"What Can I Do With A Math Major?"

Let's ask Dr. Pezz and some of her friends!

There are so many directions you can go after earning a math degree. In addition to some of the careers that may come to mind easily (math teacher, math professor, etc.), a math degree prepares you to take on challenging problems in almost any industry. Below are some interviews with friends who earned math degrees and went on to pursue careers in other industries.

Joanna Levy

B.A. Math and Philosophy, UPenn

MBA, UPenn

Director, Sportsbook Analytics

DraftKings

What was your career path? I started my career in finance, working in risk management at Bear Stearns... which went bankrupt within a year. I did another two years as a public finance analyst at Morgan Stanley, then took some time off to figure out what I really wanted to do. I discovered Wayfair and marketing analytics and had a number of roles there (retention, acquisition, pricing, assortment planning) before leaving to get my MBA. Strategy and analytics at the Flyers met a lifelong dream of working in sports, and now I'm Director of Product Analytics at DraftKings, bringing together my analytics, techs, and sports experience.
What do you do in your career? Although my major was in pure math, I was always most interested in analytics and statistics, and have gravitated towards those areas. I spend a lot of time looking at patterns in data, analyzing the impact of various business decisions (either creating projections or reviewing performance), setting KPIs to help guide business decisions, and generally helping use data and statistics to analyze and provide insights.
How did your math major help you? When I was looking for my first job, the math major was an instant qualifier - employers knew that I had the mathematical capabilities to handle an analytical role, so it really helped get my foot in the door. While the bulk of my classes have never been directly applied to my work (proof-based analysis and algebra, etc.) I took a number of statistics classes and calculus classes that I continue to use in my day to day job. The biggest thing my math major has done, however, was help teach me how to think - how to approach problem solving, how to break problems down and solve them in pieces, and so on.

Kevin Rose

B.S. Mathematics, Lafayette College

B.A. Engineering Studies, Lafayette College

Senior Engineer, Codes & Standards
Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance

What was your career path? My job titles have been things like Strategy & Policy Analyst and Energy Efficiency Program Manager. I've worked in places ranging from small mission-driven nonprofits to a multinational electric & gas utility.
What do you do in your career? I help reduce building sector energy consumption (and, in turn, GHGs emissions) by advancing policies that set minimum energy efficiency requirements for buildings under construction. I conduct research & analysis to guide updates to these policies and oversee programs that assist with their effective implementation
How did your math major help you? While my engineering degree provided the know-how to get me into my line of work, my math degree likely helped me be more effective at it. To effect policy change you need to form a compelling argument that's easy to convey; I think writing good mathematical proofs is a similar exercise. Struggling through writing proofs gave me experience and broadened my perspective on different ways to make clear and concise arguments about complex subject matter. (And while logical arguments don't always win the day in policy, it at least puts the odds in your favor.)

Kathryn Bryant

B.S. Mathematics, Northern Arizona University

B.A. Spanish, Northern Arizona University

M.A. Mathematics, Bryn Mawr College

Ph.D. Mathematics, Bryn Mawr College

Data Scientist

SeatGeek

What was your career path? I began as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Colorado College. I left academia to become a Senior Data Scientist at National Grid. Now I am a Data Scientist (yes! I took a title demotion!) at SeatGeek.
What do you do in your career? As a data scientist, I focus on descriptive and predictive analytics. SeatGeek is a ticketing platform for live events so I work with data about live events and ticket sales. Descriptive analytics in this world are often about what has been happening (How much money did we make on the Harry Styles Tour? Has market share been increasing in areas where we have been running brand-awareness campaigns?). Predictive analytics, on the other hand, will use machine learning (i.e. math!) to build recommendation systems (based on predicting a user's affinity for a certain artist, team, or event type), classify users based on purchasing behavior, or create counterfactuals in marketing tests (what would have happened without the treatment?). I also analyze tests run by various teams across the company and do so using statistics.
How did your math major help you? Machine learning is all math at its core. To understand basic machine learning algorithms, you have to know linear algebra, calculus, and statistics. More advanced ML algorithms even rely on concepts from subjects such as differential topology, functional analysis, and partial differential equations. (Look up UMAP, Support Vector Machines, or Convolutional Neural Nets if you want to see!). Learning about new machine learning algorithms requires being able to read and understand math, and staying up with the latest in data science trends helps me to be an effective data scientist.

Eric Gillies

B.S. Mathematics with Concentration in Statistics, Salisbury University

Finance Manager, Marketing Finance Analytics
Unilever

What was your career path? Right out of college, I joined Unilever and started my career in strategic finance. I've had the opportunity to work all around the company (and country) from management reporting to business partnerships. I've worked in various roles at our Arkansas factory, our subsidiary Murad in Los Angeles, and with our international sales team. Currently my career path has been focused on running our financial reporting systems.
What do you do in your career? In my latest role, I am responsible for end to end management of all the North American marketing spend. Majority of this consists of me and my team coordinating with the marketing teams to ensure proper accounting and tracking of all expenses. I am also responsible as well for running analytics on the expenses and seeing which programs yield the best returns.

How did your math major help you? Being a math major really helped to distinguish myself from all of my peers with nearly all others being business or finance majors. Specifically my background in statistics gave me an advantage when it came to running analytics and reporting performance metrics within the company. The greatest advantage, though, was the background I had working in multiple statistical programs as now I can easily navigate and run our financial and analytics platforms.