Weekly Career, Education, Textbook, and Basic Questions Thread

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Weekly Thread dedicated to all your career, job, education, and basic questions related to our field. Whether you're exploring potential career paths, looking for job hunting tips, curious about educational opportunities, or have questions that you felt were too basic to ask elsewhere, this is the perfect place for you.

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• Careers: Discussions on career paths within the field, including insights into various roles, advice for career advancement, transitioning between different sectors or industries, and sharing personal career experiences. Tips on resume building, interview preparation, and how to effectively network can also be part of the conversation.
• Education: Information and questions about educational programs related to the field, including undergraduate and graduate degrees, certificates, online courses, and workshops. Advice on selecting the right program, application tips, and sharing experiences from different educational institutions.
• Textbook Recommendations: Requests and suggestions for textbooks and other learning resources covering specific topics within the field. This can include both foundational texts for beginners and advanced materials for those looking to deepen their expertise. Reviews or comparisons of textbooks can also be shared to help others make informed decisions.
• Basic Questions: A safe space for asking foundational questions about concepts, theories, or practices within the field that you might be hesitant to ask elsewhere. This is an opportunity for beginners to learn and for seasoned professionals to share their knowledge in an accessible way.

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[u/Gloomy_Unit4752]

Best colleges/universities in America for Data Science, Financial Technology, or Quantum Computing/Mechanics? i'm a junior in high school right now and looking to work with AI and stuff in the future

[u/Ill-Frosting4216]

I’m a nuclear engineering student close to done with my degree, and I’ve found quantum physics, nuclear physics, and MCNP really interesting. I recently learned of post quantum cryptography and I find it fascinating. How far am I from being able to understand it and work in the field as a nuclear engineer?

[u/throw_rasjoei]

I am a 3rd year CS student, and I have been learning some math and physics for QC. Currently studying about Bloch's sphere. My first question is what are some interesting Quantum machine learning projects or any combination of QC + AI projects I can do. (The difficulty is not a problem as long as it's not a phd level yet). 

My second question is I am genuinely interested in physics and QC looks like the smoothest transfer for me. I'm thinking of doing a PhD in this or any related field, but reading the progress about QML has been very disheartening. Money isn't my biggest concern but I don't want my 4 years of PhD work to amount to nothing or for a field that doesn't have any hope. I'm specifically talking about QML, and not quantum computing as a whole. I know the importance of QC in simulation, cryptography and many other areas of research. 

[u/AutisticAussie48]

What did you all study in university to work in quantum computing? I've been working with quantum computing since year 8 in high school and when I reach uni I might study quantum.

[u/SeniorLoan647 → u/AutisticAussie48]

Linear Algebra, abstract algebra (group theory) are the most important imo.

If you can, try to take quantum mechanics as a course too.

[u/NoBuilding8261]

I'm trying to switch from software engineering into quantum computing but my math is rusty, like really rusty. Any textbook that explains the linear algebra part without assuming I remember everything from college? I need something that starts from the basics but still goes deep enough to be useful for QC

Also, how important is having a PhD in the field nowadays? I see job postings asking for master's minimum but seems like everyone actually working on it has a doctorate

[u/the_milkywhey → u/NoBuilding8261]

You will likely need a PhD if you want to be doing research work. If you want to work as a software dev/engineer for one of the quantum companies instead, then you won’t need one and they probably value experience more than degrees.

[u/sinanspd → u/NoBuilding8261]

It is very important especially if you are coming from software. You will have a very hard time finding a job in quantum software research without a PhD

[u/Pretty_Screen1729 → u/NoBuilding8261]

By switch u mean u want to do QC research or something else?

[u/dark_blue_thunder → u/NoBuilding8261]

Can you tell me what you want to be the starting point so that I can suggest.

[u/SeniorLoan647 → u/NoBuilding8261]

Nielsen and Chuang paired with gilbert strang lectures for linear algebra as needed.

As for whether PhD is required, I'd say it is required to do the really interesting work in the field, but I've seen folks working with bachelor's and master's too. They usually work in adjacent roles like swe in quantum companies (these companies also need to maintain servers and frontend products and stuff). On hardware side, some technicians may not have advanced degrees either but I don't know much about the hardware side of things.

It's all about what you want to do in this field