Is Physics Really a Tougher Career Choice Than Engineering or Finance?

[beamthegreat]

Physics is one of the hardest discipline to master. Yet physics graduates, on average, have a tougher time finding jobs and very often earn less than finance/engineering graduates.

Why do you guys do this to yourself? Are you masochists? Do you enjoy pain?

On a serious note: Seriously, why?

 

[ZapperZ]

Because it is something I deeply love and wanted to do, and I've had an amazing career out of it.

Think about this while you're laughing at us: what modern conveniences would you NOT be enjoying right now had it not been for all these "masochists" who persevered and became physicists.

Zz.

 

[beamthegreat]

Because it is something I deeply love and wanted to do, and I've had an amazing career out of it.

Think about this while you're laughing at us: what modern conveniences would you NOT be enjoying right now had it not been for all these "masochists" who persevered and became physicists.

Zz.

No disrespect intended. Genuinely curious. Engineering was hell but it all paid off with a pain-free job with great pay.

 

[Orodruin]

No disrespect intended. Genuinely curious. Engineering was hell but it all paid off with a pain-free job with great pay.

Some people have other priorities than money and their job being pain free.

 

[SchroedingersLion]

a) Because I want to understand the world (nature, logic, mathematics, philosophy).
b) Because there are far more fields a trained physicist could work in than any engineer (of course you need to specialize in that field during your studies, but you're less bound to a certain type of job category from the get go, at least less than with engineering degrees.)
c) Because physicists' jobs, even though they are far less in number than engineering jobs, are usually more challenging, more research oriented and produce more innovative results. There might be more engineering jobs out there, but half of them are nothing but routine and would bore the hell out of a physicist.
d) I am not a masochist, but I like to challenge myself and expand my personal limits: frustration tolerance, endurance, time management, analytic prowess. The harder the challenge, the stronger you get as a person.

 

[Dr.D]

This is a counter productive thread, one that can only pit one group against another. The hidden agenda is "why am I smarter than you?" which is hardly designed to promote harmony.

I request that the monitors close this thread.

 

[Dale]

Yet physics graduates, on average, have a tougher time finding jobs and very often earn less than finance/engineering graduates

Is that true regarding finance. Do you have a source for that? I would think that finance would be very competitive and not particularly well compensated at entry level.

 

[jasonRF]

No disrespect intended. Genuinely curious. Engineering was hell but it all paid off with a pain-free job with great pay.

I am an engineer and did not realize that pain-free jobs with great pay actually exist. I love my job and for much of the past few years have felt like I was almost doing the work I was born to do, but "pain-free" does not apply. Please tell us about your job and how long you have been working it.

edit: in response to your original post: if you find a job you love you never have to work a day in your life. I know that saying is somewhat of an exaggeration, but in spirit it is true. Also, I sincerely believe that a physics degree usually provides a very good education. Will it necessarily be more lucrative than engineering? Of course not. But quality of life isn't really measured in dollars.

jason

 

[Hypercube]

I think OP is questioning life choices of physicists - is it wise? When it comes to wisdom (or philosophy in general), there is no simple answer - we all have our own reasons. But I wholeheartedly agree with what @ZapperZ said.

Those of you that remember my earlier posts know that I'm a graduated geophysicist. Academically, I did really well, won a number of awards, scholarships and even summer internship with an oil company. Other students often turned to me for guidance on assignments and quizzes, as if I'm some sort of authority. So what happened? I am a mature age student, and as you grow older and approach your 30s, you realize life is too short to spend it not doing what you love. So I decided to enrol into a physics diploma, learn "non-geophysics" areas of physics, in order to open up pathway for graduate studies in physics.

So, was this wise? Exactly tomorrow I will turn 30 years old, and let me tell you - I have never felt happier! Ask any economist, true value of something is not the monetary value. It is the opportunity cost - what you have given up in order to get it. I study, I teach (tutor other students), and that makes me happy. My time on this rock is precious, irreversible, and I refuse to sell it.

Spoiler

One of my professors once jokingly said to me, "you know you belong in academia if you:
1. are willing to work for significantly less money than your industry counterparts,
2. are ok with working with zero job security, and
3. happy to be chipping away at a problem nobody's ever heard of (or cares about)."

 

[Hypercube]

Why do you guys do this to yourself? Are you masochists? Do you enjoy pain?

You could ask the same question to a bodybuilder - does he enjoy pain? Does he enjoy waking up at 5am, lifting weights, and eating salads all his life? Another masochist, right?
Karl Marx believed that people are not happiest when they're idle, but rather when they're engaged into meaningful work. To those with high level of self-awareness, "easy" and "pain-free" is simply boring - devoid of any challenge.

 

[Dale]

2. are ok with working with zero job security

Umm, industry doesn’t have tenure.

 

[Choppy]

I was reluctant to respond to this thread at first. Whether it was the OP's intention or not, it comes across as "my life is better than yours because I chose to go into engineering and you didn't" and based on that premise, poses a question of why someone might choose a "worse" option.

There's a problem with the initial premise that engineering graduates have a tougher time finding jobs and earn less than engineering graduates and what that implies. Even though it is perhaps technically true, it's not like engineering grads all have employers lining up outside their dorm rooms a year before they graduate and physics grads all end up fighting each other for the last of the fast food burger-flipping jobs that will eventually be replaced by intelligent machines. The differences on average are actually quite small, and to many people, small enough not to be of any major consequence.

If you look up statistical data on employment for those who have taken physics, they have low unemployment, high job satisfaction and salaries that seem comparable to those of engineering graduates. Even if it shakes out that on average physics majors earn ~ $5k less than engineering majors, this hardly makes a difference in overall quality of life, opportunities, health, etc.

One of the big differences between physics and engineering degrees is that engineering is a profession. Graduates are able to search for jobs as engineers and the schools will have industrial connections and generally the programs are oriented towards producing bachelor's level graduates ready to go out and begin work in entry-level engineering positions. Physics programs are academic. They educate their students in physics, generally with the intention of preparing them for graduate school. So graduates when they leave academia don't have the advantage of being able to search for "physicist" jobs the way engineers can search for "engineer" jobs. But that doesn't mean they are as a rule that they don't get jobs or that they are doomed to a life of burger-flipping. It does mean that there's a good chance they'll end up with a vocation that is not doing research in physics.

Some people, when they look at their options, they see these things are more-or-less on par with each other. It would be like comparing a $300,000.00 house with a $330,000.00 house. Yes, one might be worth a little more, but there are other factors to consider: the type of trees in the yard, the size of the driveway, the floorplan, whether the backyard will be a good place for your dog...