Becoming a scientist wasn’t even a blip on my radar when I was a kid. I figured scientists had crazy hair and wore a lab coat all day. It wasn’t until I was well into my undergrad studies I even learned about STEM career options (see more here). But, needless to say I found a path that worked out. Even if you’re familiar with traditional STEM career options, there are plenty of jobs you might overlook. Especially those that combine STEM training in seemingly unrelated fields. If your child enjoys STEM, but you aren’t sure how to guide them, this post is for you! Older student not sure what to major in? Our STEM careers list delves into what jobs they can pursue, what to study and how STEM gets incorporated. Are we missing one?? Please let us know!
When we first started to assemble our STEM careers list we thought: Oh this will be easy! Just throw together a list, and will be done in no time! Wrong. Yet. Again. 🙂
As you’ll read below, we cover ~20 examples of STEM careers we’re familiar with, or have seen others pursue. Additionally, a second list of resources follows to help start you thinking about the range of options. Enjoy!
STEM Careers – Jobs You Can Pursue
This list is by no means exhaustive! First, think of it as a starting point. Also, certain jobs will be very similar to others (e.g. data scientist / statistician). Third, many of these descriptions are pretty generic. It’s hard to drill in with much precision because some of these roles are highly specialized. This shouldn’t discourage you! As you’re reading, realize that there is big demand for STEM jobs and with the right mix of skills, in many cases you can even create your own path.
Data scientist/statistician
- What it is? First off, I know all the data scientists and statisticians are probably erupting in anger over me lumping these together. 🙂 My apologies. Moving on, these roles require you to use programming skills, math and statistics to analyze data sets. If you like numbers, this is one for you!
- What to study? Beyond the key skills of math, stats and programming, understanding how databases work will be critical. Also important – communication! Being able to grasp and appreciate the questions you’re trying to answer as well as being able to convey the findings will be super important so also try to study/practice on these non-STEM skills.
- STEM link: These jobs can encompass a range of STEM areas – but focus on math most notably.
Petroleum engineer/renewable energy engineer
- What it is? Ok, there I go again putting opposing jobs together, but these are two examples of engineering roles in the energy sector. Your goal remains the same — to find processes and improvements to increase energy potential.
- What to study? Formal engineering programs are the best way to go here and there are an increasing number of programs focused on green/renewable energy.
- STEM link: These roles bring out the E in STEM, along with a little bit of S T and M!
Financial analyst
- What it is? Someone that analyzes financial data – you might work for a bank, you might work for a company. In general, your job is to figure out unique trends and how to anticipate where money is flowing.
- What to study? If you are a financial analyst in a STEM field (e.g. tech analyst, energy analyst), you will have to know both finance and your sector. While many people enter these jobs with solely finance training (think economics, finance, etc.), if you are a dual threat and can also get training in a separate area, you will be on stronger footing because you’ll speak the lingo and better understand the fundamental drivers.
- STEM link: The STEM training you use depends on what sector you are analyzing; however, applying the finance to a specific sector (e.g. technology, energy) means you’ll have to know the sector in addition to the finance. And of course, math goes all around.
Medical writer/technical writer/science journalist
- What it is? These types of writers are creating technical documents such as protocols or manuals. Content that will be consumed by other STEM players. In the case of medical writers, you may be authoring a grant or a scientific paper describing research results. If you enjoy writing, this is a neat way to combine that skill with a STEM field while getting to stay on the cutting edge.
- What to study? Well, outside a STEM area, the most obvious other skill you’ll need is writing. Portfolios or samples of work will be important early on.
- STEM link: In these roles, you’ll need to have a working STEM knowledge that’s advanced enough to be able to write about new ideas. While that might not sound tricky, try writing a report about something you have no background on…under a deadline.
R&D Scientist/Biochemist/Molecular Biologist/Bacteriologist
- What it is? Get that lab coat out – you’re at the bench in this job! These jobs are trying to understand what’s going on at the molecular level and are research heavy roles. You will have a lab notebook. You’ll be doing a ton of experiments (kind of like this one).
