Job search ideas for an applied math major?

[ryl3gol]

I am an applied math major. What are some jobs you would recommend looking in to? Thank you in advance!

 

[StatGuy2000]

To the OP:

Before any of us can answer your question, we would need to know the following details:

1. Where are you located?

2. Are you currently a student? If so, are you still pursing your undergraduate studies? Or are you a graduate student? If not a current student, when did you graduate?

3. What skills do you possess? For example, do you have programming experience?

4. How much previous work experience do you have?

5. What types of jobs are you interested in pursuing?

 

[ryl3gol]

1. Oregon, currently south but normally Portland

2. currently undergrad

3. I have a lot of programming experience, yes

4. Some, I have a part-time job right now, and I had summer jobs all through high school

5. I'm not super picky; being an actuary sounds interesting, or pretty much anything involving statistics.

Thank you for your help! :1)

 

[StatGuy2000]

1. Oregon, currently south but normally Portland

2. currently undergrad

3. I have a lot of programming experience, yes

4. Some, I have a part-time job right now, and I had summer jobs all through high school

5. I'm not super picky; being an actuary sounds interesting, or pretty much anything involving statistics.

Thank you for your help! :1)

OK thanks for providing more information.

Given that you have programming experience and are interested in statistics, one option that may be open for you are the growing positions related to data science. Typically, these positions will require you to pursue further graduate studies (usually a Masters), but people with just undergrad backgrounds have been able to break into this field. My own recommendation would be to finish a Masters in statistics, but that depends on whether you are interested in further graduate studies.

Of course, your programming experience also opens up software development or IT positions, which could potentially be very interesting. People with applied math backgrounds have often worked in software, especially those related to any type of scientific computing or numerical analysis backgrounds. Game dev is currently hot right now, so that may be something to think about.

Finally, you did express an interest in actuarial work. My recommendation here would be to start working on the actuarial exams (if you haven't already), and start working in internships in actuarial consulting or insurance firms available. I don't know what the opportunities in this area are like for those in Portland, Oregon, but it may be worth taking a look.

Anyways, best of luck on your future endeavours!

 

[ryl3gol]

I have considered postgraduate education, but I'm not sure about that yet. Thank you for all the ideas!

 

[analogdesign]

I have a friend with a Master's in Math. She now works at Google developing algorithms to detect and counteract people trying to game Google's search metrics. It sounds super interesting and she makes a very good living. This could be right up your alley given your combination of software and math skills.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

She now works at Google developing algorithms to detect and counteract people trying to game Google's search metrics

Let me know if she has any tips for us!