Suggest me a career

[kc431]

So I have a 1st in Maths (love the subject, in fact I loved and was good at most subjects at school, sad I had to narrow them down so quickly!) but at 18 did not think at all about careers afterwards, and basically everything I've done since has been really dull. I'm 28 and about to start my 5th job as a statistician/data analyst, and have a cycle I can't get out of - start keen and well-meaning, get bored after 6-12 months once the job gets routine or not what it was sold as on the JD, lose all motivation, do nothing at work for months while pretending to work, feel really guilty and spiral into severe depression, quit and move to similar job hoping it'll be better. COVID has also thrown a huge spanner in the works, I hate WFH, for me work has to be a separate place and no amount of WFH productivity tips stop me just browsing the internet all day. I feel really alienated from colleagues as I really miss the office life and atmosphere, they all love WFH and don't get what the problem is.

The main points I am looking for:

-Sociable job that involves being at a physical workplace interacting with people. I can't focus or motivate myself alone at home, I'm an extrovert that needs to go to a place of work and be around others.

-Short term "projects" with a fast turnaround and sharp deadlines, I'm really good at getting things done fast when it's important, but not so good at seeing through long projects that last months or years with vague loose deadlines

-Intellectually stimulating and varied, a job where the learning curve doesn't just quickly flatten out into monotony

-Useful for society in some way. This is the main reason for lack of motivation in mathematical jobs, they are all helping a company make more money and most are intrinsically pointless - no-one will be negatively affected if I don't do my job or if the role disappeared. Money is not really a motivator.

-Decent work life balance, the cushy life of clocking off at 5 is the main reason I'm still in my data career (that and saving to buy a house, which we've now done). However I would take a much worse work-life balance if the job was really fulfilling. I have no kids and don't want them so that's not an issue.

The only things I can think of is maths teacher, A&E doctor, paramedic or lawyer. Hoping to save money from the new job with the ultimate goal of retraining. However when you Google "shall I retrain as a teacher/doctor/lawyer" the answer always seems to be NO followed by loads of horror stories! Am I just being unrealistic and are all jobs boring to some degree? Or is there a dream job out there that would fit the bill?

Lecturer at FE or HE maybe better .you could also then be a person tutor so lots of variety in being a lecturer. Good luck

I work in a university as a senior medical researcher and would say that a research associate job ticks all of these boxes. I would employ you in a heartbeat (in fact we have some vacancies coming up..!). You would be using your skills on research studies that improve people's health - improve cancer treatments for example. Feel free to PM me if you would like to talk more about it.

It sounds like there is quite a lot drawing you towards the emergency medicine / paramedic field - good to look into it further through volunteering.

I don't know much about maths or careers that go with it but what about a job in finance? Alternatively, do a higher degree and go into academia / research?

The extraversion and short deadlines made me wonder about event management as that is quite high-pressured and people-focused.

Lastly what about crisis / disaster / emergency management, that would also respond to the short deadlines, people focus and 'thrill' factor?

I started out in my fundraising career as a database manager in a fundraising team. It is very social and can be so varied depending if you are looking at individual giving, trusts and foundations or corporates.

Although I will say it is not the best paid work then I have worked for some wonderful charities and feel I'm giving something back.

Pharma or pharma consulting. They may have maths heavy drug discovery/protein folding areas. Or stats in clinical trials.

If u want to do medicine then u could try a healthcare job (eg healthcare assistant) to see if it is what u really want - high commitment as long training path and high stress.

What about banking, isn't that where lots of mathematicians land? Not much in the way of doing good by society but once you have made a pile, you could turn to philanthropy.

My first 2 jobs were actually stats in pharma, was sold as very mathematical and the "useful to society" aspect drew me in. However it's very regulated, long projects, repetitive and very little actual stats involved. You're rerunning the same summary tables and datasets (averages and percentages), copy-pasting the same code for different trials, and reviewing very long documents for errors. It's great money-effort ratio but really dreary work.

Banking's never appealed TBH - it just seems like making rich people richer, with notoriously long hours and laddy culture.

The research associate work does sound interesting - I will message you.

I've actually often though event management could be really fun...I loved planning my wedding and didn't find it particularly stressful.

Business analyst/ project manager for a charity or a quango or health?

What about setting up a business? You sound like somebody who could be hugely dynamic and driven. The Disruptors podcast on the BBC is very interesting.

Civil Service.

Patent attorney. I get to deal with a huge variety of different technologies - everything from factory machinery to biotech. There is always something new to work on.

I’m a barrister - it’s hugely challenging, definitely intellectually stimulating, and can be rewarding. It’s far more about short term projects than being a solicitor, for example - I am only drafted in to represent a client at Court (or to write a one-off piece of advice), rather than to constantly be working on the case in the background. I am also always working with people: my client, my solicitor, court staff, the opposition barrister and their team. In all those ways, sounds like it could be a good fit?

HOWEVER. The work life balance can be really difficult. It’s not a job where you log off at 5pm and that’s it. When I have a big case, I could be working fairly late into the evening, and at weekends - although as you’re self-employed, you can take as much time off as you want to and afford to. It’s very high pressured. It’s extremely competitive to get into and qualify, so you have to really, really want it, and have a passion for the job and what it entails. At a bare minimum, if you don’t like public speaking, it’s not the job for you.

With your data background I'd suggest a public health career.
Lots of varied projects, ever developing new information and theories and is helpful to the population. I used to work very data focused within epidemiology and sat within 'health protection/infectious diseases' stream this was interesting especially when there was a public health crisis-I worked on avian flu response a long time before covid was ever a thing.
I was always more interested in the wider determinants of health and how where you live impacts on life choices and ultimately shapes health so I swapped into a wider public health improvement role which I adore. Work with lots of different teams councils, police, hospitals, GPS on lots of different areas but mainly maternal health, sexual health and improving health in schools.
Public health is also recognised as important and valued more since covid so lots more money and new jobs coming up all the time so definitely a good career option imo. Good luck op

At a bare minimum, if you don’t like public speaking, it’s not the job for you.

Actually, I love public speaking.....my favourite part of data jobs is when I get to present back the findings to stakeholders.

I’m a secondary head of department and usually advise against teaching, but in your case it sounds like it could be a good fit. The only downside is it’s not a ‘cushy’ job and it’s definitely not 9-5. However, I don’t think many jobs are especially not ones that are more challenging and stimulating - and it sounds like you need a more challenging job to keep your interest. Once you’re an established teacher there are lots of opportunities in schools to progress. You won’t have to just be a classroom teacher forever if you don’t want to.