sorry, lets try that again. I think I have decided to pick studying data science as I enjoyed my probability modules at university. I am going to apply for graduate schemes, as many as I can, take as many interview as I can and improve my skills and just learn everything ok. Things won't go my sometimes that is ok. The law of serendipity states lady luck favours the one who tries. Also opportunity comes to the prepared. Now that I have picked my path I need to stick to it no matter the winds that blow. If I don't get a graduate scheme then I am going to try to get on to a master and then apply again the next year, and the next if need be. Again and again until I succeed. Thank you so much for you help.
This is one of those questions where the right answer for you different from the right answer for me. I generally think it’s very important to do something you’re passionate about I think that strongly links to job satisfaction. I think it’s also fair to warn you though that research in university as opposed to research an industry is not very financially stable. So if financial stability is a big factor for you you definitely want to look for the industrial route. And again doing a PhD with an industrial focus is probably a big part of preparing yourself to transition into research in industry.
A lot of PhD is can be found on jobs.ac.uk I think a lot of universities use that like a one stop shop for all kinds of research jobs and research degrees. But it’s always better to talk to the University directly if you have one in mind. Some universities will invent PhD is around promising Young candidates. But that would require you to have an idea about the kind of research you’d already like to do or the supervisor you’d like to work with.
for industrially funded PhD is you’re probably best looking at jobs.ac.uk. If I could go back and do it again I would choose a PhD in what I’m doing now which is the mathematics of biological aging. It would’ve set me up much better for what I want to be doing now. However I recognise at this stage in my life financially but there isn’t much of a call for what I’m passionate in outside of university research. Unless perhaps you’re willing to go down and work in Oxford or over the Atlantic into America. I don’t know how big an obstacle geographic mobility is for you.
I love that. One of my problems is that I am so worried about choosing the best option that I end up getting nothing done. Decision paralysis. Probably because I am trying to figure everything out myself which is not really the best way to go about it. I need to focus on what I am good at and then find other people for what I am bad at. Do you have any recommendations for fields that look promising to do research in? How would you have gone about choosing your project if you could do it again? Are there specific sites you would look at, who would you talk to and how would you talk to them?
I don't know how to put it into words. I find it empowering to have a chance to make my contribution to fixing the unfixable.
What do you enjoy most about your work?
Bioinformatics is the more statistical side of mathermatical biology. Often involving analisis of truely huge amounts of data. That might been DNA sequecing, RNA sequencing. Mass spectometry data. Really there is a lot of 'big data' in molecular biology.
What made you want to switch? What is bioinformatics, is it like genes and stuff?
Why would you regret that?
There was a period of close to 2 years where I just seemed to get stuck in a rut career wise because I wanted to pivot to mathematical biology but it wasn't happening. It's left me playing catch up with a lot of my peers. Make it harder to get by in my career later on.
What sort of stuff in mathematical biology?
We use ODEs, SDE's, sometimes PDEs or agent based systems. It can be modelling a cell, or a bunch of cells in tissue, or the electrical impulses in a beating heart, or blood flow in an artery. It might be the spread of a virus across a country or the spread of an epileptic seizure across a brain. There is a lot of multi scale modelling too.
That’s just the systems biology / biophysics side. There is a whole separate area of bioinformatics as well.
Polymer maths is this kind of thing https://arxiv.org/pdf/cond-mat/9805331.pdf
Why would you regret that? It led you to where you are now studying a field you enjoy researching. Who knows if you had started out differently if you would have enjoyed it as much as you do now. You value it more because you can say your previous project was not right for you. What sort of stuff in mathematical biology? It is my understanding that is essentially modelling populations or diseases with differential equation and big computers. Do you use SDE's as well or do you do something completely different? What even is the maths of plastics?
My PhD was in the Maths of plastics but I moved into mathermatical biology. I wish I'd started with mathermatical biology. Much like you I wasn't planing to do a PhD. But I got good grades, and couldn't get a job after uni so I kind of fell into a PhD as a back up with out really planing it out.
