What area of physics should I go into?

[sebCS]

Please don't say "pick whatever you like". I like physics, I love it, and I want to do physics all my life, however my only concern is my job security after I graduate. I need guidance as to what areas of physics are in demand(and will continue to be in demand after I graduate in 5 years). I would like to be a researcher, but again, I don't know how secure of a job that would be. I have also been looking into attending Waterloo university(I live in Ontario), how good of a school would that be? I've heard mixed opinions.

 

[Super Luminal]

If you are an American you should check out http://www.bls.gov/

That is the bureau of labor statistics. They provide all kinds of data on jobs including, but not limited to pay, demand, future outlook, prerequisites, etc.

If you are Canadian I imagine your country has a similar service and you should check it out.

I bet you were asking for career advice from a professional, sorry! Get over it

 

[sebCS]

I bet you were asking for career advice from a professional, sorry! Get over it

I don't follow

 

[Super Luminal]

I was just making a joke there.

BUT SERIOUSLY, check out the website it will be helpful.

 

[sebCS]

Thanks, I'm feeling pretty down :(

 

[Edin_Dzeko]

Just taking a shot here teaching?

 

[hadsed]

You can think about what seems to be really useful in peoples' everyday lives that will always be making money and creating jobs. Think along the lines of like semiconductors, other materials, integrated circuits, medical imaging, photovoltaics, software, etc. You can see that these are very clearly engineering fields, but there are ways to go about doing some physics in them. For example, if you worked on quantum dot technology, you could be working with quantum computing in graduate school and then perhaps a TV company like Samsung might be interested in you because quantum dots are also an area of research in TV technology. Or if you're doing computationally intensive physics that requires a lot of programming, like astrophysics, quantum chromodynamics, or any kind of grid/n-body simulation you can easily be hired for your programming expertise (and if you look well enough, you can find some jobs that will utilize your mathematical/problem solving abilities from physics and math as well, like working on Wall St. or energy/oil companies).

There's more stuff, you just have to think about it a lot. It won't come to you, you have to think and research it a bit. Of course, no one can tell you what the future markets will look like, but you can be reasonably sure that some things will not go away.