- #91
physics_arete
- 1
- 0
Andy, I think you underestimate just how much your graduate study in condensed matter physics prepared you for what you are doing now; or more to the point, in how it enabled you to get to where you are now.
When my advisor told me that the problem he wanted me to tackle was critical phenomena in binary liquid thin films using ellipsometry and neutron reflectometry, my mind went to the catalog of knowledge stored from my undergraduate and graduate coursework, and came up with absolutely nothing. My reaction, of course, was a very timid sounding 'Huh?' Reading the papers he gave me did absolutely nothing to make me feel better. I didn't understand the problem at all, but since my Ph.D. lie on the other side, I tackled it anyway. I accomplished the task, and in the process I learned quite a bit about things that have shockingly little to do directly with physics. I'm sure you, and most Ph.D's here had a similar experience: starting from the ground with a problem you didn't really understand, and with no clue how to accomplish it. 95% of what you learned in coursework was completely irrelevant, and 95% of what you would needed to know you had to learn on your own. And of course some of what you needed to know you had to figure out by yourself, cause no one on Earth knew the answer yet.
This is the experience that prepared you to work in a diversity of fields. How many humanity majors make the kind of career transition you were able to make? How many former insurance salesmen do you work with? Employers generally know that we as a group can learn new fields, and tackle problems that we (and often noone) understand initially. That's probably the main reason they hire us (it's a big part of why I got my job).
Graduate coursework could be a bit more practical, but as it is, it does teach some important things. Aside from the mathematical background it provides, it also teaches students how to problem solve, and how to think at higher levels of abstraction. I won't go into this here, as this post is getting long enough.
Yes, a Ph.D in physics, even if it doesn't give you a technical skill an employer is likely to want, does prepare people for careers. This is why our unimployment rate is generaly extremely low.
I agree that outsourcing is overrated. China does produce a huge number of engineers, but only a small fraction of those engineers are of a quality that come out of American universities. Same in other fields. There is a reason they come here.
I end my diatribe with some advice to people in school. And this does apply to any field, not just physics. Diversify. I got my job because my physics background was combined with a good deal of knowledge about software development (no, not just having read a Schaum's outline on C). Learn about some other field, whether it be sales, management, chemistry, or whatever, and you will make yourself a lot more attractive to some employers, even though you are being hired primarily because you are a physicist.
When my advisor told me that the problem he wanted me to tackle was critical phenomena in binary liquid thin films using ellipsometry and neutron reflectometry, my mind went to the catalog of knowledge stored from my undergraduate and graduate coursework, and came up with absolutely nothing. My reaction, of course, was a very timid sounding 'Huh?' Reading the papers he gave me did absolutely nothing to make me feel better. I didn't understand the problem at all, but since my Ph.D. lie on the other side, I tackled it anyway. I accomplished the task, and in the process I learned quite a bit about things that have shockingly little to do directly with physics. I'm sure you, and most Ph.D's here had a similar experience: starting from the ground with a problem you didn't really understand, and with no clue how to accomplish it. 95% of what you learned in coursework was completely irrelevant, and 95% of what you would needed to know you had to learn on your own. And of course some of what you needed to know you had to figure out by yourself, cause no one on Earth knew the answer yet.
This is the experience that prepared you to work in a diversity of fields. How many humanity majors make the kind of career transition you were able to make? How many former insurance salesmen do you work with? Employers generally know that we as a group can learn new fields, and tackle problems that we (and often noone) understand initially. That's probably the main reason they hire us (it's a big part of why I got my job).
Graduate coursework could be a bit more practical, but as it is, it does teach some important things. Aside from the mathematical background it provides, it also teaches students how to problem solve, and how to think at higher levels of abstraction. I won't go into this here, as this post is getting long enough.
Yes, a Ph.D in physics, even if it doesn't give you a technical skill an employer is likely to want, does prepare people for careers. This is why our unimployment rate is generaly extremely low.
I agree that outsourcing is overrated. China does produce a huge number of engineers, but only a small fraction of those engineers are of a quality that come out of American universities. Same in other fields. There is a reason they come here.
I end my diatribe with some advice to people in school. And this does apply to any field, not just physics. Diversify. I got my job because my physics background was combined with a good deal of knowledge about software development (no, not just having read a Schaum's outline on C). Learn about some other field, whether it be sales, management, chemistry, or whatever, and you will make yourself a lot more attractive to some employers, even though you are being hired primarily because you are a physicist.