r/Physics • u/RoundElephant5876 • 6d ago

employed physicist

Those of you who have completed research physics and are currently working, how is it, what exactly do you do, are you satisfied, do you work inside your country (and if yes, which one) or abroad, online, how difficult was it for you to get your current job?

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u/TitansShouldBGenocid 4d ago

United States, and I get funding through various grants and my institution. I do a lot of work with ML in processing astronomical signals and a lot of data analysis. Incredibly rewarding and I love it. The job was easy to get, even though my grades in undergrad set me up poorly (cared only about girls and partying for my first 3 years, almost flunked out before I matured). Even with poor grades I was able to get a good grad education and accepted for admission by being very charismatic, which is a superpower in this field, and by having strong undergrad research. Once in grad school it's pretty smooth sailing regardless of where you go, you just have to make connections while you're in. Not just with professors at your own institution, but I've found workshops to be the best place to coordinate with peers. I talked with my collaborators at least once a day, whereas my advisor I would only see 1-2 times a week.

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u/RoundElephant5876 4d ago

Dang you got everything done, you lived your life and got a good job. Thats great! Does your institution work only in the US or are they worldwide?

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u/TitansShouldBGenocid 4d ago

Not sure if there's a language barrier, but in this context institution just meant my university. So unsure how to answer this question? We work with collaborators all over the world, but primarily other US universities and a couple of NASA centers. But our group does have work published from multinational efforts as well.

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u/RoundElephant5876 4d ago

Ah yes, Im sorry, language is the problem. You understood the question though!