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High paying jobs in Physics?

Which career from of a physics degree has the highest paying job opportunities. I was currently thinking of finance, banking or even medical physics? Furthermore can you make money as a researcher in physics? Thanks
Well Brian Cox (unfortunately) earns about £250k a year working for the BBC - bearing in mind that the BBC tends to pay less than other channels, and he works there more out of allegiance to the BBC than for the money. Stephen Hawking is reported to have a net worth of approximately £10m, in addition to his 12 degrees.

Beyond that, most senior lecturers make more than enough to live comfortably. Additionally you can well go into engineering from physics, with a little extra work and some dedication, which is well known to have well paying and stable career prospects. However people don't become a physicist for money, and that's a pretty stupid reason to pursue it. Just study PPE like the rest of the misers on these forums if material wealth is that important to you...

Anyway condensed matter is the money maker field, since you can get all the theoretical fellowships and so on as well as a lot of industrial funding, as it leads to a lot of industrially useful (or at least, speculatively useful i.e. graphene) results.
Reply 3
Jobs that aren't in physics
Reply 4
Original post by artful_lounger
Well Brian Cox (unfortunately) earns about £250k a year working for the BBC - bearing in mind that the BBC tends to pay less than other channels, and he works there more out of allegiance to the BBC than for the money. Stephen Hawking is reported to have a net worth of approximately £10m, in addition to his 12 degrees.

Beyond that, most senior lecturers make more than enough to live comfortably. Additionally you can well go into engineering from physics, with a little extra work and some dedication, which is well known to have well paying and stable career prospects. However people don't become a physicist for money, and that's a pretty stupid reason to pursue it. Just study PPE like the rest of the misers on these forums if material wealth is that important to you...

Anyway condensed matter is the money maker field, since you can get all the theoretical fellowships and so on as well as a lot of industrial funding, as it leads to a lot of industrially useful (or at least, speculatively useful i.e. graphene) results.


Yeah, I really love the subject of physics, but I can't slave away being a researcher for insignificant wages (as much as I want to). I have people in my family who I need to support financially on top of myself. Which is why my wage is fairly important. Im kind of looking for a job where I can do something I love and make good money from it.
Original post by Hyper nova
Yeah, I really love the subject of physics, but I can't slave away being a researcher for insignificant wages (as much as I want to). I have people in my family who I need to support financially on top of myself. Which is why my wage is fairly important. Im kind of looking for a job where I can do something I love and make good money from it.


Most lecturers have...families...that they support...they aren't just lab goblins that only venture out into the light of day to hiss at undergrads.
Original post by Hyper nova
Yeah, I really love the subject of physics, but I can't slave away being a researcher for insignificant wages (as much as I want to). I have people in my family who I need to support financially on top of myself. Which is why my wage is fairly important. Im kind of looking for a job where I can do something I love and make good money from it.


Your last comment gave me a good chuckle @artful_lounger :biggrin:

As you said, being a researcher and making enough to support a family is definitely possible! The big thing about becoming a researcher is primarily flexibility, if not luck.

So say you go on to accomplish a masters, you found a funded PhD, you've finished that, are ready to have a family, and want to continue studying in the field in which you earned a PhD. Already we're at a big question mark, because what type of field you earned that PhD in determines how easy it is to get a funded postdoc (the next step in academia), where that postdoc is (how comfortable are you with moving? Would you want to move out of England?), and how long that postdoc is (can you move again after 3 years? 2 years?). After a postdoc or two or three, maybe a more permanent teaching position at a Uni will open up (what's the average age in your field? Where in the world is this Uni? How long is the position for? What's the likelihood of contract renewal?).

But--you can do research without necessarily engaging in academia. There are some fields that are heavily invested in by industry--eg. condensed matter. There will be more stability (contract length, location) in working in an industry setting and researching through a company (who might also pay for your PhD if you're lucky).

It really depends on your field! I would not recommend going into physics if you're just fueled by money and not by any genuine interest in the subject. It requires a lot of time and a lot of resilience. The reward, in return, is that you have a lot of doors open to you at the end of the degree, provided you can prove you have the skills and have a summer placement or two under your belt.

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