I have an M.Sc, help me find a job.

Quite a few of my fellow physics majors (BS not MS) ended up programming in the late 90s. The problem solving skills come in very handy. What language or tools were you using in your analysis code? I went the physics->CS->programmer->librarian route. While science backgrounds are rare in the library world, I'd look hard at the job market (it sucks right now) before committing to the 2nd masters you would generally need to become a librarian.

I essentially just wrote analysis code My SO, first degree in physics, got her masters in hydrography aged 27. She has no actual background or coursework in computer science or software. She coded for her PhD and she codes for her post-doc, this has got her papers and a book and is going to get her a pile more papers and she is likely to get a permanent academic job in about 12 months. Coding complex systems is a useful skill and you are foolish to write this off. If you want to go down an academic route I suggest you speak to someone connected with your MSc course about whether they fell you have what it takes to get a Phd, if that is something that interests you.

Thanks for your advice so far, folks. phunniemee: I think I just don't know anything about finance. Do you know what kind of job titles I should look at? kbuxton: Yeah, I love the idea of being a librarian but don't love the idea of more school and don't love the job market. biffa: My supervisor invited me to do my PhD with him, but I declined. Particle physics is lousy with programmers and I was on the weak end of the bell curve. I'm certainly not writing it off as a skill that I can use, but I'm not at all confident that I can get hired anywhere on the strength of my code.

Many, many people at large software companies have physics backgrounds, both in engineering and in management. Physics is probably second only to CS as a college major. I don't think you'd have trouble getting a job in that environment.

I know people with advanced degrees in physics who do sea ice modeling, and develop programs that help interpret data sets from sensor arrays. They work at a private company that does this.

One physics MS friend of mine went into disaster modeling for insurance companies. Another few got together and now have a startup providing comprehensive search for electronic parts. Then there's the finance people (usually quants) and the consultant types. There's law school if you were at all interested in patent law, and I've a few friends who've gone to med school older than you are now. Also loads of google folk, doing everything from search quality to Adwords to proprietary research. Your modeling skills might be useful to oil companies, environmental nonprofits, political data aggregators-- anyone who deals with a ton of data. That's a good portion of what experimental particle physics is, and you certainly have those skills more than most of the world ( if not more than most of your physics peers). My personal dream job if I leave academia is to go be a climbing/skiing bum and teach folk to climb/ski to pay the bills. It's not like anyone is forcing you to use your physics background.

You may not be interested in finance, but finance is probably interested in you. I'm an econ major, and job postings I've seen for entry level jobs in finance seem to care waaay more about your quantitative/programming skills than knowledge about finance. They can teach you that stuff, but it's harder to make you be really good at math/coding/analysis.

To give another plug to finance, the husband of a good friend of mine got his PhD in theoretical physics then decided he didn't like academia. So he became an Actuarial Consultant (or similar). As I understand it, his job involves aggregating data about investments and writing algorithms that help to determine if they are good or not. He also creates new investment packages that group investments into new products. He uses a lot of math and does a lot of programming and he finds it really interesting. YMMV of course. As an added bonus he gets paid well, but the downside is that he seems to work long hours.

Thanks again everyone, your advice is truly appreciated. I will be looking into financial stuff, but if anyone sees this question and has and non-finance ideas, I'd still love to hear them.