Hey guys, I would like to find out the job prospects for a degree in physics. Anybody graduated with a degree in physics? what type of jobs are you guys working on?


Points that I've reserached on:

engineering jobs:
-An engineer is trained to do a engineering job better than a physicist. Besides, a degree in physics is insufficient to register yourself to be a professional engineer by the board.

banks, financial instituition:
-Sure, a physics graduate might have thinking skills that are highly sought after, but, I don't think one would study physics just to work in a bank.

College, Uni's, SMK _____
-lecturers, teachers



Besides being a teacher/lecturer, anyone with a physics degree are actually doing some research attached with the government / industries? Please help out! Thanks people.

physics is too general, it's better if u narrow down ur major.
the most suitable post for u might be researcher or lecturer..
oh wait, u can be someone like Dr Michio Kaku if u write a lot of journals

I have a major in physics (boy I'm glad it isn't my only one), and as far as I can tell, there aren't any jobs out there beyond the ones you've listed for pure physics people.

In other countries, depending on the type of physics you specialise in, you could land jobs with companies that do RnD on cutting-edge tech, however.

Hey, thanks for the advice.

Tachikoma, may i know what career are you heading at currently?

What about engineering jobs? Any physics friends that managed to enter the engineering field?

And isit possible to do an M.eng in electronics after a B.sc Physics?
Bunch of questions:S

Figure out what you want to be, then study something directly relevant to it so that it maximises your capability to do what you wanted. Why are you going in reverse?

The O&G industry usually takes people with Physics degree as well since it's easier for them to transition to Geophysics, Petrophysics etc etc ... I know of a couple of friends who had Physics degree and ended up becoming experts in their Geophysics or Petrophysics field.

This post has been edited by azraeil: Mar 13 2011, 12:45 PM

hi there,

some of my friends that have physics degree end up as engineers, QA, supervisor, in companies like Silterra, Flextronics, etc2 with salary around RM2.3K++ atleast.

Few end up working in Shell and Sclumberger.

And it's not impossible to do Master in other fields as long as you can graduate with decent cgpa. One of my friends now doing Msc in engineering and i myself doing Msc in geophysics.

The real question is whether they are better or worse off compared to their counterparts with directly relevant degrees in E&E Engineering?

Over a period of say 10 years, who will generally progress faster?

Again, how are they compared to those who possess directly relevant degrees like Geology, Petroleum Eng, Mechanical Eng etc?

It all depends on what the situation the OP is in, if he's already in the final year of doing Physics, then it makes no sense to switch, if he is just starting in his freshman year, then he could look at other options. If the OP is on a scholarship and he's required to do Physics, then it's another issue as well. Maybe the OP will need to clarify his situation.

thanks seantang for helping me to answer back. LOL! That's exactly what I wanted to say.

"The real question is whether they are better or worse off compared to their counterparts with directly relevant degrees in E&E Engineering?"

azraeil:
I'm a post STPM student. I'll be enrolling in most probably 1 of the IPTA/local uni's soon. I'm trying to survey the working environment that I'll most probably end up with, so that I'll get prepared and not regrett my decision the rest of my life.


About take the masters in electronics part:
I'll definitely need alot of time catching up with all the designs etc etc stuffs in engineering. I'm sure you guys agree Engineering requires more experience and real work rather than theories. Do you think I'll be competent enough compared to other engineers? Any E&E graduate pls advice on this. Also, I would like to find out the working environment for E&E engineers. What do you guys do for a living? Thanks!

What about taking engineering, then masters in physics?
Does E&E actually involve much physics? Pls advice


What I really love:
I really liked physics. Physics is like my life, I can eat and drink physics all day. I would like to get involved with R&D 1 day. However, everybody around me seems to be pulling me down. Saying that I'll just end up in a bank/a teacher. :S It also seems like almost nobody made it into real physics R&D in malaysia. I doubt R&D for physics even exists in Malaysia ==

Some people adviced that I should take E&E engineering, and take up physics courses along the way, which seems to be a safer option. Afterall, you'll only need a book,pencil,paper and rubbish bin to study physics. Which i think they made some sense too... Can Anybody advice on this too?


