Exactly! Although to be fair, after doing some reading on more advanced physics I think it would be closer to the truth with addition "and if it moves then it behaves like a harmonic (or an anharmonic) oscillator". Seriously, it's both baffling and amazing that pretty much anything that deals with matter, energy exchange or radiation can be boiled down to a frigging pendulum with some extra terms to the equation and being put in a context. So far it looks like the 'extra terms' and 'finding context' are the bulk of physicist's work. I don't know if I'll stay behind it a year or two from now, but that's definitely something I'll be pondering.
Apparently, anyone who understands the mathematics of generalizing small oscillations to a continuum can sell their soul to the oil companies and get to frackin'. There's other options too, and Satan himself breathes down my neck as I type this.
Ugh. r/chemicalengineering basically goes full mast as oil and gas prices rise, it's disgusting. Sure, it's our cornerstone but there are so many alternative paths. Same thing for the mathematician/physicist.
My school pushed everyone in math and mathematically inclined CS students towards computational finance/HFT hard. I wanted nothing to do with it, but a good chunk of my classmates did, and then 2007/8 happened and now I know some very well educated locksmiths, electricians and plumbers who never want to look at a graph again. Selling your soul can bite you.Sure, it's our cornerstone but there are so many alternative paths. Same thing for the mathematician/physicist.
Are they happier now compared to when they were looking at graphs?
I don't think I have to worry about it. My father's adventures in the private sector are basically a cautionary tale on their own. Background: theoretical physics phd, main area of research in statistical physics, superconductors and porous materials. Reason to go to private sector: about fifteen times better wage and there's a second kid on the way (aka me). Reason to leave it: Sleep disorders, stress, ulcer and he was literally the only male in my family who could ever managed to get 'fat' (at least by comparison, I don't know of any other family where BMI ~27 would stand out like obesity… I wasn't joking when I told you sometime ago that I'm built like Grey Alien :P). Long story short, while even after a decade he still has quite considerable savings left from the job, no-one thinks it was worth it.