Apologies for the delay in getting this blog post out. No great reason why I’m behind, just haven’t written in a few days. Also I will preemptively apologies for not writing next week (maybe I will?) as I will be in China.
Maybe you’ve read my bio, maybe you haven’t. If there’s one thing you should understand, I really have two major technical interests: mathematics and computer science. I’ve been both a serious math student, and I have a fairly decent (starting) programming career. As many other math/programmers may feel, I always feel an internal struggle between these two sides of myself.
A common question on Reddit as well as most other question sites that students frequent, is: what do mathematicians do? Are there really any jobs? The common response (and in all actuality the common outcome) is most mathematicians become programmers. Since I’m writing this post, this probably isn’t the end of the story.
As a programmer, I work (approximately) 8 hours a day. For those who are interested, that is all that my employer requires, asks, or needs. People at Google aren’t required to turn into programming zombies, in fact going home and relaxing probably makes us much better programmers. Those 8 hours I train, I think, and yes even at times I may program. No programmers don’t spend 8 hours a workday programming, every line of (good) code takes concentration, and at least I just don’t have that much…
Often I have to ask myself this question: Do I prefer mathematics or programming?
I will say I enjoy both. I enjoy being able to make large robust systems. I enjoy the fact that from just typing little letters on a screen, thinking through the flow of a system, I can create programs that do thousands of calculations a second. Programming is fun, as I said it requires logic and concentration. It requires planning and detail, and in that way it requires math. This is why mathematicians often make good programmers.
On the other hand, I greatly enjoy doing mathematics.Solving abstract problems, trying to understand abstract structures. Being able to spend a day lying on a table trying to imagine how these fanciful creations work. That’s what I enjoy the most.
Reading this, why do I chose to be a programmer? It’s a fun job, it pays well, and it requires a good amount of thought.
I’m not sure if we should tell mathematicians not to worry to much about jobs because of programming. That is most likely what they will end up doing.
I will always support someone studying math. I’m not sure way there future of the math profession is, I fear pure math research may someday be relegated to either elitism or pure hobbies-ts. I also hope, at least in my free time, I will always continue studying math, for that is in a real way who I am.
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