Ask Slashdot: What To Do With a Math Degree? 416
First time accepted submitter badmojo17 writes "After achieving her lifelong dream of becoming a public school math teacher, my wife has found the profession to be much more frustrating than she ever expected. She could deal with having a group of disrespectful criminals as students if she had competent administrators supporting her, but the sad truth is that her administration causes more problems on a daily basis than her students do. Our question is this: what other professions are open to a bright young woman with a bachelor's degree in math and a master's degree in education? Without further education, what types of positions or companies might be interested in her as an employee?"
software dev? (Score:5, Insightful)
I've know a couple of devs with math degrees, and they were excellent.
Re:NSA (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm sure the NSA would love to have a mathematician.
With a PhD. Ranked in the top of his field. Specializing in cryptography applications.
Some teacher with a BS in Math? No.
Tutoring (Score:5, Insightful)
There are families who value education and aren't satisfied with schools.
Re:software dev? (Score:5, Insightful)
Software development, and IT in general will do well. I have 2 math degrees, the logical flow of math works very well with all things in IT.. except for management.
Re:Tutoring (Score:5, Insightful)
I came here to say this.
The problem is not that she's a teacher, the problem is clearly that she is working for the wrong employer.
Fairly obvious... (Score:5, Insightful)
Private school math teacher?
Do something she cares about (Score:5, Insightful)
No-one ever said on their death beds that they wanted to spend more time in the office. And your career will never wake up one morning and tell you it doesn't love you any more. Both of these are reasons to do something she actually wants to do.
If she is in the unenviable position of having to trade her time for money in order to live, she should at least do something she has some interest in. Just work out what she wants to do, then get the qualifications or experience to suit. Don't assume her current qualifications should be the starting point for making that decision. She wouldn't necessarily be starting from scratch, having a degree of any kind (especially a Masters degree) gives you a head start in many other areas.
The OP says this person is a "bright young woman", retirement is probably a long way off... hopefully she can find something she likes that makes economic sense also.
Good luck.
Re:Become... (Score:4, Insightful)
There's good money in it, assuming you can get motivation out of making the already absurdly wealthy incrementally richer. I spent time at a hedge fund; paid better than any job I've had before or since, but it was really hard to go to work every morning, because I felt no sense of accomplishment. I just felt like I was squandering my education skimming off the work of others (see High Frequency Trading, the entire speculative commodity futures market, etc.).
The few people who benefited from my work (besides myself) were already so wealthy (the minimum net worth requirements are ridiculous) that every single one of them could stick their money in a savings account and spend it at a rate of $200K a year for the rest of their life with no risk of going broke. Hard to get excited by the prospect of letting them spend $300K a year...
Re:Professional Gambler (Score:5, Insightful)
Someone already suggested she become a quant.
Working with your teacher (Score:5, Insightful)
I had a great math teacher in high school.
15 years later, it was kind of a blast from the past to walk into the employee cafeteria and encounter my high school math teacher, now a software developer for the same corporation.
Try private schools (Score:5, Insightful)
Actuary (Score:5, Insightful)
Same field, but is in some aspects better. Actuaries get high marks in job satasification. Good pay (not as good as quants, but....), easier to get into, good life / work balance, no insane presure, etc. Plus, as an added bonus, you can tell the exact time when somebody will die - but you can only use this power once. On the downside, you make accountants look sexy.
Re:Time to become an entrepreneur (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Become... (Score:5, Insightful)