Help
barmar, on Jan 24 2009, 12:00 AM, said:
kenberg, on Jan 23 2009, 09:28 AM, said:
"Mathematicians ranked at the top of a list of 200 professions because they rarely work outdoors and don't have to deal with toxic fumes and noise unlike, say, sewage-plant operators... "
Is that really the typical decision one has to make about their professional life? If you have the aptitude to be a professional mathematician, would you even consider working in sewage? At the risk of seeming elitist, I think that's a job you take because you don't have a real profession. It's not like you can go to college to get a degree in sewage working.
I'm a little curious what they consider a professional mathematician. There are lots of professions that make heavy use of mathematics, such as physicists, financial analysts, or mathematical software developers. How many people can really make it as a pure mathematician?
As mentioned, I found the whole thing pretty hilarious. As far as choices are concerned though, I gave some thought, maybe not a lot, to dropping out of college. In the summer between my junior and senior year I had a job making good money working outdoors with older guys, using muscles and some fairly heavy equipment. I thoroughly enjoyed that summer. This was combined with the fact that a recent job before was a thoroughly boring job in a physics lab. Way too boring to describe. Still, I like math and I knew I liked math, but I was tempted and I can see how someone might make a different choice than I did. The guy who owned the company probably lived pretty good, and I think I could have learned how to do that.
Mathematics is for people who like mathematics. It pays well enough, but not a fortune, and it is really too hard to do unless you enjoy it. I do, some don't. They should do something else.
The whole concept of ranking professions is seriously flawed.
