So how bad is the employment situation, really?

[ptabor]

As a student about to enter a phd program in physics, I couldn't help but notice the posts in the career development section. Essentially, someone wrote a post listing all the reasons why a career in science is a bad idea - namely that it's impossible to find a job.

Surely, the likelihood of finding gainful employment is directly related to one's research experience and skills. It stands to reason that those who choose to research plasma, theoretical physics, astronomy, or other non near term application based topics would have difficulty finding employment - but what is the situation for those who study semiconductors, optics, condensed matter, etc?

 

[russ_watters]

It all depends on what you want to do. If you study semiconductors and want to find a job making chips, I'd think your odds are pretty good. If you want to study optics for the purpose of being a telescope designer, your odds are probably pretty bad.

 

[arunma]

As another person about to enter a PhD program in physics, I'm also wondering about this. How's the job market for those of us who want to become professors of physics?

 

[JasonRox]

As another person about to enter a PhD program in physics, I'm also wondering about this. How's the job market for those of us who want to become professors of physics?

Write lots of papers and the job market is pretty good.