Hi Peter, thank you for your help. What was your PhD on and what research do you do? What project do you wish you had picked?
"How does an industrial PhD work?"
Basicly the same as an ordinary PhD except A) the PhD is payed for by a company and B) you are likely to have contact with employees of the company.
"Is it essentially just you are given training and a problem to solve and then you try to solve it?"
If there is a lab aspect to your PhD you would have to be given lab safty training at a minamum. You probably won't get that because a maths PhD doesn't normaly involve lab work. However you will be assigned 2 supervisors who are generally a professor and senior lectuer who will 'hold your hand' metaphoricly through the project. You will be expected to do a lot of self learning but it will be guided by your supervisors. You may be asked to atend some lectures in the 1st year but not all PhD students are.
"Is it the same as an academic PhD where you give a Viva?"
Yes
"Do I need references?"
yes but I think it's mostly a formality.
"How many? How do I get these?"
The university will tell you. I think for me it was just my personal tutor from my degree who wrote my refrence. They are used to being asked for refrences.
"I don't have much research experience other than for my university project, is this ok?"
Yes that's the norm.
"Am I good enough?"
In my day a upper 2nd was considered the minamum to do a PhD. With a strong first you will be a strong candidate.
"What should I be looking for?"
Most universities list PhD projects they want to do on their websites. You want to look at the funding to see that they are ICASE PhDs. A company is paying. You can also try https://www.jobs.ac.uk/phd
"Is it ok if I don't have any previous experience in the field?"
Yes and no. You'll need to pick something maths related like a mathermatical modeling or statistical analisis / AI project even if the main subject isn't maths. Either that or do a masters in the other subject involved
"Do they provide the necessary training?"
Yes if you need special traing for the project you can't get out of a book. The company involved may also provide some training.
"Do my university module choices matter?"
It helps if they are relivent but it's not fatal if they are not.
"Should I get a masters?"
You don't need a masters unless you want to do a PhD that is more experamental than theoretical in which case a masters in that other subject might help you 'convert' your skills.
"What universities should I be looking at?"
One you can see yourself living at for 3 to 4 years. I know relocating can be a real intimidating thing.
"How would I make sure I get a job after it?"
There is no fool proof way but the 2 most vital things that are you network and publish. Do go to reserch confrences. Do try to publish before your viva.
"What is the application process like?"
For me suprisingly informal but I went to a smaller newer university. Mostly aranged via informal email / face to face meetings till the last stages.
"Did you think your PhD was worth it?"
Yes it was some of the best years in my life. Though in retrospect I wish I'd picked a difrent PhD project. But right now scientific reserch is the job I've enjoyed more than any other.
"Where do I start?"
Look up PhDs online. Then if you are intrested email the professors named in the project. They will be happy to talk them through with you.
Hi Peter, I have never thought about that before. Thank you. I have thought of lots of questions for you if you do not mind answering them.
How does an industrial PhD work? Is it essentially just you are given training and a problem to solve and then you try to solve it? Is it the same as an academic PhD where you give a Viva? Do I need references? How many? How do I get these? I don't have much research experience other than for my university project, is this ok? Am I good enough? What should I be looking for? What sort of questions should I ask? Is it ok if I don't have any previous experience in the field? Do they provide the necessary training? Do my university module choices matter? Should I get a masters? What universities should I be looking at? How would I make sure I get a job after it? How would I get the most out if it? What is the application process like? Did you think your PhD was worth it? Where do I start?
I mean sometimes you get a situation where a company builds a machine and it doesn’t behave in the way they want it to reliably. And of course they built the machine using computer simulations and those computer simulations are based upon mathematics but the mathematics is sometimes wrong. So what do they do they funded PhD research project into new mathematics to explain how their machine actually works. If you end up being that PhD student who does that project and you do a good job you become one of the worlds most foremost expert on that particular industrial process and that particular type of machine you have a very good chance of getting a job either with that company or with one of their competitors.
those sorts of PhD projects do exist