4 ms·

Not my experience and I have a Engineering-Physics degree, which is essentially a full physics degree with additionaly courses gears towards training us as syst

Not my experience and I have a Engineering-Physics degree, which is essentially a full physics degree with additionaly courses gears towards training us as systems engineers and luckily that's how I landed a job afterwards. I tell all prospective physics majors to dual major in CS or EE or some other engineering useful discipline if you truly want to do something good. You have a much better chance of landing a job afterwards and gaining the foothold you need to propel into what you really want to do. Most places outside academia don't know what to do with you. Funny thing is, the people I know with physics degrees end up being some of the best engineers and quickly bubble to the top. HR types have a hard time seeing that potential if you don't fit their criteria degree exactly.

dorchadas 7y ago
Physics major myself and found it pretty much the same as you mentioned. Definitely wish they had put more emphasis on double majoring, or doing internships and such.
nikk1 7y ago
I'm a recent graduate with a BS in Engineering Physics (EP) as well. I chose the field because I love mathematics and because of the "infinite career possibilities" that the Physics department advertised (just like in this article) which was actually very misleading. I had a really hard time getting started right out of college (your description of HR's view of EP majors is spot on) and started to pursue my Master's at the same University in EP. I dropped out of my Master's program after about a year because I realized I hated doing academic research. A lot of the courses that I took were also very similar to my undergraduate courses... So I didn't feel like I was gaining any added value from my MS. Most of us graduates in EP either went to pursue graduate work or became Systems Engineers. Now I'm working as a Systems Engineer really only because it felt like the only alternative. I'm planning on getting my Master's in CS so I can get myself on track to the career that I really want. I don't regret studying physics - but I wish I had done a double major instead.
- noetic_techy 7y ago
  Yup, this resonates with me. I hated academia and wanted to get out there and do some real high level engineering work, so I took my BS in EP and left. Luckily I had some decent programming skills and it helped me land my systems engineering job doing simulation work. Yes I reversed engineered system in order to understand how to simulate them which applies to my degree focus, but without the software background I could never put theory into practice. Now I'm a project engineer leading teams of other systems engineers, so it worked out ok for me. If you are the more mathematically inclined theoretical type rather than the build systems hand on type of physics major, you will have a harder time. First thing I do when I go back to visit my Alma mater is dispell their "infinite possibilities" myth.
batbomb 7y ago
I will say I do believe this is a much smaller issue in the bay area (and possibly a few other places), provided you can code okay. If you are looking for a job, say, in Phoenix, St. Louis, Dallas or similar, the HR hurdles are much harder to overcome. Those places want CS or EE, maybe ME. I have a BS in Applied Physics.
- noetic_techy 7y ago
  Agreed, although I no longer live in the Bay Area, I grew up there and probably would not have had the same problems. Cost of living and a sense of "been there done that" kept me from going back. Luckily coming from SV, I had some coding skills just from high school and stuff I was doing on the side + internships back home, and that was a major factor in landing my current job.

dorchadas 7y ago

Physics major myself and found it pretty much the same as you mentioned. Definitely wish they had put more emphasis on double majoring, or doing internships and such.

nikk1 7y ago

I'm a recent graduate with a BS in Engineering Physics (EP) as well. I chose the field because I love mathematics and because of the "infinite career possibilities" that the Physics department advertised (just like in this article) which was actually very misleading. I had a really hard time getting started right out of college (your description of HR's view of EP majors is spot on) and started to pursue my Master's at the same University in EP. I dropped out of my Master's program after about a year because I realized I hated doing academic research. A lot of the courses that I took were also very similar to my undergraduate courses... So I didn't feel like I was gaining any added value from my MS. Most of us graduates in EP either went to pursue graduate work or became Systems Engineers. Now I'm working as a Systems Engineer really only because it felt like the only alternative. I'm planning on getting my Master's in CS so I can get myself on track to the career that I really want. I don't regret studying physics - but I wish I had done a double major instead.

noetic_techy 7y ago
Yup, this resonates with me. I hated academia and wanted to get out there and do some real high level engineering work, so I took my BS in EP and left. Luckily I had some decent programming skills and it helped me land my systems engineering job doing simulation work. Yes I reversed engineered system in order to understand how to simulate them which applies to my degree focus, but without the software background I could never put theory into practice. Now I'm a project engineer leading teams of other systems engineers, so it worked out ok for me. If you are the more mathematically inclined theoretical type rather than the build systems hand on type of physics major, you will have a harder time. First thing I do when I go back to visit my Alma mater is dispell their "infinite possibilities" myth.

batbomb 7y ago

I will say I do believe this is a much smaller issue in the bay area (and possibly a few other places), provided you can code okay. If you are looking for a job, say, in Phoenix, St. Louis, Dallas or similar, the HR hurdles are much harder to overcome. Those places want CS or EE, maybe ME. I have a BS in Applied Physics.

noetic_techy 7y ago
Agreed, although I no longer live in the Bay Area, I grew up there and probably would not have had the same problems. Cost of living and a sense of "been there done that" kept me from going back. Luckily coming from SV, I had some coding skills just from high school and stuff I was doing on the side + internships back home, and that was a major factor in landing my current job.