“What can I do with my Ph.D.?” Academic vs industry research?

Quite often, a Ph.D. means a career in university. And for a lot of people, it is not fitting to their career goals. It doesn’t mean that a university career is subjacent, but it suggests that scientists, as other humans, posses different personalities or work habits, and they must choose to work what excites them more.

To start, a Ph.D. program basically prepares you to be a problem solver. It is a training to pursue a career of becoming an expert of ‘something’. There are a lot of careers, and a lot of jobs that desire and many times fundamentally require a Ph.D. For example, to work at the World Bank, you need to have a Ph.D. to be eligible to apply for most of their jobs. Similarly, many other organizations or commercial companies have research and development (R&D) departments that require a Ph.D. degree to work in the team. In my workplace, my boss, his boss, and their boss all are PhDs. We are a department where 80% of people are PhDs in diversified areas of specializations.

Some differences of industry career are that in companies you can re-invent yourself much faster which is difficult in university. You also are more static in one job at a university while in the industry you can switch jobs more frequently. And after all, on average, you earn more if you work in the industry.

So, one point to note is that you don't necessarily need to work in a university after Ph.D., but can rather choose a variety of careers. The data shows that some PhDs even have made it to become the head of their countries.

How to decide if you must work in industry or academia?

1. Do you prefer exploring science? Then go to university, but if you like results that become applied in the real world, and generate value for the society? And if you want to know who is really going to use what you are developing? If yes, then you must go to industry.

2. In industry, you don’t have much time to complete your projects. Time is money, and in industry, you really have to struggle to find answers and develop solutions fast. During Ph.D., we develop a habit of keep exploring the problems, and hardly getting to a stage to actually develop any solution. And this approach will not work in the industry.

3. Do you like variety in your projects? or do you want to work on the same problem for several years and gradually develop a deep understanding where you contribute to the theory and knowledge? Of course, in the industry, you work on a variety of projects which can get modified frequently.

4. Is work-life balance important to you? If yes, then work in the industry. At the university you are supposed to do research, teach, publish and get grants. Basically, these are different job profiles (from an industrial perspective).

Well, if you have decided to work in the industry, then should you do a Postdoc? And the answer is a big “NO”. During a postdoc you will:

1. ‘learn things’ that are not really helpful in the industry. The important things after Ph.D. are to go out and learn how companies work, how decisions are made, how projects are managed, how project deliverables can get altered, how market fluctuations affect the business and goals, how fierce competition market competition is dealt with;

2. have working habits that are counterproductive in the industry environment. In industry, your value is less due to the technical skills you already have, but is more due to your work habits, team cooperation, your ability to learn new things (quickly), explaining things in a way that make sense, and develop solutions that have a "business value"; and

3. be perceived as an academic person. Industry people will think that you probably want to become a professor and when applying for a job in the industry, they may think that you don’t really know what you want.

The problems that PhDs need to address to become useful in the real world:

1. Don’t act as an expert: PhDs often try to act like the smartest person in the room. And that is bad. The industry relies more on teamwork, and the person that tries to be the smartest closes the doors for innovation and discussion on ideas.

2. Make a habit of making a decision and move on: In companies, you have to move forward quickly. Don’t keep analyzing the problem for weeks or months and then develop a solution.

3. Don't get obsessed with writing 'Dr.' with your name (and I am serious).

After all, it is you who needs to decide what matters to you in your life and career. Your decision may also get influenced if you are planning to move to another country. In which case, a postdoc may give you a foothold in that country.