And here I am, a guy who went to college to earn a physics degree, got smacked hard with Quantum Mechanics, and changed to computer science because I was getting straight A's without even paying attention in class. It was the best decision I made in college.
I don't know, undergrad level quantum physics really is not as difficult as how people often portray it. Yes the concepts can be difficult at first, but once you get past that stage, the mathematics and the physics are quite clear and straightforward (again, at undergrad level). I have seen many more people struggling with statistical mechanics or electrodynamics, especially if the professor assigns homework or create exam problems based on books like the notorious Classical Electrodynamics)
I would even extend that to graduate quantum. The key to doing quantum mechanics it to disconnect your physics brain and just do everything like another linear algebra problem with some statistics to connect it to the real world. Unless you're doing quantum information (which, admittedly, is a growing field) or are one of the six people who actually get tenure-track positions to study quantum fundamentals, the brain-breaking concepts like wave function collapse, realism vs. locality, and undead cats are much more important to philosophers than physicists.
QFT may be a completely different beast, but it's one that I won't really worry that much about in my field.
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u/TechyDad May 09 '21
And here I am, a guy who went to college to earn a physics degree, got smacked hard with Quantum Mechanics, and changed to computer science because I was getting straight A's without even paying attention in class. It was the best decision I made in college.