How do I get hired at a tech company with a math degree?
Most tech companies require one of the below skills:
Programming Experience: >I have elementary programming experience, but not enough to become a software developer.[taking a class post-graduation but just started].
Data Visualization Experience: >I don't know Tableau or any other Data Visualization but can learn quickly.
Statistics for analyzing data: >I only took a basic Statistics course.
SQL: >Never took a data base course
Certifications: 0 tech certifications
Basically it disqualifies me from most data science, programming and analyst jobs.
I have to look for jobs in marketing, HR, tech support or positions that require a background in something.
Only jobs I'm qualified for are jobs that require no tech skills, no cert skills and 0 background. Might as well not have a degree.
Group theory, Real Analysis, Geometry skillsets are 99.9% useless to majority of companies I'm looking at.
Jobs that are qualified for are ones I don't need a degree for.
NOT trolling. ANY Advice? I'm already going back to school to get skills in those areas I lack. But in the meantime still have a useless pure math degree.
Thanks, been doing many of those items on my own but just started.
Yeah, I busted my butt taking many pure math courses only to graduate with 0 "real world" value. Code monkeys have a better chance to get hired than I do. I might as well never have went to school based on the min. requirements companies are looking for (i.e. I don't satisfy any of them).
cert studies would have made me more employable. Better than had studying group theory, which 0 companies care about.
Asher Fisher
Learn to code (for real). Make some show-off portfolio projects. Don't be retarded. I got into the field with zero experience and no degree just by building some stuff and putting it on GitHub. A math degree + side projects should be plenty to get you an interview.
Evan Hernandez
>I only took a basic Statistics course. >Never took a data base course
If you think any of this matters I've got bad news for you...
Jose Ramirez
Thanks. I have a few projects I worked on I could put on GitHub. Never thought of that. Despite being able to learn data structures & algorithms it takes time to learn and I just began. if I apply for companies now they'll drive me on that and I barely opened up CLRS. What do you recommend?
Noah Walker
The value of a math degree is not in what you know, but how your brain has been conditioned to think. If you don't already realize this, then yeah you're fucked.
Matthew Cruz
Don't fall for the "muh high level CS theory" meme. Just start writing code, and you'll start running into problems solved by data structures/algorithms that are neccessary for industry work. You'll suck ass and your code will be shit, but it will slowly get better if you just keep coding and, more importantly, reading other people's code.
Christian Gomez
Most data science positions require statistics (beyond basic statistics), Big Data, Programming knowledge, Data Visualization, etc.
Or the ability to take unstructured data wrangle it into semi-structured or structured data and then derive insights for business value.
That means being able to do SQL commands, write java code, understanding data base structure, etc.
Levi Sullivan
Ok, will do. Thanks.
Alexander Myers
Very interested to know more. What job did you get, and where? Can you describe the project you put up on GitHub? I want to know what I need to aim for. If you wouldn't mind, even maybe share your GitHub link?
David Clark
>That means being able to do SQL commands, write java code, understanding data base structure, etc.
And none of that has anything to do with taking college courses. Everything you mentioned can, and should be, easily learned through self study and practice.
William Reed
Fucking hell why are you so wet and pathetic.
do you need other people to tell you exactly what to do for everything in life?
If you want to work fro a company then why dn't you go onto the company website, look underthe careers/work for us section and look at their graduate opportunities and see which positions interest you and which ones have prerequisites that you fulfill.
You're never going to work for one of these companies because you're too stupid and lacking in initiative and resourcefulness to realise this.
Chase Flores
Physics grad here. Was in the same boat, I worked at a patent writer for a law firm for about 6 months. The pay was shit. 37k a year, lousy commute etc. Eventually I got fired for screwing up a dsp system for a headphone company and they were sued for a lot of money (this was in the papers). I spent 3-4 months learning C++, computer architecture and core java and algorithms and data structures. I made a few apps with this new found knowledge and put my resume up on indeed, LinkedIn, monster and a couple of others and then I got hired when a recruiter reached out. Hope this helps.
Jackson Evans
Yeah, I completely agree with you there. I already started loading up on self-studies through Coursera, Udacity, Udemy and the like. I'm starting to pick this up through self-studies very quickly.
I self-studied for a programming course over the summer and now acing the course in an actual university setting due to it.
I am learning more through self-studies and more quickly than I ever did in a classroom.
Jeremiah Sanchez
>What job did you get, and where?
Midsize startup in SF doing front end Javascript, some PHP and SQL. Eventually moved to iOS/Objective C after they trained me on the job.
> Can you describe the project you put up on GitHub? Just a bunch of random bullshit. I went the JS route so it's a lot easierr to show what you can doo. Stuff like this: alhill10.github.io/CoverFlow/
People just want to be able to see your style and know you can do what you say you can. Other than that it just comes down doing well in the interview with white boarding.
Easton Hall
Thanks, this helps a lot.
>If you want to work fro a company then why dn't you go onto the company website, look underthe careers/work for us section and look at their graduate opportunities and see which positions interest you and which ones have prerequisites that you fulfill.
I did and all the positions worth looking into require what I posted. They want someone that came come in code, knows linux, be able to be a data scientist day 1 etc.
I'm already studying the shit out of CS (algorithms, data structures, programming) and picking it up pretty quickly so I imagine I'll close the gap fairly fast.
Right now data science, machine learning, deep learning and all those buzzword meme fields are hot, hot, hot and pure math is useless.
