• Question: what type of Scientist proffession can become a millionare in 3 years?

    Asked by khan to Laura, Lily, Mark, Paul, Sarah on 22 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Lily Asquith

      Lily Asquith answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      You’d have to be pretty ruthless to become a millionaire in 3 years.

      You could invent something and patent it. Or you could go straight into the city and become a banker (most of them have PhDs in physics or maths). Or you could do software development for a dodgy internet company, if that’s your cup of tea. GPs (family doctors) earn a packet, but not quite that much I don’t think.

      Remember kids, making a million in three years is almost certainly impossible without exploiting the people around you.

    • Photo: Mark Roberts

      Mark Roberts answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Well if you discover and patent the cure to something then you could become very rich!

      Though the chances of you finding the cure for something on your own is very small – so it’s a long shot

    • Photo: Sarah Bardsley

      Sarah Bardsley answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Inventors – so you need to come up with an amazing discovery and then commercialise it. For example, James Dyson (worth about £1 billion) revolutionised the vacuum cleaner by improving its suction. But it took him a little longer than three years. You have to be prepared to keep trying despite setbacks.

    • Photo: Laura Maliszewski

      Laura Maliszewski answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      I don’t think that there is one, 3 years isn’t a long time! People like Bill Gates and Dyson who have become millionaires worked on it for way more than 3 years.

    • Photo: Paul Roche

      Paul Roche answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Maybe if you combined studying science with playing the Stock Market or being a very lucky gambler?!

      If you invent something everyone wants, e.g. the iPod, you can get rich very quickly – and it is scientists and technologists who invent most of the stuff that we all use every day…

      I have worked for 2 millionairres, both of whom were scientists by background – one made a lot of money buying and selling IT companies, the other was very senior in Google (and worth a huge amount of money!). They both say that their science training was what led to them getting so rich – and being lucky (being in the right place/job at the right time).

Comments