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Ask HN: What next after PhD in physics?

2 points by _mjk ↗ HN
Hi HN! I am about to finish my PhD in experimental physics next year (Europe), and I am thinking about what to do next. I would like to get into CS, but I have no formal education. However, I am used to work in terminals, only have linux machines around me, know my way around git, have done a lot of data analysis and modelling in julia / python (setting up own packages, some testing included), and just started out with ruby / rails to realize an project of my own. Ideally the next job would be in an English-speaking country (anywhere is fine). Since I do not have any experience / certificate to show off for CS, I thought doing a PostDoc might be a good idea. Well, is it? Should I rather look for an internship / first position? Happy to hear your thoughts! _mjk

5 comments

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PaulHoule
By CS do you mean being a practitioner or being a researcher?

As for practitioner, I think you could jump right into a "data science" kind of role. Python is particularly good for that. Maybe also something with embedded systems.

I am not so sure how to switch fields for research. I was discouraged from doing that back in the day.

For background, I got a PhD in theoretical physics at Cornell in 1998. I did a postdoc for 1 year in Dresden, Germany. In school I did as much as I could in Java. I quit physics, went home and bought a farm close to Ithaca (my wife grew up 40 miles away.) She teaches kids to ride horses and since then I have done programming at Cornell, companies in the Ithaca area, remote, as a consultant, etc. I became the black sheep of my research group and I have gone through phases of intense soul-searching from time to time, but I am still here.

_mjk
Hi, thanks for your comment. You are right, I wouldn't want to switch fields in research in the long term. For a limited time and project however I might be able pick up the knowledge on a particular set of skills (thus the question if a postdoc would actually help).
T-A
For some reason, your question immediately reminded me of this: http://p.migdal.pl/2015/12/14/sci-to-data-sci.html

My guess is that a postdoc would be seen by prospective employers as a clear declaration of intent to stay in academia. But if that is what you want, you should use those few (hopefully!) years to build up a research portfolio which will get you a permanent position. Starting from scratch on something which you have no previous experience with is not the way to do that. I doubt anybody sensible would be willing to let you try on their dime.

If you do not intend to stay in academia, it is time to start revising down the value you assign to certificates of whatever. You are more likely to be asked for an interesting GitHub repo. But if you insist, there is a plethora of things like

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/certification-overv...

http://education.oracle.com/pls/web_prod-plq-dad/db_pages.ge...

https://training.linuxfoundation.org/certification

sevensor
It's not at all unusual in the U.S. for physics Ph.D.s to get hired into programming jobs. I can think of several people I've met fitting this description. Consulting companies seem to like the physics degree for entry-level programming work, although that observation is based on a pretty small sample size. The physics Ph.D. signifies capacity for abstract thought, problem-solving ability, a moderate level of technical experience, and above all a willingness to put up with a lot of pain and suffering to complete a project.