[whiterknight]

> I doubt that there is still any real career opportunity in "applied" optimization.

I agree there are no ready made jobs for that.

But you yourself know there are optimization problems all over real life. It’s a sales problem. Companies don’t know what they need or who has it.

> there is nearly no career in "applied" optimization

Agreed. But that’s true of all PhDs. The only difference is business guys see “computer science” and have an idea of where it fits in their org. It’s easier to sell. But in reality there is no business for experts in complexity theory or category theory type systems.

Making money involves solving practical problems. Even professors take a two job approach, mixing official research to get tenure with stuff they are actually interested in.

> With a BS "With Honors" in math, I got strongly recruited

This is very unfortunate. Because professors grew up competing in an academic tournament for their jobs they think that’s how the whole world works.

[graycat]

Correct!