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Can a Four-Year Degree in Any Hard Science Realistically Get You a Good Job? (self.askscience)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by ivanafterall to c/askscience

31 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I've long toyed with a mid-life pivot into a different field. Mostly, I lean towards IT as the most practical for me, but I love the idea of finally studying a hard science, which I grew to love, but never really got a good formal education in.

I've heard/read, for example, that there aren't necessarily tons of astrophysics jobs out there, so if you only have a bachelor's degree, you might have a tough time. I don't even know that this is true, but I use it as an example.

What are the hard science fields that would be the opposite of this? I could imagine there might be a lot of Chemistry-related jobs, for example, maybe? But I have a hard time imagining what you could do with a pure Physics degree (without also focusing on Engineering or something supplementary)? Would Biology get you anywhere by itself?

Or is it just the hard truth of all hard sciences that you're pretty much worthless with just a four-year degree, from a job perspective?

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[–] ivanafterall 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Super helpful, thank you. I will look into informatics. Yes, I'm trying to do as much research as possible between now and ~January, when I may have the chance to go back.

[–] blackbirdbiryani 2 points 2 months ago

I can second bioinformatics if you have the aptitude for biology and IT, the pay can be 10-20k higher than a similar wet lab science job. But technically the skills you have could get you paid more in pure IT (science generally pays less). Demand is high, so the barrier to entry is generally lower (no hard requirements for phd, only a bachelors minimum or work experience in a similar field). Less physical labour too. Downside is that team sizes are usually small so you'll be doing alot of multitasking.