Thanks seniors! You should quote which part are you advicing me on! Your POV's are highly valuable to me! Most of you made a lot of sense, afterall you guys have more real world experience and hands on experience on all these. I want to hear both stories of success and failures. If you have, you can spill it out. This is the turning point of my life. And I definitely want to make the best out of it <3

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Added on March 15, 2011, 1:18 amOn 2nd thought, doing a degree in physics 1st, then do a masters in Electronics/electrical will be good too. Then at least, I can understand electronics/electrical's fundamental principles 1st. then work on its real life applications in my masters. Then I'll have a better general idea what is really going on, and it'll be easier to spot flaws and then improvise.

OMG , i realised I'm so damn confused :S Sigh.....

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Added on March 19, 2011, 12:43 pmbump

This post has been edited by smallkid91: Mar 19 2011, 12:43 PM

On a rare occasion I was PMed by this friend to talk about physics. I figured out this might help some others so i decided to post it here instead. His PM:


A little on me: I'm currently a final year in physics, ukm. Some background about physics:

Physics can be divided to two parts of study: 'theoretical' and 'applied'.

'theoretical': primarily concerned on the fundamental theories (eg maxwell eqn, relativity, schrodinger, dirac notation etc etc). So you'll have quite much exposure on mathematical methods (ie how to solve equations) and to fundamental physics. But these are of no industrial value. Real world issues are too complex to be solved by these fundamental equations. And no one will pay you to calculate the magnetic field around a wire. To grow in this area, make sure you are capable to handle the math and the 'only' place you'll end up is a university. However if you really can treasure the beauty, ending yourself in a university wasn't the worse choice to be, considering that most university don't even have a theoretical physicist. Of course there are theoreitcal people using their brilliant math power on finance and become a quant (see book by derman, my life as a quant).

So on the other half of physics course, we're being exposed to applied physics field. Here is where all the exciting physics like nanophysics and material physics come into the picture. (here i dropped a few for some reasons, which will be made clear later) Now these field will involve a lot of lab work. you'll be working in the lab, making new nanodevices and measure it's resistivity, etc etc. This is quite 'popular' relative to theoretical (at least in UKM) mostly due to the fact that these 'new' fields can easily get grant ($$) to fund their research. Working in this field again require a masters/phd and you'll usually end up in university as researcher. To be frank I cant name any private funded institution which work in these field. Note that these physics need 'toys' (like Scanning electorn microscope, Atomic force microscope) so usually only gov uni will enjoy these 'toys'.

Of course most people would hope to do something like particle physics, high energy physics, astrophysics, etc etc etc. Too bad these projects involve big toys (CERN, Hubble, Chandra x ray observatory, z machine.. just to name a few). and wait. none of these toys are located in malaysia. except your dream is straight towards studying masters in MIT and then work in CERN, well... becoming an observer wasn't that bad.

an undergraduate will be exposed to some degree of both theoretical and applied. so now you should start by thinking what u meant by 'theory'. For me, I do hope to study theoretical physics previously but after 3 years, I still have to admit that money factor comes in. Without money, there's no real motivation for me. Anyway I think you should think twice before concluding that ' that dont mind being stuck in a lab and collecing data, research research and research.' 30 years is a long time if you hate repeataneously do something.

As covered, the primary job of physics student are universities & schools, while some go into bursa malaysia, and some into engineering. It's not a 'professional degree' like doctor where u get a degree and work as doctor. It's a general degree. So you'll have to accept to work anywhere as anything (when u need $$). Anyway, just fyi I got an intern as a process engineer (no, it's unrelated to physics).

"Isit possible for engineering students to take up physics lecures in UTM? "

I'm not in UTM. however in UKM, we are not allowed to take subjects from other faculty. You can, however, either:
1. read some book yourself
2. talk to lecturer so he/she allow you to enter class
3. slip into the class (heck! lecturers wont kill you. they hardly remmeber you)

but to do this, you'll need more than just guts. You won't want to imagine how hard it is to actually make yourself up to work more than required.

