Sick of being underemployed!

GCarty

Three questions I'd like to ask:

1. What could I do in my spare time after work that could improve my earning potential?
2. If I was able to relocate in the future, what opportunities could I as a physics PhD pursue that would give me a good chance of £50k+/year earnings? (I know about quantitative finance, but any others?)
3. What should I do if my parents start humiliating me by pointing to non-graduates on salaries far higher than my own? (Such as the Tyne and Wear Metro drivers going on strike tomorrow, who are on £32k/year, or £37k/year if they do overtime...)

StatGuy2000

Here are my answers to your question (you can take these answers for what they are worth):

(1) Since you already have skills as a programmer as well as a physics PhD (in the area of simulations), I would suggest expanding your portfolio in programming into numerical simulations and the like. Another thing in your spare time that could improve your earning potential would be to learn more about statistics or machine learning, as data mining and analytics are increasingly in demand.

(2) You have already pointed out quantitative finance. I'm only vaguely aware of the economic situation in the UK apart from what I have read in the Economist, but some as I've pointed out in (1), data mining/business analytics may be one lucrative area you could pursue. You could also try your hand at statistical programming for pharmaceutical companies or contractors.

(3) I would ignore anything your parents say regarding salaries of others, as it is none of their concern what you earn so long as you are gainfully employed in an area that utilizes your skills, and you earn the salary that makes you feel good. I don't want to speak ill of other's parents or families, but it seems to me that your parents come across (at least from your description of them) as incredibly selfish, without any regards to your happiness. If that is the case (and I apologize in advance if I'm mistaken), then it is best to keep as much of an emotional distance between them as possible, even while living with them. You are an adult, and should take stock in and be proud of your own achievements, and do not feel that you owe anyone anything for them.

GCarty

Data mining sounds interesting -- where would you recommend I look if I was interested in finding out more info? Also, what kind of statistics stuff would you recommend I look at? I currently only know the basics -- mean, variance and standard deviation; binomial, Poisson and normal distributions; linear regression...

I don't really feel that my current position fully uses my skills -- the only sort-of-higher maths I use is a bit of vector algebra...

What makes you say that? As I've already mentioned, my mother is living a total life of hell! (I'm not so bothered about my father, as his problems are largely self-inflicted, unlike my mother's.) What would you suggest I do about my mother's two main problems that currently prevent me from getting my own place? (Namely, her need for a driver to take her to buy groceries, and her extreme isolation and loneliness.)

The fact that at least two people here (correct me if I'm wrong) have clutched at straws by suggesting "telecommuting" suggests that inability to relocate would be a HUGE drag on my prospects...

StatGuy2000

Here is a link with a list of various books dealing with data mining, recommended by experts.

http://www.albionresearch.com/books/data_mining.php

In addition, if you are willing to learn more about applied statistics, I would further recommend these books:

The R Book, by Michael J. Crawley (this is a book that gives an introduction to the R programming language, frequently used by statisticians)

Modern Applied Statistics with S-plus, by Venables & Ripley (the applied stats textbook I used, using the S-plus programming language, which is practically identical to R)

There are many other books and online references on statistics, too many to list (you can find many through a quick Google search); if I think of other good books, I'll pass it along to you.


I apologize if I offended you in any way. I do not know your parents, and it was unfair of me to judge their situation without being in your shoes. It's just that you were concerned about your parents humiliating you, and I just cannot imagine my parents ever doing this to me (I have a very warm, close relationship with my parents, so I am clearly biased on this issue).

My point earlier (which I admit I did not convey in the best manner) was that you shouldn't be too concerned about what your parents say about your salary or your work, and that you should take stock in your achievements, and in what you can achieve in the future.

GCarty

Another question -- why does the village next to mine seem to have had so many posh £200k+ houses built there recently? There must be some well-paid local jobs, or they'd never be able to sell such houses!

turbo

Not necessarily. Many years ago, my wife and I bought a big house in a nice neighborhood. I was planning to move into consulting work and I wanted her to have a nice place in a "safe" neighborhood with close neighbors, so I could feel that she was secure when I was half a country away for several days or a week at a time. Virtually everybody in that neighborhood were dual-income families.

Most had no kids (at least for a long time), so it was a nice quiet place to live. Our neighbors included the chief accountant for the local paper mill, senior engineer in another paper mill, a couple of tenured school-teachers, the owner of a trucking company, the local postmaster, commercial real-estate appraiser, the senior credit manager for the local bank, and others.