- What to study? A variety of majors can be pursued (biology, genetics, molecular biology). The key will be your grades and your lab experience (what lab skills can you acquire). Be aware with an undergrad (BS) degree, you’ll be somewhat limited in terms of how far up you can go. In reality, you’ll eventually need advanced training (Master’s, PhD) to move up the ranks but doesn’t need to be done right away. Sound like something you’d like to try? Best thing to do: grab a summer research experience to try it out and gain a mentor.
- STEM link: These are science heavy roles – although there’s increasingly more tech being incorporated (e.g. bioinformatics = biology and computational analysis).
Civil engineer/mechanical engineer/biomedical engineer/chemical engineer
- What it is? I would describe these as more of your traditional engineer paths (although a lot has changed for almost all of them!). Overall, think of yourself as a designer and problem solver. Your goal will be to improve how things are designed, how things operate or function and do so by using your STEM training and creativity. Are you a problem solver? This is a role for you!
- What to study? You’re back to the school of engineering. Certain programs will be a bit more diverse (e.g. biomedical) and encompass math, physics and biology courses (or chemistry for chemical engineering). What else should you study? Presentation skills again. Sounding like a broken record but if no one understands what your cool new invention does, it’s hard to get much recognition.
- STEM link: This type of role grabs a lot of different STEM areas — technology advances have also made many of these jobs very important.
Consultant
- What it is? Like traveling? Like talking about STEM? Becoming a consultant might be one of those STEM careers that doesn’t seem like a STEM job but is! Consulting roles require you to take your specialized training and use it to tackle specific problems that clients are facing. These can be pretty diverse issues (e.g. how to commercialize a new medical device) or very specific (e.g. how to improve production yield for new line of paper towels). Depends on the area of focus and client. This is again one of those problem-solving kind of jobs.
- What to study? Learn a lot about a little. Chemical engineering expert? Data scientist specialist? The key is becoming really smart about a particular area of STEM and being able to continue learning on the fly. Definitely need sharp presentation skills here as well.
- STEM link: Totally depends on what type of consulting you get into here – assume you’ll need a lot of quick thinking and passion for STEM.
(Even More) STEM Careers Resources
Before we move on, the list below captures some additional resources related to STEM careers.
- US News & World Report’s Career section – beyond their top job listings, US News also highlights specific STEM jobs that are ranking high every year (see this report from 2017).
- Sally Ride Science @ UC San Diego – The SRS is a nonprofit group that promotes scientific literacy. Their page is full of STEM info including a number of books describing different career paths. Books are geared towards younger kids through ~middle school.
- Florida Poly Quiz – What STEM major should I choose? Turns out I should be doing something different. 🙂 At least this is a starting point.
- Alternative Careers In Science – I’ll admit… This book is likely outdated (I read it back in the day). HOWEVER, I think even skimming over the table of contents will be useful for students to understand how STEM careers can lie in unexpected places. Has the world changed since it was first published? Absolutely. The concepts are still the same. And I’d argue now more than ever, many roles require advanced STEM training (even in areas you wouldn’t think). This book describes STEM “hybrid” jobs such as those in legal, finance and public relations. Who do we recommend this for? High school/college students who have that notion of a “scientist” in their head and are looking for more in terms of job options.
- Glassdoor – this is a job search site. For high school/college students trying to understand what some of these STEM jobs really look like, check out the job descriptions, reviews and salary. Keep in mind many grown ups might like to gripe about their day jobs. 🙂
- Dropout Club – this is sort of an underground job search board for people pursuing alternative STEM careers. In other words, scientists that don’t want to be scientists anymore. Like Glassdoor, this can give older students an idea about what some of those “hybrid” jobs look like — interested in merging technology with a law career? You’ll probably be able to find something here and can see what specific education candidates need.
Closing thoughts… Non-STEM Skills
In closing, as a “reformed” scientist who’s held a lot of roles both at the bench and away, the only piece of advice I can pass on to the next generation of STEM students is that while even the most challenging STEM career you can think of will require a lot of hard work and study, what makes people successful isn’t how smart you are or how in depth your STEM training has been. It’s those non-STEM skills like being able to give a presentation, understanding how to build a network and being a good leader that will help you advance. While you’ll have 1,001 things to learn, don’t overlook those other things as you’d be surprised how many more doors will open for you!
Are we missing a path? Have you had a STEM career you’d like to share? Please let us know!
