Looking to transition from data science to computational physics

[plaguedbyfoibles]

In my late twenties, currently working as a data scientist in the UK, looking to sit A level maths, further maths and physics as a private candidate (not going through a distance learning provider) and pursue a joint degree in physics and computer science (which I know both St Andrews and Edinburgh offer), or a general physics degree, and seek work as a computational physicist.

Anyone know what career prospects are like for those seeking work as computational physicists in the UK and where I can look to for industrial placements?

Are the career prospects better for their US counterparts? I have a friend who studied computational physics and now works as a postdoctoral associate at MIT, and he said that for the national laboratories in the US, at the very least you need to be educated to undergraduate level.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Honestly, I don't see any jobs for "physicist" anywhere that don't require a PhD. A BS might get you a job as some sort of lab technician or the computational equivalent, but "computational physicist" implies many, many more years of education.

 

[hutchphd]

job as some sort of lab technician or the computational equivalent

And usually that is what graduate students (or "interns" in industry) are doing for very low wage cost.
I concur that this plan does not sound very promising.

 

[Astronuc]

So, what has happened during the intervening period?

I have a friend who studied computational physics and now works as a postdoctoral associate at MIT

That implies a PhD.

National labs employ statisticians, mathematicians, physicists (both theoretical and applied), and engineers of various disciplines and data scientists. Some are computational physicists, who often work with data scientists, and usually, there are teams of folks from various disciplines tackling complex problems.

For a computational scientist, it would help to have a solid background in some aspect of physics (condensed matter physics) or chemistry, and/or materials science.