The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook contains some very useful information. Focusing on the “math” tab, operations research analysts, aka supply chain, have the lowest median pay in 2018 of about $75,000. Mathematicians and statisticians are close, making roughly an extra ten thousand, while actuaries were in the $100,000 range. I was a little startled at first that it was “that low”(although 75 thousand is still good money), compared to the median for actuaries, even though both entry level positions only require a Bachelor’s degree. However, I realized that those numbers are actually reasonable. Actuaries are hired by insurance companies, which are really big businesses that make tons of money, so it’s understandable that these companies can afford to pay so much for an actuary. Logisticians on the other hand, are needed in decently sized companies, as well as the larger ones. Therefore, working for a smaller-sized company, one obviously would not receive as much pay. I’m sure there are plenty of larger companies out there, such as Walmart, that would pay a supply chain manager much more than the median for an actuary to start.
Looking deeper into just logisticians, I think boosted my self-esteem quite a bit. I was happy to see that no work experience is necessary to get into the field, especially since I’ve been having a hard time trying to find related internships. Also, knowing that I’m moving to South Carolina after graduation, it was refreshing to see that the state has a decent amount of jobs in the field.
I also watched an interesting TED talk video this week, about being an opportunity maker. It talked about how rather than talking and working with people that think and act exactly like you, opportunity makers actively seek situations with people that are unlike them in order to build new relationships. Listening to this talk made me think back to when I first heard about supply chain. I attended a mathematics conference, at which a supply chain manager spoke, the same place that I fell in love with the job. The thing that stuck with me most was how diverse his team was. He was proud to say that not everyone on his team understood the mathematics behind their solutions. Rather, he had a very diverse team, made up of only two mathematics majors, along with art majors, music majors, business majors and more. Everyone was so different from each other, but that was the beauty that created their teamwork. Each person had their own individual ideas and strategies to solve whatever problem that they had, which allowed them as a team to analyze all sorts of different options. I truly look forward to my career, and my hope is that my team leader is also an opportunity maker so that I can experience that diversity in my daily work.
Moyer Math 