Some of those jobs were local, and some of them (mine, especially) required lots of travel. People don't always live near their work. In the US, many people with access to public transportation move out of inner cities and buy places in the suburbs and put up with the commute. If you study the growth in the population of southern Maine, you would find that many of the "new" people commute to Boston. This has been enhanced by the implementation of the "Down-Easter program by AMTRAK. People can read, make notes, and work on their laptops while riding. Lots of impressive houses in that area, but on Boston salaries they are relatively affordable.

GCarty

Eh, by "local" I meant "within about 50 miles or so" (surely greater distances than this wouldn't be practical to commute?)

turbo

That depends on the availability of public transport. Belfast, Maine is not really "local" to Boston MA, but AMTRAK makes it practical.

meldraft

In the UK, London to Cambridge or Oxford is also a very frequent choice for telecommuting.

mdxyz

I think your real problem is the personal situation between you and your parents, and this isn't really something that a physics board can or should attempt to solve.

From a personal perspective, I think you need to move out. Your parents are not going to die without you. The state will provide for their basic needs, and your presence is not really alleviating their health problems. What it is doing is destroying your own life. You are tied in a part of the country that there are basically no high tech jobs, living your life for your parents who apparently make fun of how little you earn! There comes a point where this is no longer your responsibility, especially if you have already given them the last decade and a half.

Obvious next step is to apply for IT jobs in the South East.

GCarty

Saying that is making me regret my choice of degree! I basically went into physics because physics and maths were my best school subjects, and because I was told (by my A-level physics teacher) that engineering was undervalued in Britain. Why was I so dumb not to ask if there'd be a well-paid local job at the end of it?

I started university at 16 (which no doubt meant I was immature then) but I must have already had an inkling by 20 -- one reason I had for doing a PhD is that I thought that a few extra years may have made my parents more open to my leaving home (it didn't -- they still didn't think I could manage my own place...)

Locrian

Shoulda proved them wrong.

StatGuy2000

In my opinion, going back and regretting the choices you made about your degree is pointless. At this point, I can only repeat what others have said in telling you that staying with your parents is not doing you (or for that matter them) any good. I think the best thing you can do for yourself is to move out, and then find employment which is higher-paying or more fulfilling. If you really do want to stay with your family, then seeking a telecommuting position is another option to consider.

And frankly, you should stop doubting whether you will be able to make it on your own. Your are a grown man, and any healthy adult that does not suffer a physical disability has the capacity and ability to live on their own.

Windowmaker

Don't go into physics. if you like the subject go into engineering, where you can feed yourself.

mdxyz

I didn't say there were no well-paying physics-related jobs, I said there were no well-paying physics jobs in the North East. There is very little of anything in the North East, but especially high tech and professional stuff, largely because professionals don't want to live in places like Hull. It would not be dramatically different in engineering, though finance is even more London-centric than everything else, so maybe a little.

That said, you'd be earning a lot more than £18k just by becoming a physics teacher at a secondary school, and that doesn't require a PhD and isn't too sensitive to location. You've undersold yourself quite a lot here, I guess because your company realises you are going to stay no matter what.

At 22, let alone at 32, you do not need your parents' permission to move out. This is a much much bigger problem you have than anything to do with what subject you studied or your career. If you want to stay with them at your own expense out of kindness, and that is your free choice, then that is one thing. But you are at a point in your life where if you don't want to do that, you have to just tell them you are leaving, and then leave.

GCarty

I don't think I'm teacher material -- in fact one of my work mates actually tried teaching (maths) for a year, but couldn't stand it.
"Permission" isn't really the appropriate word to use -- it's more a case of not wanting to add to my mother's already considerable worries.

Before my dad had his brain haemorrhage, I got the impression that (I have a fair bit of money in the bank, mostly inherited from my grandparents) my mother wanted me to wait until I had enough money to buy a house outright, so that I would have no mortgage worries to trouble them with. After January though, the suggestion turned more towards the idea that I should buy a house for the family as a whole. I printed a list of all the houses in my price range in the nearest town (I wanted something in return for my money, namely not being needed to drive them to shops so that I could get my own place later on -- is this unreasonable?), but she rejected every single one of them (there were about 60 in my list) as "too small".

Of course space would be less of an issue if I was buying a house for them alone, while renting a place for myself somewhere else, but I have my suspicions that if I suggested that, my parents would claim that they couldn't afford to maintain a house if I wasn't living with them, even if I bought it outright!

How do I improve my own life without betraying my mother?

mdxyz

Stop thinking that having a life of your own is "betraying" other people. It sounds like she is taking advantage of you, frankly.