Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

Welcome to the Hardcore Husky Forums. Folks who are well-known in Cyberland and not that dumb.

In what aspect of life are you best a cheapskate (aka summoning your inner Dave Ramsey thread)?

12346»

Comments

  • creepycougcreepycoug Member Posts: 23,807
    edited March 2021
    F.O. Row Peter Puffer, you left...
    Sources said:

    Interesting. What do math students (sans PhD) do these days besides teach? Big data/ information systems?
    I'm not sure. I think a lot of them get pulled into consulting. Yes, the natural connection with data is another one, and of course that's big these days.

    I'm really talking out of my ass right now, but based on conversations with her, the real split occurs in theoretical vs. applied. She did a post-bacc year in advanced math (also paid by the school - thank you) that is ostensibly there to create more female math PhDs. They don't admit it, but there is a huge bias towards theoretical. They want to reproduce themselves.

    One of the hints of this, is the requirement that everyone in this funded program has to take Real Analysis. It may go by other names, and you may know this (I did not), but this is where you write math proofs all day. That's it. An entire semester of doing this. This is the shit where you fill a chalk board (or whatever) with hieroglyphics to prove that 1 + 1 = 2 and that algebra is a real thing ... that kind of abstraction. It is apparently challenging and serves as a good filter to figure out who has the chops to go get a PhD and study the crazy stuff ... knot theory, topology, etc. She did well in that course and the full press was applied. Fortunately she's like her Dad and has a backbone ... she's not nearly perfect (hi @DoogieMcDoogerson ) but she is not afraid of @RaceBannon and said "no" to the people paying for her education. She found that she likes applied, especially probabilistic math and data and said 'fuck it' I'll go to grad school for that instead.

    So, back to the original point, as a natural consequence of both her undergraduate majors and what she's studying now, she's heavy in stats and has developed data chops. She can program and knows R, Python, MatLabs, and all that shit very well; though the word "data" won't appear on any of her degrees.

    Where I see her going is probably probability modeling ... insurance companies, almost anywhere in healthcare, etc. To do financial modeling, she'd have to add some economis chops. Maybe I'll have her join the Finance Club!
  • 1to392831weretaken1to392831weretaken Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 7,684 Swaye's Wigwam
    edited March 2021
    F.O. Row Peter Puffer, you left...
    Never mind. Reading fail.
  • creepycougcreepycoug Member Posts: 23,807
    F.O. Row Peter Puffer, you left...

    Not sure if it's still the case, but there used to be huge money in compression algorithms. My former process control engineer recently retired. Before that, he once told me about his older brother. This guy is top-three smartest people I've ever known, and he said he feels like a simpleton next to his brother. Said he's an eccentric mathematician type. Worked for a company that developed a video compression algorithm (I'm guessing h.265). The part that piqued my interest the most was when he said, "Yeah, if he ever fell off his wallet, he'd probably hurt himself."
    I have no idea what compression algorithms are, but I'm sure I can't write them.
  • HHuskyHHusky Member Posts: 22,462
    Low monthly housing cost relative to net income

    WOOD!
    Both?
  • HHuskyHHusky Member Posts: 22,462
    Low monthly housing cost relative to net income

    Not sure if it's still the case, but there used to be huge money in compression algorithms. My former process control engineer recently retired. Before that, he once told me about his older brother. This guy is top-three smartest people I've ever known, and he said he feels like a simpleton next to his brother. Said he's an eccentric mathematician type. Worked for a company that developed a video compression algorithm (I'm guessing h.265). The part that piqued my interest the most was when he said, "Yeah, if he ever fell off his wallet, he'd probably hurt himself."
    At least at one time I heard that Microsoft would rather hire math graduates than computer science grads.
  • creepycougcreepycoug Member Posts: 23,807
    F.O. Row Peter Puffer, you left...
    HHusky said:

    At least at one time I heard that Microsoft would rather hire math graduates than computer science grads.
    There are still firms that see things that way. McKinsey is known to hire people with those general "tough" degrees that are not necessarily professional or directed. Math, Physics, etc. Goldman hires kids with applied math degrees who otherwise don't know shit about markets and corp. fin. But the pendulum has swung hard toward pre-professional studies unless you're at a tippy top school, in which case they don't seem to care what you majored in.
  • 1to392831weretaken1to392831weretaken Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 7,684 Swaye's Wigwam
    F.O. Row Peter Puffer, you left...
    HHusky said:

    Both?
    Does the Pope shit in the woods?
  • HoustonHuskyHoustonHusky Member Posts: 5,997
    Low monthly housing cost relative to net income

    Not sure if it's still the case, but there used to be huge money in compression algorithms. My former process control engineer recently retired. Before that, he once told me about his older brother. This guy is top-three smartest people I've ever known, and he said he feels like a simpleton next to his brother. Said he's an eccentric mathematician type. Worked for a company that developed a video compression algorithm (I'm guessing h.265). The part that piqued my interest the most was when he said, "Yeah, if he ever fell off his wallet, he'd probably hurt himself."


  • HoustonHuskyHoustonHusky Member Posts: 5,997
    Low monthly housing cost relative to net income

    There are still firms that see things that way. McKinsey is known to hire people with those general "tough" degrees that are not necessarily professional or directed. Math, Physics, etc. Goldman hires kids with applied math degrees who otherwise don't know shit about markets and corp. fin. But the pendulum has swung hard toward pre-professional studies unless you're at a tippy top school, in which case they don't seem to care what you majored in.
    A good chunk of my grad school class went straight to consulting. It was kinda frightening actually...all these people get trained by the top technical university around and immediately ditch technical work for consulting/business. I know a lot of the quant firms use to hire PHD ChemEs who specialized in Fluid Dynamics...intense math skills that they would use for all sorts of (non-ChemE) purposes.

    Its funny because when I was working in Japan a good while back one of the higher ups at Mitsubishi Chemical told me they had all kinds of trouble hiring Chemical Engineers there because the banks were hiring them straight out of school.

    Kinda sad really if you look at it from a 10,000 foot level...


  • creepycougcreepycoug Member Posts: 23,807
    F.O. Row Peter Puffer, you left...

    A good chunk of my grad school class went straight to consulting. It was kinda frightening actually...all these people get trained by the top technical university around and immediately ditch technical work for consulting/business. I know a lot of the quant firms use to hire PHD ChemEs who specialized in Fluid Dynamics...intense math skills that they would use for all sorts of (non-ChemE) purposes.

    Its funny because when I was working in Japan a good while back one of the higher ups at Mitsubishi Chemical told me they had all kinds of trouble hiring Chemical Engineers there because the banks were hiring them straight out of school.

    Kinda sad really if you look at it from a 10,000 foot level...


    Agreed. That's a lot of smarts, and they are leaving a lot of intellect on the table helping the bankers cook up their trickerations. But as they say, no bucks, no Buck Rodgers.

    As you can probably appreciate, getting a PhD in really anything isn't easy. And getting one in anything quant or hard science is especially difficult. I have a lot of respect for those folks, and in a way I like the thought of a good number of them getting their pay day instead of some guido Wall Street character who doesn't have 1/10th the smarts but knows the lingo and how to act. Soooooo much of Wall Street firm placement is like Frat House recruiting.
Sign In or Register to comment.