This text takes a deeper have a look at STEM (Science, Expertise, Engineering, and Arithmetic) jobs in non-public business, with a selected emphasis on arithmetic. What jobs are sizzling? What jobs should not sizzling?
STEM jobs and schooling is the topic of an excessive amount of press protection and public remark. There are perennial claims of shortages of STEM staff and that the US is behind or falling behind different nations in STEM schooling. See for instance the 2005 report Rising Above The Gathering Storm: Energizing and Using America for a Brighter Financial Future and its 2010 followup report Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited: Quickly Approaching Class 5
This text surveys STEM job postings on the Craig’s Checklist San Francisco Bay Space job board on January 13 and January 19, 2013. The important thing outcomes of this transient survey are: only a few entry-level or junior STEM jobs are posted. Most STEM job posts declare to require 2-7 years, typically 3-5 years, of labor expertise in particular abilities corresponding to programming languages corresponding to MATLAB or C++ and toolkits corresponding to OpenCV or OpenGL. Only a few jobs requesting greater than 10 years of expertise are posted. There’s little or no curiosity indicated in a spread of mathematical abilities taught in highschool and faculty math together with algebra and particularly calculus.
STEM job posts with a excessive mathematical content material are dominated by statistics and information evaluation, primarily enterprise information and a few medical/healthcare information. Most machine studying, “huge information”, and information scientist posts fall into the class of statistics and information evaluation. There are remarkably few STEM jobs posts looking for to resolve “huge issues” corresponding to different, cheaper power sources, curing main ailments corresponding to most cancers, and the like. The few corporations that arguably publish “huge downside” jobs are sometimes backed by the federal government (e.g. Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors and SpaceX) or might have particular relationships with the federal government (e.g. Robert Bigelow’s Bigelow Aerospace).
The Normal STEM Market
In lots of respects, STEM jobs within the San Francisco Bay Space overlap closely with software program and programming jobs. To determine the context, the writer took a have a look at software program jobs with varied necessities.
Craig's Checklist San Francisco Bay Space Jan 13, 2013 Search Phrase Quantity Discovered "programmer" 107 "software program engineer" 371 C++ "software program engineer" 112 java "software program engineer" 213 python "software program engineer" 108 C# "software program engineer" 45 embedded "software program engineer" 27 phd "software program engineer" 22 "junior software program engineer" 1 "junior programmer" 1 "entry degree software program engineer" 0 entry degree "software program engineer" 3 junior "software program engineer" 16 "new faculty graduate" "software program engineer" 0 "senior software program engineer" 98 C++ "senior software program engineer" 36 java "senior software program engineer" 68 python "senior software program engineer" 35 C# "senior software program engineer" 15 embedded "senior software program engineer" 4 "software program architect" 11 "principal software program engineer" 6 "software program challenge manaager" 1 Coaching coaching "software program engineer" 29 "will prepare" "software program engineer" 0 "coaching offered" "software program engineer" 0 "information scientist" 6 "algorithm engineer" 3 "algorithm scientist" 1 PHD 127 PHD MATLAB 8 PHD OPENCV 0 Programming Languages C++ 234 C# 131 java 624 python 385 PHP 406 Ruby 256 Perl 246 SQL 537 MySQL 335 "Goal C" 81 "Goal-C" 46 MATLAB 35 Mathematica 2 SAS 30 Purposeful Languages/Unique Languages haskell 0 erlang 2 lisp 1 (job at Apple) lua 19 ocaml 0 Model Management Git 113 Subversion 47 CVS 32 Perforce 24 Mercurial 4 RCS 2 (uncertain laptop) SourceSafe 1 Toolkits and so on. OpenCV (Laptop Imaginative and prescient) 4 OpenGL (3D Laptop Graphics) 17 Cellular iphone 197 Android 260 xcode 17 Miscellaneous database 1133 emacs 1 Linux 525 hadoop 105
There are two issues that stand out. First, even within the Bay Space and even with the present hype about cell gadgets, software program jobs are dominated by instruments used for enterprise functions, particularly the processing and evaluation of enterprise information: databases as a basic class, SQL (Structured Question Language utilized by many databases), and so on. Secondly, junior or entry degree jobs requiring no and even lower than two years of expertise are extraordinarily uncommon!
A Catch-22 STEM Job Market
One might ask if corporations rent only a few entry-level STEM staff, the place do skilled STEM staff come from? Certainly, in some contexts, corporations regularly declare to have giant numbers of job openings in STEM fields which can be by no means stuffed. However that is hardly shocking on condition that these job openings are for knowledgeable STEM staff solely and the businesses, not less than primarily based on job posts discovered on Craig’s Checklist and different job boards (that are comparable), not often rent entry-level STEM staff.
A Scarcity of Calculus Tutors?
