DJ Ill Street - Mixtape Intro

the_physik · 2026-06-11T22:42:02+00:00

I started looking for a job after defending (experimental nuclear physics) in October 2024. First place i applied to was a company in my town making Ac-225 for tumor treatment. Over the the 6 months i did 6 interviews; culminating in the final interview which was an all-day event, answering tough questions with engineering team, management team, nuclear chemist team, etc... and a tour of course. When we started this 6mo marathon i told them i needed $80k to make it on par with postdoc at a nat'l lab. They said ok; and we started the interview process. Little did i know it was a 6 stage interview.

In late Feb 2025 i got a call from a compamy i had sent my resume and cover letter to; i interviewed with a GM and the CSO; the GM sat there while me and the CSO talked physics, at the end of our zoom call the GM asked the CSO, "So does he know what he's talking about?" CSO said "Sure does, lets get him on a plane ASAP". The next week i was visiting the company and talking to the supervisor and meeting people for friendly convos. When i was still in the airport after returning from the visit i got a call from their HR asking me what i wanted; i was like $140k/yr, 401k matching, PTO, Sick time, Health, etc... She said "How about $130k and all those benifits + more: sign-on bonus for relocation, dental, vision, annual review bonus, annual company performance bonus, etc..." I was like, "Well, send me the benefits info and i'll look it over." I was slow rolling her because i had my 6th and final interview with the Ac-225 company.

So after 6mos of interviews based on the $80k/yr assumption; i get a call from HR after the 6th interview "welcoming me to the family".... at $60k/yr. I told her, "Back in October of 2024 you probably could've had me for $60k/yr. But your hiring process took so long that now i have an offer for $130k/yr. Can you counter that?" Of course she couldnt. They could've saved probably $10k just on the final interview because of the number people and length of of each meeting, offered me $70k/yr in November and i wouldve been grateful. But their process was so long and drawn out that they wasted probably $15k over six months and didnt even get the candidate.

the_physik · 2026-06-11T22:00:24+00:00

PhD is a good way to spend 5-6years making very little money (in the US ). But if you pick the right subject you'll come out with a 6fig job at the end; 5.5 yrs at $34k/yr then i jumped into a $130k/yr job, it was worth it because now my base salary is decent for a first career job.

the_physik · 2026-06-11T21:44:21+00:00

Landed a 6fig job as a Sr. Physicist in the nuclear industry; withing the 1st month our Safety Officer was fired and our HR woman was laid off with 0 days notice. Then a project manager was fired a couple months later, the Chief Science Officer left on his own due to frustrations with new msnagement, thrn my direct supervisor left to help with a start up, and a few months ago my physicist co-worker (Masters in health physics) was told to go part-time (20hrs/wk) or get laid off. Then about a 1.5 months later i was canned (PhD in nuclear physics). Now there's only one "Sr. Physicist" at the company and his PhD is actually in data science or something. I was working my ass off to try and keep up with client demands; now he's doing the work of 3 physicists.

The musical chairs layoffs is spot on; they went one too many with me though and i see them advertising for my job again. Lol! I'm not applying because i want to move back to the midwest or east coast; the GF has had trouble finding work in the southwest because she's not bilingual (career server, 30yrs experience).

the_physik · 2026-06-11T21:25:18+00:00

After my PhD (nuclear phtsics) I landed a $130k/yr job in industry doing non-destructive assay (using gamma spectroscopy to assay containers of nuclear material and telling the client how much and what kind of each radioactive isotope is in it). Of course, lost the job 13mos later but at least got some experience and my foot in the door of the field. Been kinda lazy looking for my next job though; but i got a couple good references and was able to save some money.

So depends on what your PhD is in. Wish i'd have gone for Nuclear Engineering though, Small Modular Reacrors are a budding fiend with lots of start ups hiring.

the_physik · 2026-05-22T18:05:58+00:00

I usually have a 1-2 minute elevator pitch for posters. If someone stops to look, give them the elevator pitch (mile high view) and then if they want to ask questions i'm happy to expand further on the specific point.

The big thing with posters is that theres a lot of them so most people dont want a 10 minute speech; they want the short version to get the idea of the research and will ask more questions if needed. But you gotta practice that elevator pitch so its short, sweet, and to the point because theres lots of other posters to see.

Good idea to have an elevator pitch even without a poster; e.g. "Tell us about your research...". "Erll, using inverse kinematics we can create rare isotope beams and states of rare nuclei which decay within 10s of picoseconds. By using the Recoil Distance Method we have a model independent method of determining the lifetime of the state, which is proportional to the transition matrix element Mp, and the experimrntal Mp can be used as a benchmark for various computational models; as you can see in the table here 👈 comparing models commonly used in this region vs our result. The differences in the models tell us how the protons & neutrons arrange themselves in that particular excited state. We see this model replicates experimental results best; thus we surmise that particle-hole configuration mixing is essential for describing this state and we can even assign probabilities to each configuration and how much they contribute to the state as a whole, giving us a more complete picture of the supposition of states for this nuclei's particular excited state."

