I have an advisor and a thesis topic already, both of which I like a lot. I came into grad school with a somewhat specific idea of what math I liked and no other ideas about what to do with myself, so I am pretty far in to my sub-subfield (which is number theory, in particular BSD and Hida theory if you're interested).
I've submitted a patch for SAGE which will have my name on it, but I'll definitely heed the paper trail advice when I have time/basic competence to work on real projects.
When you say "DoD, DoE, national labs, etc," how are you generating that list? And where can I read up on the sorts of positions they tend to have openings in?
When you say "DoD, DoE, national labs, etc," how are you generating that list?
Unfortunately, it's not a helpful rule: I'm listing places that hired people I know.
And where can I read up on the sorts of positions they tend to have openings in?
You can search usajobs.gov: This position for instance, or this one, both seem feasible for an arbitrary American math PhD.
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post, even in Discussion, it goes here.