What is an Academic Career Really Like And how do I decide if I want one

1
What is an Academic Career Really Like?(And how
do I decide if I want one?)

• C. R. Abernathy

2
Questions to Ask Yourself

• How much risk can I tolerate?
• How much intellectual freedom do I need?
• Do I want to be a manager?
• How entrepreneurial am I?
• Do I like teaching?
• Do I want to travel?
• Do I mind relocating? How often?
• How important is financial reward?
• How important is job security?
• Do I want a rapidly changing environment or one
  that allows for longer term involvement in
  projects?
• Where do I want to be when I am 45?
• When I am 55?

3
Options for Ph.D. Graduates

• Industry
• Research
• Development
• Small startup
• Management
• Consulting
• Technical Sales
• National Laboratory
• 4 or 5 year college
• Research University
• Other professions
• Law
• Medicine

4
Evaluation Criteria

• Research/Technical Work
• Lab work vs. project management
• Teaching
• Freedom, autonomy and feedback
• Are daily activities self-defined or management
  defined?
• How is success determined?
• Flexibility
• Work environment
• Travel
• Security and stability
• Think about the long term too
• Rewards
• Management potential

5
Life in Industry (Large Company Development and
Manufacturing)

• Many days begin with morning project meetings
  much of work will be team based
• Oversee technical staff (High School and BS)
• Document problems/solutions with internal
  technical memos
• May provide internal training (e.g. process
  functions) for company employees
• Interact with customers of your work
  electronically or traveling to meet them
• Come in (day or night) when problems arise (you
  are the expert!)
• Time actually spent in laboratory facility is
  limited
• Rewarded with bonuses, stock options, merit pay
• May need to relocate every 2-10 years
• Take advantage of opportunities in company
• Layoffs
• Diverse options dont like where you are then
  go to another division or another company

6
Life in Industry RD(Large Company)

• Meet with development staff frequently (they are
  your customers)
• Oversee technical staff (BS level)
• Work may be team based
• Document problems/solutions with internal
  technical memos
• Publish external papers only when publicity is
  deemed of benefit to sales
• Apply for patents frequently (picket fence
  mentality)
• May apply for federal funding when aligned with
  companies goals (particularly true for DOD
  contractors)
• May attend conferences (typically 1 or 2 per
  year)
• Research focused on companies product objectives
  (more problem based)
• Time actually spent in laboratory facility may be
  limited
• Rewarded with bonuses if work leads to improved
  sales, stock options, merit pay
• May interact with summer interns

7
Life in Industry (Small Company/StartUp)

• Must be jack of all trades (multi-tasking)
• Interact with customers/funding agents frequently
• Travel to meet with customers of your output
• Work long hours
• High stress/high satisfaction
• Rewarded with bonuses, stock options, but rewards
  may be deferred and subject to ultimate company
  success
• High risk/high reward
• Must be entrepreneurial
• May need to change jobs/relocate every 2-10 years
• High attrition rate

8
Life at a National Lab

• In between academia and industry
• Oversee technical staff (probably less than in
  industry)
• Document work with internal technical memos
• Publish external papers after internal review
• Encouraged to apply for patents
• Will need to compete for internal funding and
  possibly external funding also
• Not as intense as in academia
• Will be expected to attend conferences (typically
  2 per year)
• Research may be fundamental or applied but
  objectives will need to fit goals of your
  organization
• Time actually spent in laboratory facility
  depends on project but generally more than in
  industry
• Interact primarily with other Ph.D.s
• Will have opportunities to interact with summer
  student interns and Ph.D.s and post-docs
• Limited reward scheme, some bonuses and merit pay
• Layoffs are rare but do happen
• Pressure not as great as in industry