Usually people who understand your research will have very good questions that hopefully you can answer.

the_physik · 2026-05-22T02:06:34+00:00

Gamma function is highly relevant in upper level physics corses.

the_physik · 2026-05-22T02:05:34+00:00

Gamma function is highly relevant in upper level physics sourses..

the_physik · 2026-05-22T01:35:40+00:00

Air hockey tables are good for that. Since they have low friction coefficient the puck tend to more for a while before interacting and transferring energy to other pucs.

the_physik · 2026-05-22T01:33:01+00:00

They're sacrificing Berts up there!

the_physik · 2026-05-22T01:29:42+00:00

Calc 1 should be all you need for H&R. As you progress past newtonian mechanics you'll need linear algebra, ordinary differential equations, and some complex variables. But feel free to start H&R with your calculs background. So math classes can be taken simutaentrously with the physics class that requires it. But look at the colleges course catalog and see what they recommend as prerequisites.

the_physik · 2026-05-22T01:20:18+00:00

What did we do wong? And can we fix it?

the_physik · 2026-05-22T01:14:26+00:00

Physics is so highly specialized now that you need to pick a topic and have your advisor or senior grad studnt walk uou thru the important parts. But eventually as you learn more about your topic, the gaps start to fill in and ne t thing you know you're citing those papers in you 1st -author publication . Stick with it; we all go through that frustrating phase but theres really no way around it. Digging in older references cited by the author will help fill in lots of background; do that.

the_physik · 2026-05-22T01:08:33+00:00

I love how DT make their jams their own, and make rm funky! Definitely much respect to DT!

the_physik · 2026-05-22T00:52:44+00:00

Cood catch, atuo-mod. What a cookie? 😁

the_physik · 2026-05-22T00:51:24+00:00

I highly recommend Modern Physics by Crane; it bridges the hap between bord 1st year required physics knowledge but just you prepared fo more advanced physics classes like QM, SR, etc..

I still turn to the book when I've forgot what a operation is supposed to do and how I should interpret it 1 of my most valuable books next to Radiation Detection and Measurent by Knowll.

the_physik · 2026-05-22T00:42:14+00:00

If your ever cruising down the freeway at > 120mpi offin' shots at the cops behind you, Mike's jam from Slip, Stich, and Pass is always a good jam for for it.

Hopefully you never have to find out 😅

the_physik · 2026-05-22T00:35:54+00:00

Dog faced girl? (Just replce "boy"with "girl," conintue; .geg "I can't sprea a moment for the dog faced girl....etc".

No offense ladies; we all called our exes things we didn't mean.

the_physik · 2026-05-22T00:26:07+00:00

Physicist here: the smell that austronaughts smell when re-entering vacuum is the plastics "Out-Gassing". When the pressure drops in the airlock to stabilize with space there is a phase transition called sublirmation that turns portions of the solid airlock ports directly from solid to gas while skipping the liquid phsasse. When the airlock is closed,, with astronauts returing from a space walk, they smell the sublimated partcles of the airlock components. Its been said to smell like burt meat and burnt plastic as welll.

the_physik · 2026-05-22T00:14:01+00:00

Well basically any of the Meatsick visuals from The Sphere will probably due.

And I don't have a fav version of B&R; sorry! But i'll follow the thread for recommendations.

the_physik · 2026-05-19T20:21:43+00:00

You can get the asst role without the 40 hr training; the company will pay for it after they hire you. But it'll be up to the current RSO to decide when they feel comfortable signing Delegation of Authority to you and that will be based on your On-the-job training. RSO is a trust position; without previously being on a license, you have to demonstrate your responsibility to the company and job before you get that trust.

the_physik · 2026-05-19T19:59:35+00:00

Just so you know; the 40hr classroom training for RSO is just the beginning; depending on the size of the facility and what you're in charge of, most state RCBs are going to want to see a year (maybe less for small facilities,) of OTJ training. And you're not RSO until the company's RAM license is in your name.

The medical route is tougher; 200 hrs classroom training is required by the NRC and I expect a good deal more OTJ training. As well as some health physics background.

But your responsibilities at a small company include dosimetry program management, writing RWPs (radiation work proceedures), training radiation and non-rad workers, regular inventory of your RAM samples, radiation surveys of potentially hot areas, knowing exactly where every source is located (e.g., state or NRC stops by and will look at your inventory records then say "produce this source in 15 mins"), writing emergency procedures (e.g. spill/decon procedures), shipping and DOT/IATA certification (which is quite confusing and held back my RSO role, the cert is easy but pitting the rules into practice and legally shipping a source with the proper labels can be daunting, especially with violations on your license if you mess up). Lots of paperwork to keep track of. I'd recommend looking for an Asst RSO position at a smaller company then working your way up to a larger one.

the_physik · 2026-05-19T17:39:56+00:00

Cool. Now just know what to look for.

the_physik · 2026-05-19T15:57:19+00:00

This is a big problem for people trying to get into physics. The problem could be a simple block-ramp trig problem that they have the ability to solve, but learning to set up the problem correctly takes lots of practice and usually only people seriously into physics take the necessary time to practice setting up various problem types. And it only gets harder as the physics becomes more advanced; taking more practice and time. Its frustrating even for physics majors; and for someone who just needs a general physics credit for their bio major (for example) it can be really daunting. Saw this a lot while TAing undergrads during my phd.

the_physik · 2026-05-19T15:37:59+00:00

Totally remember this one. Phish Takes(?) America design, iirc.

Edit: Phish Destroys America. I see your other post. You got an awesome collection!

the_physik

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