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"Going into physics was the biggest mistake of my life. I should've declared CS. I still wouldn't have any women, but at least I'd be rolling in cash." This ad
by joss82 15y ago
"Going into physics was the biggest mistake of my life. I should've declared CS. I still wouldn't have any women, but at least I'd be rolling in cash."
This advice should be told to all high schoolers.
Well, at least male ones.
- pbsurf 15y agoThere really is no reason to earn an undergraduate degree in physics (as I learned the hard way). It is just as easy to get into a physics graduate program with an ECE or EECS degree plus a couple semesters of upper division quantum mechanics and maybe a semester of stat mech - and you have the option of getting a decent job instead.
- 2muchcoffeeman 15y agoOr do both! I always cringe when I meet good programmers that have no understanding of what is going on at the hardware level.
- stdbrouw 15y agoBecause knowing the hardware is, of course, essential to make a well-functioning CRUD app.
- khafra 15y agoA physics degree can get you a mid-six-figure job as a quant on Wall Street.
- jrockway 15y agoBut the people writing the CRUD apps get that too.
- Luyt 15y agoWhat's a 'mid-six-figure'? 150000? 500000?
- gjm11 15y agoDoes "mid-six-figure" mean $550k (midpoint of the six-figure range), $300k (ditto but using the geometric mean), or $150k (midpoint of the $100k-$200k range)? (My impression is that $150k is a plausible entry-level quant salary, but it seems a bit strange to describe that as "mid-six-figure".)
- bmm6o 15y agoThe "x-figure" notation is essentially logarithmic with an offset: "6-figures" = 10^5. Therefore, "mid-six-figures" should be roughly 10^5.5 or $316227.
- simcop2387 15y agoI believe that's the geometric mean he's referring to. (a*b)^1/2 # geometric mean, square root of the product of the two numbers (10^5 * 10^6)^(1/2) # substitute in for 10^5 and 10^6, the limits of the six-figure range (10^(5+6))^(1/2) # simplify inner product (10^11)^(1/2) # more simplify 10^(11 * 1/2) # move the 1/2 in, and ... 10^(11/2) # simplify 10^5.5 # and finally you get the same result The geometric mean always struct me as an interesting idea in mathematics
- grannyg00se 15y agoCurious: how could $150k be mid six-figure? I can accept the roughly 500K or 300K meanings, but if someone told me mid six figure, and they meant roughly $150K, I'd feel like they deliberately mislead or lied about the salary. There's no way I can see a reasonable person expecting $150K when someone is referring to "mid six-figure".
- timthorn 15y agoIf the goal of a CS course is to teach how to make a well-functioning CRUD app, I despair!
- iwwr 15y agoCRUD apps are bread and butter, essential, but unhealthy foods.
- guilbep 15y agono way butter is unhealthy, I can't tell about bread though.
- Locke1689 15y agoIf the goal of a CS course is to in any way make you reliant on hardware or even physics, I despair. What use is physics when you have an infinite tape?
- pbhjpbhj 15y agoIf you're a programmer and your program relies on the premise that you have infinite storage then your program is probably not going to work too well. Presumably you're assuming zero seek time too? Wasn't that the GP's point that to make the transition from CS to programming some knowledge of physical realities of computers might be useful??
- Locke1689 15y agoProgramming isn't strictly computer science. Programming is programming. Computer science is a theoretical discipline.
- dagw 15y agoA couple of the best programmers I've ever met majored in physics.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- aidenn0 15y agoWhile I would like to think you were talking about myself, I'm guessing you're thinking of people more along the lines of Dennis Ritchie.
- berntb 15y agoGo into chemistry, instead. Lots of nice women. [Edit: It is also a cool subject. And you'll get access to lots of ethanol.]
- mikebike 15y agoAren't they brutal to the grad students working as research assistants in the lab?
- berntb 15y agoWhere are they not brutal to grad students? (Depends on which country we talk about, afaik.)
- mmc 15y agoIn computer science, you will sometimes get to choose which 20 hours of the day you want to spend in the lab. Luxury!
- neutronicus 15y agoPhysics, surprisingly enough.
- RK 15y agoWhich country is this? Surely not the US.
- rimantas 15y agoLooks like I did well: studied physics and chemistry, got MS in physics and astronomy. Dropped out of PhD in astronomy — was already working as a programmer. To tell the truth I still feel sorry for not getting that PhD, but on the other hand I was not going to be an astronomer anyway, so what's the point.
- dkersten 15y agoI don't think it would have increased how many women you get by all that much either ;-)
- toponium 15y agoYea perfect case in point. I graduate this Friday with a physics undergrad. Class of 33, 31 males. 2 females :(