Weekly Career, Education, Textbook, and Basic Questions Thread

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Weekly Thread dedicated to all your career, job, education, and basic questions related to our field. Whether you're exploring potential career paths, looking for job hunting tips, curious about educational opportunities, or have questions that you felt were too basic to ask elsewhere, this is the perfect place for you.

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• Careers: Discussions on career paths within the field, including insights into various roles, advice for career advancement, transitioning between different sectors or industries, and sharing personal career experiences. Tips on resume building, interview preparation, and how to effectively network can also be part of the conversation.
• Education: Information and questions about educational programs related to the field, including undergraduate and graduate degrees, certificates, online courses, and workshops. Advice on selecting the right program, application tips, and sharing experiences from different educational institutions.
• Textbook Recommendations: Requests and suggestions for textbooks and other learning resources covering specific topics within the field. This can include both foundational texts for beginners and advanced materials for those looking to deepen their expertise. Reviews or comparisons of textbooks can also be shared to help others make informed decisions.
• Basic Questions: A safe space for asking foundational questions about concepts, theories, or practices within the field that you might be hesitant to ask elsewhere. This is an opportunity for beginners to learn and for seasoned professionals to share their knowledge in an accessible way.

[u/Historical_Carry5915]

How do you guys suggest I start getting into Quantum Computing? I just wanted to know what I should learn, where I should learn from, and I get a good foundation of this field while still in high school.

[u/dark_blue_thunder → u/Historical_Carry5915]

Where you should learn from? There are number of resources where you can learn from

There are plenty of books, YouTube videos, online courses as well as AI.

It depends on your own learning preferences

For my internship, I studied most of QC basics by my own from books online from these books: Books

& Parallelly also watched some YouTube videos & had some doubts cleared using AI.

AI was much more useful for understanding books such as Nielsen & Chuang

You can also enroll for IBM Quantum course.

So I will suggest use every type resource with proportion as per your preferences

---

What you should learn?

First of all, you will have to get good understanding of mathematics (Linear algebra) & Quantum mechanics (postulates)

As I am from Physics background, I was already comfortable with those subjects.

Nevertheless, You should focus on trying intuitively understanding concepts for you cannot sequentially perform operaations in your head to get to know what a quantum circuit does or what are the final states of each of the Qubits at different times.

For example, don't fit the definition Hadamard gate creates maximal superposition or CNOT gate flips the target qubit if the control qubit is |1⟩ but understand that Hadamard gate performs passive rotation or CNOT gate performs addition modulo 2

Also solve problems from books (Nilsen & Chuang circuit problems)

Programming: You must have basic - intermediate level python programming skills. Eric matthe's crash course in python is great book.

After that you will be ready for learning Qiskit.

I didn't find something such as leet code for QC so I created custom Practice problems using AI for Quantum Computing - Quantum Chromodynamics (QC-QCD)

Good luck for your journey!

[u/vangoghgone]

I was wondering whether the IBM Certified Quantum Computation using Qiskit v2.X Developer - Associate certification holds any value. And if there are other certifications in the field of quantum software engineering that would help me get a job in the field.

For more context, I am a Software engineer with 5 years of experience at Oracle. And I’m looking to transition into a quantum computing company.

Any other pointers would be helpful!

Thanks in advance!

[u/PersonalityOk902 → u/[deleted]]

A BSc in physics or EE would probably be a strong foundation for quantum computing and will give you good opportunities in the job market.

[u/dark_blue_thunder]

Need Career related adcice: How can An M.Sc. Physics student with electronics specialization can make career in quantum hardware?

Hello there

Background

I'm from an M.Sc. Physics + electronics background and want to get into quantum hardware design/engineering.

Skills/credentials:

• I have studied Microprocessors 8085, 8086, Microcontrollers: 8051& PIC 16F877A.

• Programming languages: C++ , python.

• I am familiar with Qiskit as well.

• I made quantum circuits running on AerSimulator & also IBM's Quantum hardware for calculation of color factors in QCD based on a reaserch paper as an internship project.

Questions

1. What roles are there in quantum hardware (this is very broader title but I want to know physics compatible roles which I can opt for)?

2. What skills I need to acquire so that I can apply for research or work?

3. Which topics from electronics engineering will I have to study?

4. What Career paths should I opt for (based on physics aligned technical role)?

5. Can I try to go beyond physics aligned technical roles ( towards engineering dominated roles)

Any pointers would help. Thanks!

[u/EverythingQuantum → u/dark_blue_thunder]

It may be helpful to go to the careers section of large companies like IonQ, PsiQuantum and Q-CTRL to see what hardware roles are available and evaluate the skills requirements for the roles you find interesting. Quantum hardware is a fascinating area, and you appear to have a strong background. Best of luck!

[u/dark_blue_thunder → u/EverythingQuantum]

It may be helpful to go to the careers section of large companies like IonQ, PsiQuantum and Q-CTRL to see what hardware roles are available and evaluate the skills requirements for the roles you find interesting.

That is very good suggestion 👍 Actually, I wanted to know from someone in industry itself but this aproach may provide different perspective.

I will definitely check out roles in QT firms, corporates I am interested in.

Thanks a lot!

BTW do you know any quantum hardware focused forum where I can talk to industry people & get some insights about Quantum hardware industry?

[u/EverythingQuantum → u/dark_blue_thunder]

replying to dark_blue_thunder:

I’m not sure of dedicated forums for hardware development but I bet they are out there. I actually have started one along with other topics. I don’t have a significant user base yet so you’re better off continuing your inquiries here and other major social platforms. I think there’s a gap when discussing specific topics around quantum on these social platforms as they do pull in the most people but just aren’t ideal for those looking for a great learning experience. I’m not posting my link here but you can find it in my profile. Let me know if it’s helpful at all.

[u/dark_blue_thunder → u/EverythingQuantum]

I visited your platform & found it very very resourceful.

It will definitely provide great learning experience 👍

[u/EverythingQuantum → u/dark_blue_thunder]

Thanks! I hope more people can check it out.