Really? I'm still new to coding, but that doesn't look hard at all. How long does you (or an average person) to go from zero to coding that? Just a few months, right?
>algorithms, data structures, programming can you please give me some names of the books?
Camden Rogers
>Really? I'm still new to coding, but that doesn't look hard at all. How long does you (or an average person) to go from zero to coding that? Just a few months, right?
It's not hard at all. Web dev is braindead simple shit that pays really well for some reason. Any intelligent, motivated person can learn enough to get a six figure job in about 6 months of full time study.
Alexander Cruz
what languages did you learn, and which ones would you recommend? I'm doing C# right now, looking to do Python next, but I think those are not big on web dev, right?
Tyler Cooper
C# is a great language, probably the "best" IMO. But yeah unless you're doing backend work in a Microsoft shop (there's plenty of these, but most are more geared to senior devs) it's pretty useless for web dev. Stick to Javascript/NodeJS, Java, maybe Go, and learn HTML/CSS inside and out. Also there's a lot more to the web than just programming languages. You need to completely understand how protocols like HTTPS and TCP work.
Jeremiah Powell
Thanks man, really appreciate it. Also, what's your salary on that SF gig? I'm in Europe so salaries are a lot lower here, but just out of curiosity.
Logan Bailey
Ah yeah Europe is generally half of what it is here. I started at $95k.
Justin Watson
I'll take half of $95k without a second thought!
Ethan Jones
OP here. You've been incredibly helpful. I'm learning Java right now. Any recommendations on where to start with Javscript/NodeJS for the complete noob?
Joseph Ross
yeah, see its not about whats on your degree. its about what you can actually do.
Henry Bell
lol just create your own start-up dude
Anthony Lewis
I failed algebra in middleschool because they said: Alluminum is farmed by JFK on Jupiter, then cocaine was in it.
Freshman year the whore drew a ciricle after she said I was late to the first day, she said "It is not 360."
I can start fires and Illuminate Islan, also stuck in a lavishing home; breaking into peoples houses dumpping IP PLUG, then smash router running.
Joshua Collins
schizo detected
Parker Garcia
Your IP is the guys who sid the future is Nuclear cocaine, Rosenrot oh Rosenrot, tifelbittr.
Sebastian Gray
My midschool teachers, please get smashed user.
Connor Rodriguez
Why would you even screenshot this trash you retard
How to become a kickass mathematician without taking classes: 1. Learn highschool geometry 2. Learn highschool algebra 3. Learn highschool precalc 4. Learn calculus 5. Learn how to write proofs 6. Learn modern algebra 7. Learn statistics 8. Learn combinatorics 9. Learn analysis 10. Learn numeric methods 11. Learn topology 12. Learn number theory
Robert Butler
Basic SQL is really easy to learn and the top 3 vendors (Oracle, MS, Postgres) all offer development databases for free. You don't seem to be trying very hard.
Aiden Reyes
That's barely a minor dude
Lucas Sanders
>pure math is useless. Just curious, did you think otherwise while you studying the subject?
You should also do this, since you're a mathematician cryptopals.com/
William Sanders
>pure math is useless
Abstract math teaches you to think abstractly. It literally changes your thinking which is the point, university education is not learn these skills so you can work at McCareer, it's change your thinking, so you can excell beyond everybody else at McCareer.
If you actually have a math degree and aren't bullshitting us then you should be reading and doing SICP right now. You should follow that by a quick introduction to Lagrange eq so you can read SICM. Then you should read this: mitpress.mit.edu/books/functional-differential-geometry
When you're done, apply to google as an intern for their quantum computing research team because they're using Lisp for the operating system
Sebastian Nelson
One of the profs at my university worked for Microsoft Research in Seattle and he only had degrees in Mathematics... but those degrees were Bachelors from MIT and PhD from Harvard. He told us that he had gotten the position through connections, and that "connections matter".
Elijah Myers
I worked at Microsoft's shady research center in Canada for 3 years. (shady, as they use it to import pajeet PhDs to avoid US immigration laws)
It was full of mathematicians, and none of them had any connections they simply sent a general application and noted they were mathematicians willing to learn and were hired.
It doesn't matter who you are at MS, when you get hired you go to school for about a year to learn their software and development process. It's literally F/T school, at MS "univeristy" and working doing pair programming afterwards.
There's also about a hundred startups on angellist right now looking for math degrees which is why everytime I see one of these posts bemoaning 'i took math and can't find a job' I just think it's trolling on cruise control.
Jeremiah Green
But why would i get a math degree just to get critical thinking skills when i can do computer science or engineering and get that and useable skills?
Carson Sullivan
>Bachelor's in Mathematics >Master's in Computer Science
This seems to be like a good combination between theory and application.
Aaron Rogers
here. I also know a student from my uni who did Bachelors + Masters in Mathematics, then PhD in CS at Stanford. He works at a top company in Silicon Valley now.
Kayden Williams
that's a meme lie though, literally nobody who hires real-life employees actually cares about how his brain has been "conditioned to think" by a math degree
Elijah Lee
holy shit do you even realize how full of memes you are? SICM is a meme book that covers only a literal soph/junior level mechanics course. that doesn't qualify you for shit
Isaiah Richardson
Samefag
Jose Bailey
OP here, Thank you!
I'm planning to pursue a PhD in CS at this point.
Dylan Gonzalez
You can't do anything with just a math degree, math degrees are just additional qualifications. If you want to get a math degree, you need to double major.
Andrew King
Too late. Already have a pure math degree. Complimenting it with a PhD in CS