<p>There are the obvious academic positions. Apart from that, many industrial research (or research-like) labs are very interested in hiring theoreticians who are comfortable applying theoretical foundations to solving problems as well as coming up with new theorems. Theoreticians also find positions (though may be not as many) in financial institutions as "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quants">quants</a>".</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-24T07:45:47.210Z
COuld you give some specific examples of theoreticians hired to do theory work in industries (apart from research labs like MSFT research)? I do not think even specialized PhDs in mathematical finance do theory work in financial institutions. On the other hand an undergrad from my school got into goldman with programming skills. I would think industry values programming skills more than theory skills.
Turbo
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-24T10:49:44.603Z
I didn't say that theoreticians are hired to do theory work. They're hired because of their theoretical training. That's slightly different.
Suresh Venkat
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2014-04-24T14:38:04.010Z
Could you give examples of situations where theoretical training was given more consideration to the hiring decision for a permanent position in the industry than programming skills post 2000 era?
Turbo
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-24T14:52:50.230Z
I'd say that a reasonably large fraction of hires in 'data science' are looking for analytical skills in combination with programming skills. Programming skills by themselves are not sufficient.
Suresh Venkat
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-24T17:55:22.510Z
If your good, you could get a job with NSA (National Security Agency) but then you would inevitably find yourself in a position like Matt Damon in the movie "Goodwill Hunting" faced with the question" why wouldn't I want to work for the NSA ? :-)
William Hird
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-24T19:11:43.440Z
Analytical skills seems a bit broad term for data science employers also hire ex-electrical engineers (signal processing engineers) for their analytical work roles. I am unsure how the special training in tcs would trump a solid back ground in other fundamental practical skills when a recruiting manager makes a decision.
Turbo
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-24T20:44:35.257Z
because we can design efficient algorithms, and model problems in a computationally efficient way.
Suresh Venkat
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2014-04-25T03:38:55.610Z
FWIW, I know quite a few PhDs with theory training who are now software engineers in Google.
Sasho Nikolov
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-23T14:26:25.710Z
2014-04-23T14:26:25.710Z
Suresh Venkat
<p>What are the typical careers for theoretical computer scientists (people with graduate degree in theoretical computer science)?</p>

<p>What kind of industries and institutions look for theoretical computer science knowledge?
What careers do theoretical computer scientists typically peruse?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-22T23:31:11.840Z
Similar questions have been asked before. e.g. http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/3881/how-do-i-get-started-in-theoretical-cs
Thomas Steinke
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-23T14:24:15.273Z
Similar, but not the same. If you look at http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/search?q=jobs+is%3Aquestion, there actually isn't a single question along these lines.
Suresh Venkat
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2014-04-23T15:08:36.613Z
@Suresh, http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/search?q=career+is%3Aquestion
Kaveh
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2014-04-23T15:30:07.303Z
http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/q/14
Kaveh
<soft-question><career>
Careers for theoretical computer scientists
Lefteris
# Careers for theoretical computer scientists

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-04-22)

What are the typical careers for theoretical computer scientists (people with graduate degree in theoretical computer science)?

What kind of industries and institutions look for theoretical computer science knowledge?
What careers do theoretical computer scientists typically peruse?

**Tags:** soft-question, career

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Similar questions have been asked before. e.g. http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/3881/how-do-i-get-started-in-theoretical-cs  
> **username_2**: Similar, but not the same. If you look at http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/search?q=jobs+is%3Aquestion, there actually isn't a single question along these lines.  
> **username_3**: @Suresh, http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/search?q=career+is%3Aquestion  
> **username_3**: http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/q/14  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2014-04-23. Score: 5

There are the obvious academic positions. Apart from that, many industrial research (or research-like) labs are very interested in hiring theoreticians who are comfortable applying theoretical foundations to solving problems as well as coming up with new theorems. Theoreticians also find positions (though may be not as many) in financial institutions as "[quants](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quants)".

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: COuld you give some specific examples of theoreticians hired to do theory work in industries (apart from research labs like MSFT research)? I do not think even specialized PhDs in mathematical finance do theory work in financial institutions. On the other hand an undergrad from my school got into goldman with programming skills. I would think industry values programming skills more than theory skills.  
> **username_2**: I didn't say that theoreticians are hired to do theory work. They're hired because of their theoretical training. That's slightly different.  
> **username_4**: Could you give examples of situations where theoretical training was given more consideration to the hiring decision for a permanent position in the industry than programming skills post 2000 era?  
> **username_2**: I'd say that a reasonably large fraction of hires in 'data science' are looking for analytical skills in combination with programming skills. Programming skills by themselves are not sufficient.  
> **username_5**: If your good, you could get a job with NSA (National Security Agency) but then you would inevitably find yourself in a position like Matt Damon in the movie "Goodwill Hunting" faced with the question" why wouldn't I want to work for the NSA ? :-)  
> **username_4**: Analytical skills seems a bit broad term for data science employers also hire ex-electrical engineers (signal processing engineers) for their analytical work roles. I am unsure how the special training in tcs would trump a solid back ground in other fundamental practical skills when a recruiting manager makes a decision.  
> **username_2**: because we can design efficient algorithms, and model problems in a computationally efficient way.  
> **username_6**: FWIW, I know quite a few PhDs with theory training who are now software engineers in Google.  

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