General advices
-----------------

1. it boils down to what you like.
2. Physics in malaysia is.. er...er...er...
3. world is spherical. when there's no job, you'll work something out.
4. there's nothing such as a definitive 'best subject'. When I was working in a bank, my direct supervisor was a chem eng student (his salary probably 11k?), my department manager was a doctor (not phd, the md). no one fixed you to work in your field although it's an edge if you work in your field, of course.
5. you might had heard that 'what i study was never really applied in work'. it's true even in eng field. (any eng student can support this?)

Any EE student can produce a counterpart about prospect of EE here? i think it'll be helpful for our dear friend. Anyway good luck

This post has been edited by empirekhoo: Apr 2 2011, 08:11 PM

What do you mean by 2. Physics in malaysia is.. er...er...er...?
Do you have friends working for defence or national/gov research institutes or something? :S


Actually I think the main reason I'm feeling divided because I havent gotten any hands-on experience on engineering stuffs yet. All i learned in STPM was physics, truth be told i didn't enjoyed most of the lab (PEKA) sessions. Besides, what scares me is not the money, but rather the lifestyle that I'll be going through the rest of my life. I dun mind teaching as part time, but teaching in SMK ______ for the rest of my life is.... @@ Or working in the bank for the rest of my life..... @@ Life is short, I believe we should enjoy every moment living in it. And not look back when i am 50-60 years old and regret the decision i made when i'm 20.

So i guess I'll go with the engineering "pathway", since I personally feel that physics is not all about following lectures, and doing coursework but taking the initiative to research and investigate ur interests further. And it'll be much easier to change from engineering to physics, compared to physics to engineering. Sneaking into lectures is not like stealing or anything right people?


Can somebody tell me more of an EE engineer's life? Or guide me more about it? ( I need some real life examples, instead of success stories, perhaps some stories of failures too)

I am third year student in bsc of physics, and just want to know how they convert themselves into geophysics or petrophysics field..

i can only think of teacher, lecturer, tutor (in tuition) and researcher

You could also consider a career in O&G, Metallurgy, Writing, Construction Consulting (with some apprenticeship). Physics is an amazing subject (I tutor it at various levels!) but you'd more often than not require a Professional Certification to go with it- whether its an offhand ISO certification in Management, or a Diploma in Manufacturing, or Certification in Project Management etc. These courses take between 3-6 months to complete and are completely worth the effort that you put into them.

Where did you graduate from?

I completely agree with you here! I started off as an Electrical Engineering Graduate 8 years ago- got great grades and all that, came back to Malaysia and started working for a fairly large corporation locally as an IT professional. The yearning to be in touch with my inner electrons was too great- and I got an apprenticeship with a manufacturing firm, on a part time & weekend basis. I soon got tired of that and started teaching students on a part time basis. Now, I'm doing just that- and I run a website (Gloopal) full time with a fantastic team! I believe that engineers aren't the only flexible people around- anyone is, and can be, if they set their minds to it!

Old tered but i'll contribute.

Ok don't get me wrong here. everybody tries to paint an optimistic picture but how well do you think it agrees with reality?

If you graduate with a BSc, tak kira la apapun, your degree has no value here in malaysia. Of course you can offset the negatives, probably by graduating from a top foreign school, cable and all sorts of bullshi* but malaysians has a very strong bias towards BEng degrees.

Good luck

Check if your uni has some geophysics and geology courses. You are already in your 3rd year so conversion will probably be a bit difficult. The Oil and Gas industry is in a tough situation right now so competition for places will be brutal. It will be difficult for you to compete with those who has a Geophysics degree BUT if I was the one reviewing your CV, I would not dismissed it.

many years ago, a friend who was a physics graduate ended up working in govt's meteorology department.

he's still in the government holding a pengarah position now (i don't know in which govt dpt)..

This post has been edited by Stamp: May 30 2015, 11:18 AM

I graduated with a physics degree at local uni. Truth to be told, job is scarce as most employers prefer graduate with engineering degree. But still, I got employed out of uni and so as many of my friends. Mostly work as engineer now, but not 'specific' type like electronics, electrical, mechanical.

But if you want to be professional engineer (ir) need to continue master as BEM only recognized 4 years program (most physics is 3 years). Many of my colleague continue master either at current uni or more reputable uni. If you got good results then anything is possible.