Jewish holidays are like buses – you wait a year, then three of them come along at once! Thankfully, they’ve all passed now, so I have time to pick up the blog again.
I’ve just returned from Manchester, where I presented Einstein’s Legacy to the kids at King David High School, and later at their careers evening, tried to convince them to study physics at university. The one question, common to all the students who approached me, was this, “What jobs could I do with physics?”
The irony is that, having finished a decade of physics education, I now find myself seeking employment.
It’s not easy out there right now – there is a dirth of science funding, and physics departments are on their knees. Research positions are at an all time low, and so I’m looking further afield to jobs in engineering, computing and event management.
Thankfully, physics has provided me with an enviable skill set, including problem solving, formal writing, computing and research. In addition, my extracurricular experiences (founding and chairing the University of Birmingham Astrosoc, IoP commitments and outreach work) have provided a valuable human element: I’m not your ordinary boffin. I can talk to people too!
Despite this, the jobs are still thin on the ground. I can only hope that something will come soon from my many applications.
If you have any ideas, or jobs offers, let me know!
Meanwhile, fingers crossed…
It’s good that you’re getting out there inspiring the young ‘uns to take up science.
The world of computing has a similar problem, with less and less people taking it up at university. Why? I can think of two reasons. (a) It’s not seen as very cool (when was the last time you saw a hip computer geek on an American sit-com?) and (b) It’s a challenging subject – a hell of a lot of maths, and the programming side ain’t easy.
I think more folk need to get out there and convince kids to take up the interesting university degrees, instead of rubbish ones like English literature and management. Otherwise, who’s going to write our games, and design our rockets?
Thanks! It’s not a great time to be a scientist right now. I’m in the middle of a job application process at the moment – I’ve already gone through the first round interview, the numerical and verbal reasoning tests, and the compentancy based phone interview. Fingers crossed, I’ll make it through to the day at the Assessment Centre !