Top Math and STEM Careers Part 2, Jobs 16-30: Supporting your Child’s Interests to Lay a Foundation for a Job they’ll Love Later in Life

In part two of Top Jobs in Math and STEM, we’ll cover careers in the helping fields, those in nature and the sciences, and some directly in the field of math. We also added seven bonus jobs in the financial arena where math is also crucial. In Part One of this post, we talked about ways to identify and nurture a child’s early interests.

Let’s face it, as your children get older, you can’t help but worry about them finding good jobs. If Math and STEM have remained strong interests, here are more ways to help your teen connect with real people in their prospective fields. You can use social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and especially LinkedIn, and even your own circle of colleagues and friends. Reach out to people and ask for a referral to someone who works in a specific profession. Then ask for an email Q&A exchange, a phone call, or even a supervised call using Skype or Zoom (or whatever is popular in this imagined future). I know very few adults who wouldn’t take a few minutes out of their day to speak with a youth interested in the career that the adult chose.

My middle brother attended a session of court in our state capital for an after school program when he was in middle school. After-school enrichment programs like those ALOHA offers in Math can also help kids gain skills, build confidence and go deeper into a subject than they can in a traditional school environment.

 Math and Stem Careers Helping People

If your child wonders how things work, in relation to helping people, these following fields might be of interest.

Jobs in the Medical Field – Doctors, Dentists, and the Medical Diagnostics profession. These helping occupations require an analytical skill set, specific math and STEM knowledge, and the ability to communicate with people.

Pharmaceutical Researchers – Help safely create medical devices, medicines and even vaccines.

Math and STEM Professions with Animals and Nature

Being fascinated with nature is how my oldest brother, the microbiologist researcher and professor I mentioned in part one last month, first got interested in science, long before he ever heard the word “biology.”

Veterinarian – Like doctors for humans, except a vet needs to know the anatomy of more than one creature and gets to help people’s pets or farm animals.

Marine biologists – Explore interactions of the complex ocean systems and the creatures that live in this vast part of our world.

Ecologists – Examine the relationship of creatures with their habitats, from microorganisms to humans, both in many different environments.

Meteorologists – Use statistics and complex computer modeling to make predictions about the weather and climate; and p.s. …not all jobs are in front of the camera.

Jobs Exploring the Universe and How it Works

Some kids are fascinated by the detailed mechanisms of how the world around us works. If that describes a child in your life, then you might have a budding scientist or researcher in your house.

Some careers in these fields study the tiny, like the Molecular Biologist, or the huge, like an Astronomer. Other scientists who delve into other facets of our universe – include the Physicist and the Chemist – analyzing the building blocks that make up our world and conducting laboratory experiments to solve problems or research new knowledge.

Occupations that Work Directly with Math and Numbers

Some children are just plain in love with numbers and math and have that real knack. There are several careers that might be the right ticket for them.

Mathematicians* – Explore fundamental mathematical principles. They might be researching their own ideas or solving an age old research problem. Applied Mathematicians use mathematical theories, models and principles to solve practical problems in other scientific disciplines and engineering, or in the financial, government, and business disciplines.

Statisticians – Collect and organize numerical data then interpret the relevance of the outcomes that the analysis found. This, in turn, helps businesses make decisions. Communication skills are also important, enabling them to translate technical results for non-technical colleagues. These jobs can be in many different areas from business to government and more.

Math Teacher/Professor – guiding the next generation of young people k-12 or college-level to explore their passions in math. *Often mathematicians are also professors.

Seven Bonus Jobs where Money and Math Intersect

Careers dealing with Money and Business – Finances are not my strong suit, but my other brother is a Financial Planner with a large firm. You never know if the child who makes every penny count, might just find a home in the financial profession.

Many financial jobs are within a business or company, planning, analyzing, and influencing business operations: From the Corporate Accountant to the Financial Analyst. Or Even an Actuary who analyzes data and balances the risks/rewards of a company investing in new technologies, among other decisions. One of my friends who works in human resources at a large company has said that an actuary can be a hard job to fill, although it is often a very well-paying job. And added that there are often not enough candidates, and that it can be extra hard to find minority and women actuaries to hire.

Many Accountants and Financial Planners help individuals and small business owners manage their money including taxes and retirement funds. A business accountant does bookkeeping, handles audits and taxes, plus reports like balance sheets and profit and loss statements. They may use complex calculations to track financial data over longer time horizons.

While an Economist is a bit more like a scientist, not working with one company or individual. But researching and tracking data, trends, and industries in the broader market in many different business sectors.

Written by Cathy Larkin, a freelance writer and social media coordinator, who has been a part of the  ALOHA Mind Math team for several years.