"Going into physics was the biggest mistake of my life. I should've declared CS. I still wouldn't have any women, but at least I'd be rolling in cash."
There really is no reason to earn an undergraduate degree in physics (as I learned the hard way). It is just as easy to get into a physics graduate program with an ECE or EECS degree plus a couple semesters of upper division quantum mechanics and maybe a semester of stat mech - and you have the option of getting a decent job instead.
If you're a programmer and your program relies on the premise that you have infinite storage then your program is probably not going to work too well. Presumably you're assuming zero seek time too?
Wasn't that the GP's point that to make the transition from CS to programming some knowledge of physical realities of computers might be useful??
Does "mid-six-figure" mean $550k (midpoint of the six-figure range), $300k (ditto but using the geometric mean), or $150k (midpoint of the $100k-$200k range)?
(My impression is that $150k is a plausible entry-level quant salary, but it seems a bit strange to describe that as "mid-six-figure".)
The "x-figure" notation is essentially logarithmic with an offset: "6-figures" = 10^5. Therefore, "mid-six-figures" should be roughly 10^5.5 or $316227.
I believe that's the geometric mean he's referring to.
(a*b)^1/2 # geometric mean, square root of the product of the two numbers
(10^5 * 10^6)^(1/2) # substitute in for 10^5 and 10^6, the limits of the six-figure range
(10^(5+6))^(1/2) # simplify inner product
(10^11)^(1/2) # more simplify
10^(11 * 1/2) # move the 1/2 in, and ...
10^(11/2) # simplify
10^5.5 # and finally you get the same result
The geometric mean always struct me as an interesting idea in mathematics
Curious: how could $150k be mid six-figure? I can accept the roughly 500K or 300K meanings, but if someone told me mid six figure, and they meant roughly $150K, I'd feel like they deliberately mislead or lied about the salary. There's no way I can see a reasonable person expecting $150K when someone is referring to "mid six-figure".
Looks like I did well: studied physics and chemistry, got MS in physics and astronomy. Dropped out of PhD in astronomy — was already working as a programmer.
To tell the truth I still feel sorry for not getting that PhD, but on the other hand I was not going to be an astronomer anyway, so what's the point.
This advice should be told to all high schoolers.
Well, at least male ones.