ACADEMIA or INDUSTRY - How to pick which is right for you? I tried BOTH careers!

How to decide between a career in industry or one in academia? This can be a tough decision. After my masters I applied to both jobs and PhDs, deciding on the PhD route. But after 7 years at uni I was then ready to leave for industry! Fast forward a few years and now I'm back at university as a lecturer. So what are the pros and cons? In this video I chat through my experiences and the differences between being a scientist in industry and at a university.
Uni pay scheme... • UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC PA...
All views are my own. #drcst #university #academiclife
Music | Upbeat

[@aliceslife5865]

76% of jobs in academia are fixed-term contracts, so that's much higher than in industry (10% on average). Therefore, I would definitely say that there's less security working in academia. 18% of people working in academia are on a fixed-term contract of less than 12 months. :(

[@DrCST]

Yeah, I think job security is a key concern. When I switched from industry to academia I moved from a permanent contract to being on probation. Although I was lucky and knew there would be a permanent role if I passed, it was quite a change as it was a multi-year probation period.

[@taker9246]

you're so so cheerful! must be nice having you as a lecturer :D

[@gavin8277]

Thank you for sharing! This is super helpful for me who are struggling with which route to pursue at the moment

[@os2171]

It’s good to hear someone switching between industry and academia; I have been forever in academia and now I am moving into industry. If I can I want to try something new I just finished my PhD in neuroscience and I want to use my skills in data analysis, and data science.

[@emmagale9095]

I'm so grateful for your videos! They answer so many questions swimming around my brain! I'm a first year PhD student (science too!) 😁

[@DrCST]

I'm really glad it was helpful! I hope your PhD is going well 😊

[@ArtinJ]

Future academic here. Your energy is infectious! I couldn't stop watching!!! I subbed!

[@DrCST]

Haha - brilliant! Welcome to the channel 😃

[@leratomapela6842]

Absolutely love your channel...all the way in South Africa 🇿🇦 I’m in my Masters and currently working in industry but I want to transition into academia...I wish we had channels like this in SA

[@DrCST]

Thank you for the very kind comment 😊 I hope your week is going well.

[@alexandrasalahoru527]

I think there is such a strong bias towards academia in this video. I also tried both academia and industry and I have to say I do not relate to almost anything she said. Job security is so so much higher in industry and having "flexible hours" in academia only meant I was working double, compared to industry where there is a fixed number of hours and at least you get paid extra for those extra hours of work. And this is whiteout even mentioning stress, social environment (most are stressed in academia due to its job instability) and salaries...

[@jasonmennel2008]

I was thinking this exact same thing! I'm about a year from finishing my PhD (materials science) and I want nothing to do with academia for at least a very long time! I'm tired of working my butt off after hours and not even getting recognized for it, much less paid for it. How did you start looking for industry positions?

[@aaroncoats]

Hi Dr CST, thank you for your very helpful and informative vids! I was wondering if you could elaborate slightly on travel in academia; is the process of acquiring funding very cumbersome, how likely will you be granted the funding and do you need to know which conferences you want to attend before applying etc? Also, do you know if you have made any videos in the past on travelling in academia in general? Thanks once again!

[@DrCST]

Thanks for watching! As an academic you can typically apply for funding from central research councils, industry/private funders and universities often hold money internally you can apply for. Funders may ask you to list out your planned future conferences (or at least give an idea of your plans). There are also schemes you can apply for where the money is only allowed to be used for travel. It can be quite a lot of work applying for funding and the success rate will depend on lots of factors. It's a great question - I'll make a future video about it all 😀 In the meantime, these aren't directly about travel but are related: funding... kzbin.info/www/bejne/moumh6ptoL-ea9k virtual conferences... kzbin.info/www/bejne/qabCaIxtpNWgm8k

[@mahapatraswapnadeep4075]

is research in academia and industry similar? For example, I have heard that industry scientists apparently do not got as in depth with the science. How does research procedure differ in the two? For example in academia, it starts with 1) finding the unmet need 2) doing a literature review of the topic 3) setting up the experiment 4) collecting results 5) analysing results and writing the paper. Does industry research work that way or differently? I have heard that industry research doesn't involve doing the literature review and the paper writing part. Is that true?

[@DrCST]

In my experience there were many similarities. I led a research focused industry team - we did literature reviews of relevant topics, developed models and designed experiments, wrote up results and shared them at conferences and in journals. In industry through our research topics were customer focused and sometimes there are commercial / business (i.e. patent) considerations. So whilst I found the actual research process very similar, the reporting, task management, research budget, project lifetime and staff movement between projects was different in industry then academia. I'll add that to the future video list as there are important differences 😀

[@mahapatraswapnadeep4075]

@@DrCST Thank you so much for the reply. I really appreciate it. I was a little bummed out when I heard stuff like "probability of professor jobs is 3 percent after phd" as I really wanted to become one.

[@DrCST]

Hi - yes the statistics can be tough (I did a video looking into it kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWm9ep-ipqqliJY) - but some of us have to make it to professor 😀 Also professor, lecturer, teaching fellow, research fellow can have different meanings but can all be great academic careers!

[@misslayer999]

I heard that in industry you don't publish. Is that accurate? Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm still in undergrad (for neuroscience, in the US) but I plan on doing a Phd. I'm thinking industry will be better for me because as of now, I don't have any desire to teach, plus I hear the pay sucks and positions are very limited unless you want to adjunct (nope). I do really want to travel tho!

[@DrCST]

In my industry job I did publish - it will all depend on the company and role you hold 😀 All the best for your studies.

[@dimitrioscharalampopoulos8216]

Very useful video, however, was expecting more openness re salary comparison.

[@DrCST]

Thanks for watching. The problem with salaries in industry is they can vary so much depending on the company, type of work and subject. This article covers graduate salaries for a range of careers www.graduate-jobs.com/gco/Booklet/graduate-salary-salaries.jsp For university roles, 'discover phds' posted an article (now a couple of years old) which shared typical ranges www.discoverphds.com/advice/after/lecturer-and-professor-salaries I hope this is helpful :)

[@ronalerquinigoagurto555]

What about NDA and patents in industry?. When industry finance academic research, do you are able to publish all your findings in academia?

[@DrCST]

Yes there will be NDAs / patents / IP contracts - when I was industry I did publish, but it will depend on the company and your role.

[@elianruiz6844]

Do industry researchers still attend conferences

[@DrCST]

Yes - I went to lots of conferences as an industry researcher. Both to present research and as a participant. I also attended industry focused events and meetings. It will depend on your role in the company, I was part of the scientific research team so conferences were part of the job 😃

[@kematkumat9407]

Your cheerfulness is disturbing