Yes I know science doesn’t make much money but anyway…

8 points by 0ffw0rlder 14 years ago | 2 comments

First off I would like to say that I am a student majoring in life sciences + possibly math at a large US public university. I get student aid via the feds + state to almost completely cover my uni degree, which is awesome to say the least ($0 debt) ;). I like studying science especially since it advances the boundaries of human knowledge and understanding of how human physiology works, but unless I get a phd/MD/pharmD/sales there isn’t much money in it, even with a MS. A PHD + postodc will lead to decent money though, but nothing extravagant – but I will be ~30S by then. So I have my tuition + books down, but what about the rest? The only problem in my educational escapades is money, well that and a career. I think the whole entrepreneurial hacker rout sounds fascinating and also a very good wage multiplier. If I can go from $20/hr doing construction to $/? Hr making android apps, all the better. I am actually learning Perl right now, and catalyst after that. I guess the problem is implementation or conceptualization of ideas. So what if Entrepreneurs or anyone for that matter fails a few times, it is still possible to make money. After I saw the HN post about the ipad apps for cats I am sure there is a niche for just about everything. Of course the ipad apps for cats website was very, very slick and im sure the app has been well designed for the….intended audience. So my question to all of the HN community is: where is the money at? I am a student so I can spend a couple hours a day going over programming and reading tech and finance news, but where can that take me? I will know some Perl by the end of the summer and my goal is to also have learned catalyst, but what about Iphone/android/? Development? All I’m really looking for is $500 or so a month until I finish my degree. Is this achievable?

wtracy 14 years ago |

I didn't make much money during college, so I won't try to advise you there. I will make an attempt to steer you in the right direction for your career after graduation:

1. Look at getting a minor in computer science. I'm not saying that you should do it, but you should at least consider it.

2. After you graduate, find a software development job in the field that you got your primary degree in. If a pharmaceuticals company needs a software engineer, they're going to have a much easier time working with one that speaks their language. This will basically get you work in your favorite field with the paycheck of a software engineer. :-D

I can assure you that there is a lot of custom software written for every large industry, and that includes medicine and pharmaceuticals. (Tomcat has FDA approval for use in medical applications. What does that tell you?)

The language that will probably be in highest demands for these applications is Java. Android development is a reasonable way to get your feet wet in Java, regardless of whether you manage to make money directly with it or not.

An even better option (in terms of what will be useful for a later career) would be to pick up servlet development and build web apps with Java.

Unfortunately for the short term, there are almost no shared hosting providers that support Java (you're probably going to need at least a dedicated virtual host). Also, App stores for web apps haven't really taken off, which makes it harder to make a quick buck off of them. Do take a look at Google's Chrome Web Store--that seems like the one most likely to get any real traction in the near future.

Good luck!

curt 14 years ago |

Was in about the same position as you. One of my degrees is in biomedical engineering, was good enough that a couple private companies paid for my MBA and living expenses. Since I couldn't stand the bureaucracy around the FDA I focused on the software and hardware. Then used my biology / biomechanics background to create cool products in a wide array of fields, but nearly all of them had something to do with biology/neuroscience (ie, medical SaaS, equipment/software for the apparel industry, mobile learning tools, artificial intelligence, etc).

Forget about the money, find something you enjoy. If you like biology, find problems in the field that need to be solved. Then solve them. If you are look for some extra money, I did part-time design work for a couple large Fortune 500 companies in areas I enjoyed (both physical and software). Pay was pretty nice.

Remember engineering and the sciences teach you how to think, it's up to you to apply it to other fields. If you're analytical programming is really easy to pick up. It took me a week to learn and make my first app for the iphone. Three weeks to make my first Rails app w/ graphics and a back-end. Learn Object-Oriented-Programming first, after you grasp that it's really easy to pick up new languages since most of the differences are just syntax.