Job Descriptions for Math Majors

Jobs Rated Almanac

The Job You Know Best

College Professor-#116
- On the Middle School and Secondary Level there is a critical shortage of math teachers.
- There is such a shortage, that some federal student loans may be forgiven.
- National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

Actuary-#2
- Work for insurance companies
- Assemble and analyze statistics to calculate probabilities of death, sickness, injury, etc. (the things people buy insurance for).
- "One of the positive aspects of an actuarial career is that personal development is determined more by performance than by external factors." p.25-"101 Careers in Mathematics"
- http://BeAnActuary.org/
- Casualty Actuarial Society
- Society of Actuaries
- American Academy of Actuaries
  - See also http://www.contingencies.org/career.html
Mathematician-#5
- Theoretical-Advance mathematical science by developing new principles and new relationships between existing principles. No specific practical use in mind
- Applied-Use mathematical models to solve practical problems in other fields.
- Professional societies are a good place to learn more
Cryptologist
- Design schemes to transmit secret information-cryptography
- Analyze schemes to transmit secret information-cryptanalysis
- National Security Agency is top employer
- Data Encryption is also a hot field
- International Association for Cryptologic Research

Statistician-#32

Design, implement, and interpret the numerical results of surveys and experiments (in new medicines, in psychology, in business, etc.).
American Statistical Association
http://www.statistics.com/content/jobtips.html

Operations Research

Help organizations coordinate and operate in the most efficient manner by applying mathematical principles to organizational problems.
Model complex systems and optimize their design.
Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences

Engineering
#8-Industrial Engineer
36-Nuclear Engineer
45-Mechanical Engineer
52-Aerospace Engineer
54-Electrical Engineer
66-Petroleum Engineer

70-Civil Engineer

Solve problems of construction, design, safety related to the particular area
Applies mathematics to these solutions
"Find accurate solutions to real-world, complex problems." p.92-"101 Careers in Mathematics
Junior Engineering Technical Society

Computer Related
- #1-Web site manager
- 3-Computer System analyst
- 4-Software Engineer
- 6-Computer Programmer
- 10-Web developer
- 81-Computer consultant
Look for ways to use the computer more efficiently (more than just sitting at a computer all day programming it).
"Software engineering is not just about writing computer programs. Most of the time some pretty fancy mathematics makes up the core of the computer program, and so people with degrees in mathematics are often sought after by software companies." P. 27 "101 Careers in Mathematics"
"Each new application of computers and each technological advance in their design brings a new set of associated mathematical problems." p. 14 "Mathematical Scientists at Work"
"Working in software development, it was easy to see how my education in computer science would apply to my daily work…Within my first six months, it became apparent that what I learned in the realm of mathematics might even be more important than what I learned in computer science."
"But what I found most useful about my mathematics training was not simply the facts I learned. Rather, it was that it taught me how to learn."
"My mathematics background has provided an analytical framework in which to make informed, thoughtful decisions." p. 13 "101 Careers in Mathematics"
Many companies looking for some experience in programming, not necessarily a complete computer science major
Association for Computing Machinery