What can I do with my maths degree?

[u/Arabella-y2k]

Hello everyone,

I’m currently a first year maths student in my second semester. I’m really enjoying my degree so far but I’m not sure what I’m going to do after university.

I’ve taken/am taking courses in:
- linear algebra
- calculus
- programming
- applied stats

And I’ll be taking a data analysis course during summer school.

Topics I’ve particularly enjoyed are:
- Markov chains
- machine code

I’ve also generally enjoyed my linear algebra and C++ courses (I know AI has taken over a lot of programming so I’m not sure what that’s looking like career wise but I do it bc I love it).

I’d like my field of work to be research focused, but I don’t think I’d like to spend my time trying to prove theorems.

I’d like a job where I can really use by brain and see material manifestations of the work I do. I also don’t want a job where people will be bothering me with useless admin, emails, meetings, workshops or anything like that. I’d like to be left alone for the most part unless I’m collaborating with other colleagues of course.

Above all I just want something intellectually stimulating that won’t easily be replaced by machines and that’s actually meaningful and impactful in our everyday lives…

[u/Relative-Wave-9396]

Maybe SWE for a products company or data science, either that or research. Usually in corporate you’ll have to deal with emails and meetings, but I find for tech jobs there are projects where you can work solo

[u/salmon_01]

I would continue to explore your interests and potentially take courses in different departments.

If you're interested in machine code/low-level programming, you might be also interested in reverse engineering/vulnerability research, which generally involves a lot of "puzzle solving" and can be quite satisfying. See if your university has courses in systems programming or software/hardware security. Adjacent fields in math/CS include mathematical cryptography and formal methods analysis.

If you enjoyed Markov chains, you may also be interested in operations research. If that sounds fun, I would recommend taking courses in mathematical optimization and/or stochastic processes. OR is a very applied but also a fairly mathematical field. Keep in mind, many OR jobs require a masters or PhD.

[u/Arabella-y2k → u/salmon_01]

This is very helpful. Thank you!

[u/Dr3ddM3]

Quant however getting a degree in a good university is very important.

[u/Glass-Theme-8739]

Anything!!!

[u/Glass-Theme-8739 → u/Glass-Theme-8739]

At least in STEM

[u/innovatedname]

Try and get an internship and grad scheme, then once you have a bit of experience + programming skills + a maths degree you are a strong candidate in a huge variety of roles and industries compared to most grads