[vijayshankarv]

Condensed matter physics PhD (2016) now working in the software industry as a data scientist.

Focused on modelling/simulating materials during my thesis and realized that I loved the software aspect of things and did not love working on the same problem for many months at a time.

As others mentioned, transitioning to data science is not that hard if you have a physics background and there are many interesting problems to solve in the area.Most of my graduate student peers are also in data science/ML and related areas (software/finance).

Although money was a contributing factor, the main reasons to leave academia were being able to live in a city that I liked and where my partner could also find a position.

Did not look back on physics at all for the first couple of years post-PhD, but missing it quite a bit nowadays. End up buying a lot of Physics books every year, although don't get through many of them. Latest purchase was Exercises for the Feynman lectures.

[hpcjoe]

The two body problem (2 professionals in academia finding jobs close to each other, for some value of close that is reasonable for daily life) is famous in science in general. It is, unless one of you has a Nobel Prize, unsolvable without one person making a change of career.

[whyever]

> It is, unless one of you has a Nobel Prize, unsolvable without one person making a change of career.

This is not really true, I know a few people who managed.

[Rerarom]

Or if you live in a country that grants permanent positions early and easily.

[davrosthedalek]

I think many places have seen this problem and are actively trying to solve it. I know several spousal hires.

[vijayshankarv]

I know a few people who have stayed in academia and done this.

In my case, my partner is not in academia which makes it a bit easier.

[madhadron]

> Latest purchase was Exercises for the Feynman lectures.

Those are wonderful! I dug them up late in my undergrad and spend some fun times with them.

[vijayshankarv]

That's great! I did not know that the exercises appeared in book form until I found it a used book store. Read through most of the lectures in undergrad/grad school but needs a revisit.