• Murli Nagasundaram
  IIMC, PGP, 1980. Retired Old Fogey/Professor, Manipal Global Education/Boise State University

Satyam, it's good that you chose to study physics since it's a very rigorous field and it's essential that your first degree be rigorous. As interesting as physics is, careers in physics,.especially theoretical physics are very hard to get even with a PhD (which is the minimum qualification needed to pursue physics). Nevertheless, a physics education has provided you with the necessary mathematical foundation to pursue a career in data science and artificial intelligence. You will need to pick up programming, especially Python, as well as a variety of tools and also learn as much of probability and statistics you can. A lot of this can be learned from online resources. Also try to learn C++. You don't need to invest in books. Pretty much everything you need to learn is available on the internet

P
• Pankaj Rai
  IIMA, PGP, 1993. Group Chief Data and Analytics Officer

Dear Satya, we all study usually for 3 reasons ie learn something new, apply that knowledge to make a difference and earn money to take care of our needs. In your case it appears to me that the third reason is critical and hence you need to focus on that first. Our interests in any subject are never permanent and at times they are defined by the teacher / book etc and not necessarily a reflection of what we would like. Eg I never liked humanities when I was studying but after working I started enjoying that. So I would suggest you focus on getting a job with your BSc degree only and not worry about completing MSc. And as you get to work you will start to know what you like and what you don’t. Consider that as a journey where you acquire new knowledge through online or short term courses along with the job to keep upgrading your skills so that you can get the next job better than the first one or get promoted in the existing one. A career is a marathon and one needs to look at upgrading skills continuously based on the market demands and our interests so better to start working quickly so that the market signals start coming to you.