- #1
Nylex
- 552
- 2
Hi all,
I'm basically finishing a PhD right now (viva at the end of the month) in solar physics and have been finding it very difficult to get a job. I'd prefer not to stay in academia, though have applied for several postdocs as a job would be better than none at all! There aren't many positions going in my field, so I've applied for postdocs in other fields where I've got some relevant experience, but most of the time, I just get rejected as my experience is not enough. I've also applied for jobs in software development, but again, I don't have a whole load of experience.
My research work has been focused on analysing data to investigate oscillations. A lot of what I've been doing is generating power spectra for time series (using Fourier transforms and wavelets, for example). This is done with IDL, but I've got a working knowledge of R, too and have used MATLAB a little bit. I don't do any statistics, or heavy maths (so I don't know any kind of stochastic calculus, for example). I've got some programming experience in C++, but am not an expert by any means. I've also taught myself a little bit about finite differences (in that I read a bit of Numerical Recipes and wrote a simple code to solve the advection equation in 1D).
A lot of data analysis jobs require more experience with statistics and programming jobs require more experience with software development than I really have. It doesn't seem like there are any jobs for someone like me, who'll need to learn things. I know bits and pieces of things, but I suppose there's not enough of one thing to make me useful to an employer :(. I have no aversion to learning, but it seems that employers want people who already know things. I don't know anything about finance either, so I'd be hard-pressed to get a job there.
I'd like a job where I get to use the stuff I know and get to learn new things, like other ways of analysing data, languages, etc. Edit: I'm based in the UK, too.
Thanks!
I'm basically finishing a PhD right now (viva at the end of the month) in solar physics and have been finding it very difficult to get a job. I'd prefer not to stay in academia, though have applied for several postdocs as a job would be better than none at all! There aren't many positions going in my field, so I've applied for postdocs in other fields where I've got some relevant experience, but most of the time, I just get rejected as my experience is not enough. I've also applied for jobs in software development, but again, I don't have a whole load of experience.
My research work has been focused on analysing data to investigate oscillations. A lot of what I've been doing is generating power spectra for time series (using Fourier transforms and wavelets, for example). This is done with IDL, but I've got a working knowledge of R, too and have used MATLAB a little bit. I don't do any statistics, or heavy maths (so I don't know any kind of stochastic calculus, for example). I've got some programming experience in C++, but am not an expert by any means. I've also taught myself a little bit about finite differences (in that I read a bit of Numerical Recipes and wrote a simple code to solve the advection equation in 1D).
A lot of data analysis jobs require more experience with statistics and programming jobs require more experience with software development than I really have. It doesn't seem like there are any jobs for someone like me, who'll need to learn things. I know bits and pieces of things, but I suppose there's not enough of one thing to make me useful to an employer :(. I have no aversion to learning, but it seems that employers want people who already know things. I don't know anything about finance either, so I'd be hard-pressed to get a job there.
I'd like a job where I get to use the stuff I know and get to learn new things, like other ways of analysing data, languages, etc. Edit: I'm based in the UK, too.
Thanks!