There's never been a better time to go into math (by: 3blue1brown) [video]

Re:There's never been a better time to go into math (by: 3bl... by sweezyjeezy on Monday October 19, 2026 @06:36AM (#50150690)

I am an ex-mathematician who went into industry, I would say apart from CompSci/ML and physics, it was one of the most sought-after PhDs you could have (across tech and finance) - when I was entering the job market 10 years ago at least. No regrets.

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Re:There's never been a better time to go into math (by: 3bl... by oblio on Monday October 19, 2026 @07:02AM (#50150866)

Yeah, but how many of those mathematicians still do math?

It's like engineers in post-Communist European countries, sure there were tons of graduates, but 80% of them were doing something else than the thing they graduated in.

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Re:There's never been a better time to go into math (by: 3bl... by sweezyjeezy on Monday October 19, 2026 @07:34AM (#50151099)

That's not what you said though - you said it was a bad career choice. I'm saying it was a good one, even if you didn't end up directly doing a lot of high-level math.

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Re:There's never been a better time to go into math (by: 3bl... by phoghed on Monday October 19, 2026 @09:57AM (#50152576)

> even if you didn't end up directly doing a lot of high-level math

But that's what everyone is lamenting the loss of, that AI is taking that specific job.

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Re:There's never been a better time to go into math (by: 3bl... by oblio on Monday October 19, 2026 @10:39AM (#50153058)

> That's not what you said though - you said it was a bad career choice.

Going through forced detours in life doesn't make it a "good choice".

The good choices are the ones where people finish their studies/apprenticeships and then immediately work in their direct field. For example a law student becoming a lawyer.

At most I'd consider that a "mediocre choice".

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