9 Tips (HARD TRUTHS) when considering a Career in Physics

9 Tips (and HARD TRUTHS) when considering a Career in Physics.
Presented by: Dr. Andrew Princep and Dr. Jena Meinecke (University of Oxford)

We share our HONEST advice and experiences about pursuing a career in physics. These are things your teacher probably didn't mention in school.

[SimplifytheEquation]

We hope you love this video! Please LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to support our efforts. What is your favourite tip?? We love tips 7, 8 and 9. (Also, Jena teared up while editing tip 7...)

[hfelippejr]

0:58: flexibility.
1:56: seize opportunities (and take care of your finances!).
2:45: build reputation.
3:53: pay attention to earmarked jobs.
5:00: success != success rates (and you should look to the latter).
6:10: diversify.
7:04: belief in oneself.
8:24: try new things—it's okay to be outside academia!
10:49: and it's okay to take breaks.

[jonwesick]

My tip is to save your money when working. The corporate world doesn't care about your physics degree. If you're like me, you'll get a decent salary when working but have trouble finding the next job when the current one ends. Make sure you have enough savings to carry you through periods of unemployment.

[cielolopez]

It’s my passion it’s my dream I wake up and think about and go to sleep and I breathe it I’ve never been more in love with anything in my entire life

[VinBhaskara_]

"you've met love of your life or more likely got rejected a visa" - hahaha

[TonyProctor]

Such a gulf between physics as a career (a job to make use of your talents and sustain you) and physics as an academic aspiration (learning, and ideally making significant contributions). The lucky ones are where these coincide. University never emphasised this distinction for me.

[isaelalejandroherreraherna]

every physic's student should watch this video, thank you so much, guys!

[DrunkenUFOPilot]

Physics was my major. Never held a job as a "physicist" but I have worked with world-class scientists on a major NASA mission, world-class neurosurgeons on brain imaging, world-class TV production people, and can make pretty good coffee.

I landed a spacecraft imaging position partly because I had a good eye for color and composition, an "artist's eye" but also respect for scientific accuracy and understanding of optics and astronomy. My time as an artist in a co-op gallery paid off :)

Great careers can be found in the overlap of physics and [fill in the blank with anything]. Have a physics degree? Great. Get good at something else you love doing, and see what happens.

[pratibhathakur]

Tip No 5 👍🏻 Trying to get a PhD from past one year . Got a lot of rejections but that ain’t stopping me from applying .
Though an insightful video . Thank You

[CPUReD]

Imposter syndrome is by far my biggest flaw. I honestly think I need to go to therapy to work it out. :\
I end up comparing myself to others when i know i shouldn't. To me, so many of my peers just seem so confident in their beliefs, while I doubt every step I take.

[daviddixon]

I got an undergraduate degree in physics and then got a Masters degree in computer science and had a very rewarding career.

[psycopathicmedia]

Unfortunately, researchers in science faculties such as physics are not well paid and it is not so much in demand either. The road to a dream job that is related to your field of research is not straightforward for that matter either. I personally have been fascinated by space and astronomy since early childhood and have thought about this by studying Physics at university. But I quickly realized that academic study itself kills the joy and curiosity you have. I am 19 years old right now and personally I will study to be a dentist at university but I will read about space and physics in my spare time and have it as a hobby on the side.

[roufahmad]

When i heard names like einstein, newton, maxwell during my childhood classes i was so much fascinated with physics and would imagine myself becoming one such person. But life sued me so much i had to end up doing a degree in forestry. Its a dream that never came true.

[abhishekpandey]

So many gems there. Especially liked the being flexible one. I had fixated myself on QFT and had pretty much decided that it was what I wanted to do my whole life.
I realized later that a scientist/researcher isn't required to solve only extremely specific problems that interest them. You can pick any problem that requires to be looked at and you would have made a contribution!

[pdxmorte]

Science is one of the only things I cared about while in school and one of the only things I made sure I didn’t fail while I was depressed at the time of taking my gcses. I did find this video help full. My long probably un event full journey to become a scientist starts now 👨🏽‍🔬

[shahabazarfar]

I think a lot of science students would be happy to hear these advice from their top-rank colleagues like you😊 I wish I had access to these advice two years ago when I was quite depressed by getting so many rejections in my postdoc applications after finishing a PhD in Mathematical Physics

[aniruddha]

thank you maam, , , , now I realised the true meaning of physics, ,,and what is happening to me is not uncommon....(studying you maam

[SailboatAqua]

Great video! I'm looking for a job with my Masters in Physics. I've been feeling down lately after 3 months of failed job searching. This video was good for me to see.

[sherlockholmeslives.]

I am not quite clever enough to do a degree in physics.
I think it must be lovely to be a leading physics professor / expert, working alone at night on the cutting edge of Black Hole thermodynamics, but these people's minds are unfathomably bright!!

[generalpartridge]

I have just come across this after 18 months of Job searching after my degree while working in hospitality. I finally got a Job 2 days ago! These tips are amazing, some i have learnt the hard way myself along the way. Amazing stuff, will share around!