Quite a lot of arithmetic schooling in highschool and faculty in the US is in algebra and calculus. When company titans and large title lecturers on blue ribbon panels bemoan the state of STEM schooling in the US they appear to be saying that the US isn’t producing sufficient college students with the vital algebra and calculus abilities that employers are struggling to seek out. Algebra and calculus being the mainstays of highschool and faculty math schooling.
Algebra and Calculus within the Actual World algebra 79 (50 in schooling class) algebra tutor 40 algebra trainer 12 algebra teacher 7 "linear algebra" 6 (2 tutors, 1 machine studying, 3 repeats of "Senior 3D Physics Engineer" -- sport firm/perpetual advertiser) "calculus" 61 (not less than 55 tutors/instructors/academics/and so on.) -- 59 in schooling class on sat jan 19, 2013) out of 63 in "all jobs" different 4 had been cross-posts of tutor/author/and so on. posts additionally in schooling/instructing class
Remarkably, all calculus jobs discovered on Saturday, January 19, 2013 had been calculus tutors, academics, and different types of educators. A big majority of algebra jobs had been tutors, academics, and educators. Linear algebra which is normally taught in first or second 12 months faculty arithmetic programs and which arguably has appreciable sensible use turned up in a only some job posts. STEM subjects corresponding to linear algebra have a tendency to show up most regularly in laptop sport job posts, not precisely what most individuals consider after they hear the US is falling behind (Russia/Japan/China/India/fill in your favourite international bogey man right here) in STEM schooling and staff!
The Fantastic World of Statistics
Nonetheless, if we have a look at statistics, machine studying, information science, and comparable subjects, we do discover many job posts, primarily for statistical information evaluation of enterprise information and typically medical/well being information.
January 19, 2013 search outcomes statistics 263 (37 in schooling/instructing class) statistics software program 83 (2 in schooling/instructing class) "information scientist" 6 statistics "information scientist" 4 (test overlap) "machine studying" 59 statistics "machine studying" 12 (test overlap) statistician 1 SAS 40 SPSS 31 "statistical bundle" 1 "corresponding to R" 5 (all check with R programming language) "huge information" 155 (0 in schooling/instructing class) "huge information" hadoop 64 "huge information" hbase 31 "huge information" statistics 13 weka 2 NOSQL 95 nosql "huge information" 21 likelihood 15
Scientist Principally Means Biotech
A broader survey of STEM-related key phrases and phrases confirmed that “scientist” in a job title largely refers to biotechnology, well being care, and medication jobs. Once in a while one might encounter a “information scientist,” an “algorithm scientist,” or one thing like that, however most scientist positions are biology and medication jobs — not less than on Craig’s Checklist San Francisco.
STEM KEYWORDS AND PHRASES "calculus" 61 (not less than 55 tutors/instructors/academics/and so on.) -- 59 in schooling class on sat jan 19, 2013) out of 63 in "all jobs" different 4 had been cross-posts of tutor/author/and so on. posts additionally in schooling/instructing class (saturday jan 19 2013 search) scientist 54 (overwhelming majority science/biotech or healthcare) handful of exceptions: -- Sr. Knowledge Scientist -- Speech Scientist "information scientist" 6 "speech scientist" 2 Scientist/Analysis Engineer, Utilized Science 1 (basicaly information scientist) scientist trainer 1 engineer 1318 (largely software program) "analysis engineer" 3 "electrical engineer" 35 "mechanical engineer" 36 "chemical engineer" 2 physicist 1 physics 131 (62 in schooling class) physics tutor 42 physics trainer 13 physics teacher 12 physics school 7 (lot of overlap with tutor/trainer/and so on.) physics sport 15 (laptop sport jobs on examination) physics engineer 41 (gaming/optical engineering/misc/not tutor) arithmetic 138 (44 within the schooling class) "utilized arithmetic" 5 (3 in schooling/instructing class) mathematician 8 (6 repeats of similar internet job, trainer, algorithm scientist) arithmetic trainer 5 arithmetic tutor 17 arithmetic teacher 9 arithmetic professor 1 (visiting assistant professor of statistics) arithmetic school 15 arithmetic educator 3 arithmetic software program 59 (overwhelming majority are software program engineer jobs) arithmetic phd 8 algebra 79 (50 in schooling class) algebra tutor 40 algebra trainer 12 algebra teacher 7 "linear algebra" 6 (2 tutors, 1 machine studying, 3 repeats of "Senior 3D Physics Engineer" -- sport firm/perpetual advertiser) statistics 263 (37 in schooling/instructing class) statistics software program 83 (2 in schooling/instructing class) "information scientist" 6 statistics "information scientist" 4 (test overlap) "machine studying" 59 statistics "machine studying" 12 (test overlap) statistician 1 SAS 40 SPSS 31 "statistical bundle" 1 "corresponding to R" 5 (all check with R programming language) "huge information" 155 (0 in schooling/instructing class) "huge information" hadoop 64 "huge information" hbase 31 "huge information" statistics 13 weka 2 NOSQL 95 nosql "huge information" 21 likelihood 15 "mathematical mode" 0 theorem 0
Huge Downside STEM Job Posts Are Uncommon!
