Career Planning
Mathematical and computational sciences are experiencing a 鈥渂oom鈥�. Everyone is collecting data, and they need people with the skills to manage, analyze, and extract useful information from the data. This is what mathematicians, statisticians, and computer scientists are trained to do. Analytics (sometimes called 鈥渄ata science鈥�) is at the intersection of mathematics, statistics and computer science, and is the hottest area of job growth right now:
- Canadian Business Magazine鈥檚 2016 job market survey found Canadians employed as data professionals (mathematicians, statisticians, financial mathematicians, actuaries, etc.) grew by 48% in the past five years, and future growth is projected to be stronger
- The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Council鈥檚 2015 market outlook predicted hiring requirements in Canada in ICT fields will exceed 180,000 positions over the next four years, and that positions requiring a computer science or analytics-related university degree will be in highest demand.
- Canadian website careercast.com says mathematician, statistician, computer scientist, actuary and data scientist consistently rank in the top ten careers for hiring outlook, income and job satisfaction.
- US website glassdoor.com says degrees from our school lead to 10 of the top 20 hottest careers.
If you are applying to a master's or PhD program, you should start planning early in your final year. There are fellowships available which will pay a large part of your expenses for graduate school, but you must be aware of guidelines and deadlines. A number of agencies (Actuarial Society of Canada, StatsCan, Federal Civil service, etc.) have qualifying exams. If you are interested in these you should plan ahead and find the dates and locations for writing.
Jobs links for SMCS majors
- - A listing of some jobs currently available in mathematics worldwide
- - A Canadian Mathematics Society page on math jobs
- - A math careers site maintained by the AMS, MAA and SIAM (three US math societies) and focusing mainly on non-academic employment opportunities
- - The American Statistical Association's Career Centre
- - Human Resources Canada site on jobs with the federal government
- - Code for a new Career
- - A Quick Guide for Prospective Students and Career Advisors
