Careers in science doing science

[flemmyd]

Sorry if this topic name is a bit vague.

Anyway, my question is what kind of careers can one go into, where the trajectory still lies on the science side? I noticed most of my relatives who studied engineering have moved over to the business side (more powerpoints/emails). Or rather, a path where there is a high ceiling even for those of us who want to stay on the science side.

Another issue is my preference is for working with my hands. I don't mind coding, but I'd rather play with the soldering iron and endmill than playing with a compiler.
I noticed two-fish has mentioned his career in finance being like a permanent graduate student, but all the fields I've seen have been more software/coding; not as hands-y as I'd like. I've seen a few science jobs that pay 6 figs (fluid modeling and DSP), but again, these are more computational than hands-y.

 

[fasterthanjoao]

(more powerpoints/emails).

In industry, and academia, a large part of your job nowadays is always going to be making presentations, writing reports and sending/replying to emails. You need to be able to tell people why they should pay you, and you need to do it often.

I don't mind coding, but I'd rather play with the soldering iron and endmill than playing with a compiler.

Computational work is a good way to get things done. In the physical science areas I am familiar with, the engineers/scientists handle the design/implementation. The actual building is usually done by technicians. It depends what you want to do. You might do well to look at narrowing down your potential area of interest, i.e. something more specific than "use my hands" since then you could at least look at specific employers and try to find jobs that are relevant. There are likely plenty of jobs out there with hands-on science work, but you'll do well to find a position that exists without the 'business' part of it.