Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Best Job?

Nicole Immorlica pointed me to a Wall Street Journal article about a ranking of 200 jobs by CareerCast. Number one: Mathematician.

So what is a mathematician? Does anyone actually get hired to be a mathematician as opposed to a professor, actuary, statistician or quant. The site defines mathematician as

Applies mathematical theories and formulas to teach or solve problems in a business, educational, or industrial climate.
But then why are jobs 2 and 3, actuary and statistician, listed as separate jobs.

Since the list does not contain computer scientist, mathematician is the closest to what I do. So I have the best job! Awesome. Thought I'd still rather be commissioner of Major League Baseball.

The Rating Methodology uses several categories: Work Environment, Physical Demands, Stress, Income and Outlook. The ratings lack a "fun factor" in any of these categories. Which sounds more fun: Actuary or Lumberjack (number 200 job)?

4 comments:

  1. Anyone know who is the program chair for FOCS 2009? Surely this information must be known by now...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Is FOCS Program chair for 2009
    the Best Job?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dan Spielman is PC Chair for FOCS 2009. This was announced at FOCS 2008 and, yes Bill, it IS one of the best jobs.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Academic mathematician (in the US) is a pretty good job once you've gotten it, but because of the hurdles involved, i would think its not one of the best -career paths-.

    ReplyDelete