Only a few job posts contain fixing or making an attempt to resolve “huge issues” corresponding to new, different, cheaper power sources, energy and propulsion programs, or main medical issues. One often finds jobs associated to solar energy or batteries on Craig’s Checklist San Francisco. Only some of those are engineering or R&D jobs. These typically are corporations backed by the federal government such because the now notorious Solyndra. It is vitally uncommon to see something associated to nuclear or thermonuclear fusion energy.
Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors and SpaceX (House Exploration) promote jobs every so often on Craig’s Checklist. Each corporations are closely backed by the US federal authorities. Most likely essentially the most unique “huge downside” job posts that seem on Craig’s Checklist are from Las Vegas resort billionaire Robert Bigelow’s Bigelow Aerospace, a few of which learn like X-Information episode plots. Bigelow Aerospace has obtained contracts from the federal authorities and there’s appreciable hypothesis concerning Robert Bigelow’s relationship with components of the federal government.
BIG PROBLEMS Saturday Jan 19, 2013 "solar energy" 67 (most non technical) engineer "solar energy" 3 scientist "solar energy" 0 photo voltaic 232 photo voltaic scientist 0 battery engineer 6 (not battery R&D although) "battery engineer" 0 "fusion energy" 0 "thermonuclear fusion" 0 "different power" 10 tesla motors 3 (two clerical, 1 IT app -- not automotive engine developer and so on.) bigelow aerospace 2 (dated Dec. 28, 2012) -- chemical engineera -- mechanical engineer (spaceship life help programs?)
Conclusion
The important thing outcomes of this transient survey of the Craig’s Checklist San Francisco Bay Space job board are: only a few entry-level or junior STEM jobs are posted. Most STEM job posts declare to require 2-7 years, typically 3-5 years, of labor expertise in particular abilities corresponding to programming languages corresponding to MATLAB or C++ and toolkits corresponding to OpenCV or OpenGL. Only a few jobs requesting greater than 10 years of expertise are posted. There’s little or no curiosity indicated in a spread of mathematical abilities taught in highschool and faculty math together with algebra and particularly calculus.
STEM job posts with a excessive mathematical content material are dominated by statistics and information evaluation, primarily enterprise information and a few medical/healthcare information. Most machine studying, “huge information”, and information scientist posts fall into the class of statistics and information evaluation. There are remarkably few STEM jobs posts looking for to resolve “huge issues” corresponding to different, cheaper power sources, curing main ailments corresponding to most cancers, and the like. The few corporations that arguably publish “huge downside” jobs are sometimes backed by the federal government (e.g. Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors and SpaceX) or might have particular relationships with the federal government (e.g. Robert Bigelow’s Bigelow Aerospace).
Many of those outcomes contradict frequent claims and themes on the whole information media articles, suppose tank studies, and different sources about STEM schooling, STEM employment, and alleged shortages of STEM staff (scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians).
It is not uncommon within the enterprise press, in addition to conservative and libertarian sources, to see claims that the federal government and/or politicians are short-sighted in comparison with the long run strategic imaginative and prescient of personal business. That is remarkably unsupported by the hiring patterns discovered on Craig’s Checklist (and lots of different job boards, that are comparable in content material). Personal companies appear remarkably tired of tackling severe issues corresponding to power regardless of hovering costs and evident issues. Within the uncommon circumstances the place somebody could also be making an attempt to resolve these issues, one typically finds the heavy hand of presidency funding, for higher or worse. No matter one thinks of the a lot ballyhooed fracking expertise, this, on shut examination, could be traced to US Division of Vitality analysis funding, and never, for instance, the photogenic ExxonMobil scientists featured in ExxonMobil’s 2008 advert marketing campaign.
© 2013 John F. McGowan
Concerning the Creator
John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves issues utilizing arithmetic and mathematical software program, together with creating video compression and speech recognition applied sciences. He has in depth expertise creating software program in C, C++, Visible Fundamental, Mathematica, MATLAB, and lots of different programming languages. He’s in all probability greatest recognized for his AVI Overview, an Web FAQ (Ceaselessly Requested Questions) on the Microsoft AVI (Audio Video Interleave) file format. He has labored as a contractor at NASA Ames Analysis Heart concerned within the analysis and growth of picture and video processing algorithms and expertise. He has revealed articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the invention of methane on Mars), and low-cost entry to area. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the College of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Expertise (Caltech). He could be reached at [email protected].
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