2 answers
William
Student
Gaithersburg, Maryland
1
Question
Updated
430 views
How did you find your first job (Physics)?
Was it straight out of Grad school or Undergrad? Was it lined up? Did you search for it? Most importantly, did it have to do with your degree?
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2 answers
Keerthan K Nair
Software Engineer
32
Answers
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Updated
Keerthan’s Answer
1. High School Engineering & CS Prep
The Strategy: Protect your GPA and deeply understand your core math and physics concepts.
The Action: Move beyond the classroom by building a "show, don't tell" portfolio with personal coding projects (like Python or C++) and hardware kits.
2. Minors: Psychology + Machine Learning
The Strategy: Combining human behavior with AI creates a cutting-edge niche, perfect for fields like Human-Computer Interaction or AI ethics.
The Reality Check: A formal ML minor is highly technical, requiring heavy coding and advanced math. If you just want conceptual knowledge, consider a cognitive science minor or self-guided certifications instead.
3. Medicine as a Backup Plan
The Strategy: Medical school requires exceptional grades, standardized test scores, and extensive clinical volunteering.
The Reality Check: Becoming a doctor takes roughly a decade (or more) of intensive schooling. It is an "all-or-nothing" pursuit and generally too demanding, expensive, and competitive to serve as a passive backup plan.
4. Astronomy and Planetarium Careers
The Strategy: Working in a planetarium perfectly blends physics, public education, and technical theater. You can pursue educational, technical/AV, or leadership paths.
The Reality Check: Professional astronomy involves far more computer programming (Python) and daytime data analysis than actually looking through eyepieces at the night sky.
5. Landing a First Job in Physics
The Strategy: A physics degree proves to employers that you can solve highly complex, ambiguous problems and handle advanced mathematics.
The Reality Check: Most physics undergrads do not end up with the job title "Physicist." Unless you go to grad school for academia or research, you will likely pivot into lucrative roles in data science, software engineering, finance, or systems engineering.
The Strategy: Protect your GPA and deeply understand your core math and physics concepts.
The Action: Move beyond the classroom by building a "show, don't tell" portfolio with personal coding projects (like Python or C++) and hardware kits.
2. Minors: Psychology + Machine Learning
The Strategy: Combining human behavior with AI creates a cutting-edge niche, perfect for fields like Human-Computer Interaction or AI ethics.
The Reality Check: A formal ML minor is highly technical, requiring heavy coding and advanced math. If you just want conceptual knowledge, consider a cognitive science minor or self-guided certifications instead.
3. Medicine as a Backup Plan
The Strategy: Medical school requires exceptional grades, standardized test scores, and extensive clinical volunteering.
The Reality Check: Becoming a doctor takes roughly a decade (or more) of intensive schooling. It is an "all-or-nothing" pursuit and generally too demanding, expensive, and competitive to serve as a passive backup plan.
4. Astronomy and Planetarium Careers
The Strategy: Working in a planetarium perfectly blends physics, public education, and technical theater. You can pursue educational, technical/AV, or leadership paths.
The Reality Check: Professional astronomy involves far more computer programming (Python) and daytime data analysis than actually looking through eyepieces at the night sky.
5. Landing a First Job in Physics
The Strategy: A physics degree proves to employers that you can solve highly complex, ambiguous problems and handle advanced mathematics.
The Reality Check: Most physics undergrads do not end up with the job title "Physicist." Unless you go to grad school for academia or research, you will likely pivot into lucrative roles in data science, software engineering, finance, or systems engineering.
Laura Saravia
Business Administration
1
Answer
San José, Costa Rica
Updated
Laura’s Answer
I got my first job right after graduating from high school because I needed to work— I didn’t have the financial means to pay for college at the time. I focused on finding something that interested me and where I could learn, since I wasn't sure what I wanted to study at university. That’s why I decided to apply to HP. Companies offer different opportunities, and it really depends on what you want to pursue in the future. Initially, the job wasn’t related to my degree, but it definitely helped me figure out what I liked and, more importantly, what I didn’t want to do.