Careers for bright DS

[NorrisToenail]

DS is starting to think about what career he'd like in the future. He's very bright, on target for 9s in all GCSEs. He's particularly good at maths. He would like a job that:
Uses his maths skills
Isn't too monotonous
He's a big people person and wouldn't want to be locked away doing accounts for example
Make a shit tonne of money 😆

Suggestions welcome!

Stockbroker springs to mind but I’m sure he will get careers advice through school!

One step at a time

Actuary. Management consultant. Both of those need great people skills and make a lot of money.

Or how about a career in digital/programming? Very maths/logic focused.

Investment banking - trading or sales or M&A

Engineering - computers/programming or mechanical or any of the various options

actuary
machine learning engineer (AI)

Engineering. Shortage area right now. Lots of opportunities and options.

Good suggestions, thanks. I'll tell DS tomorrow so he can do some research

As a completely different option, how about becoming a pilot? My son sounds similar and this is what he currently wants to do.

I think engineering degree then, perhaps, management consultancy from there?

Actuary was my first thought, too.

If he can do a double major in statistics and environmental science or some such, one would think he will never be out of work.

City trader
hedge fund manager!

Something that’s AI proof …. I can see most Market Trading moving to AI bots, within the next couple of years.

I think it’s better to pursue to topics you’re interested in and see which career they lead to than to have a specific one in mind. I also think it’s worth baring in mind that most jobs aren’t ones people have often heard of - my very career successful friend works on the best methods to freeze fruit, which she got to through a love of maths and science but it’s not the job she would have planned or even known about! I also believe the jobs in tech will have changed massively in the next 10 years and what are common jobs now may be done by AI whilst there’s a whole host of new jobs that don’t exist yet.

Get him to do careers counselling so he finds something he actually enjoys.

Agree with this. 5 years ago 'data science' was the hot career in tech (less so now cos of AI), but that's a job that didn't exist not that many years earlier.

For now I'd focus on what he wants to do his degree in. If he's good at maths, do a maths degree - it opens up doors to so many things (finance, tech, actuary work, etc). Look for a degree programme that has plenty of applied maths in it (and coding), unless he has a real love of pure/ theoretical maths. While AI is changing the future of jobs, it was designed and developed by humans. And the people working at the cutting edge of tech developments and AI are mathematicians (or they have very good maths). Cos AI is, essentially, maths...

Technology Sales - Software or Hardware, but software preferably. Would leverage maths, def isn’t monotonous and you can make a “shit ton of money”

I’ve been in investment banking for 25 years, I’m not advising my DC into it. The pay is obviously good, but it is incredibly monotonous. Trading is very much being taken over by AI, FX went to algo trading years ago (putting DH out of a job), equities is moving the same way and other asset classes not far behind. It’s also an incredibly unstable career. DH and I have had 4 redundancies between us and it’s fairly normal to be out of work for a year each time. If it’s something he does want to pursue, sales has more longevity than trading and he will need to ensure he has about 2 years living expenses saved up to cover the inevitable periods of being out of work.

Lots of good ideas already but as an alternative he might consider property.

Lots of different streams of Chartered Surveyors for example.
Im one and specialise in valuation but of niche properties so science, historic property, marine etc. Out and about a lot, meet loads of people, problem solving type maths use.

Good money in it if you do well in good firms, otherwise opportunities to fun your own company etc.

Really varied, if you choose a good specialism/ area Of expertise

A few people are lucky enough to have an interest which directly maps to a career (my dd and her BF are different types of engineer and while they may not make a ‘shit tonne of money’ it’s decent pay. OTOH I followed my interest and landed in a nice niche in scientific software development which started to be done commercially just about when I finished my PhD. Being early in a ‘sunrise’ growing industry can work out better than a mature one which in some cases may be entering senescence.

Yep. That is indeed what’s happening.

Great advice and suggestions here, thanks. I'm showing DS

Costs lawyer
Quantity surveyor

I also immediately thought actuary (before I'd read the other posts saying the same thing!)

Why not suggest he uses his brains and interests to come up with a great business idea.

Not quite. They use AI/algorithms to do trading but trading is a highly regulated activity so still requires humans. As a career, you can build algorithms, or do trading related sales, or do the compliance function. Trading teams are still big and will continue to have lots of human roles.