9
Life at a Teaching College

• No Ph.D. program, maybe a Masters program
• Interaction is primarily with undergraduates
• High course load
• 3 to 4 courses per semester
• Significant student interaction
• Small to medium classes (15-50 students per
  class)
• Minimal assistance (MS students or senior
  undergrads)
• Internal service work
• Committees, governance
• More time is required to run academia than most
  people realize
• Maintenance of professional competency
• Limited research (conference publications)
• Limited travel paid by university to conferences
  (maybe 1 per year)
• Tenure provides lifelong security
• Success is under your control (dont compete
  nationally for resources) but may be more
  difficult to assess impact
• Rewards limited to promotions and merit pay
• Can move to other teaching schools but getting
  tenure upon appointment not always easy

10
Life at a Research University

• Light teaching load
• 1 or 2 courses per semester with Ph.D. student
  provided as TA for larger classes
• Expected to build and maintain research program
• Support 5 or 6 Ph.D. students financially and
  mentor them intellectually and emotionally (Major
  time commitment
• Pay summer salary and may need to pay some of
  academic salary (buyout)
• Pay for research consumables, equipment, travel
• Must be creative and entrepreneurial
• Very much like running a small company
• Fund raising is mandatory
• Biggest headache in academic research outcome
  not under your control due to national
  competition
• Extensive travel opportunities
• Funded from contracts and grants
• Funded invitations
• Complete freedom over choice and length of
  research projects
• Funding and facilities required
• Must identify good problems to work on
• Internal service
• Not as extensive as in teaching college but still
  substantial
• External service

11
Research/Technical Work

• Industry
• Results or resign (Just solve the problem)
• Typically more development than research
• Patents more important than papers
• Short timelines
• Projects may start and stop abruptly
• Probably wont stay in one particular field of
  research for long time period
• Some fund raising may be required internal
  marketing of ideas
• May need U.S. citizenship or green card
• National Laboratory
• Some fund raising required
• Some publishing
• Tech transfer important
• Will need U.S. citizenship or green card
• Research University
• Publish or perish
• Projects can last as long as they can attract
  funding
• Single most important/difficult criteria for
  tenure
• Need not be U.S. citizen

12
Teaching

• Teaching opportunities in industry and national
  labs limited to summer interns or volunteering at
  local college
• May not be rewarded by industry employer
• May not be an option at startups
• Generally encouraged at national labs
• Teaching college
• Able to focus primarily on teaching
• High sense of satisfaction
• Research University
• Less time to focus on classroom teaching
• More emphasis on mentoring of students outside
  the classroom
• High sense of satisfaction in producing
  successful grad students
• One of the most rewarding aspects of academia
• High sense of frustration in doing research
  through students
• Like trying to perform an operation wearing
  boxing gloves

13
Freedom, Autonomy and Feedback

• Industry tends to be structured and rigid,
  particularly in manufacturing
• Bottom line is inflexible but clear
• Clearer objectives and performance metrics
• Can be easier to demonstrate impact of work
• Less sense of control over work
• Can be frustrating to abandon projects or get
  laid off
• National labs allow more opportunities for less
  structured research
• Still need to satisfy hierarchy
• Teaching college allows academic freedom in
  classroom but little support for research
• What subject you teach is dictated but how you
  teach it is highly flexible
• Research university allows academic freedom in
  classroom and in the lab
• Full professor is immune from administration
• Will probably outlast most of the administration
• University serves as a guild for entrepreneurial
  businesses (i.e. the faculty)
• Less obvious metrics to demonstrate impact of
  work
• Citations
• External awards
• Not as immediate as in industry

14
Flexibility

• Work/Life Balance
• Industry far ahead of academia
• Child care
• Maternity leave
• Tenure clock stopping becoming accepted practice
• Work schedule
• Academics control their day
• Industry runs on a clock
• Academia has many opportunities for sabbaticals
  and extended travel
• Industry has more opportunities for moving within
  the organization and outside the organization
• Many depts. and divisions within each company
• Many companies
• Many different career growth opportunities (can
  move into totally different areas)
• Academic institution probably has only one dept.
  open to you
• Same people for 30 years!
• Small number of employers

15
Security and Stability

• Industry is subject to market forces
• Be ready financially and psychologically to move
  if need be
• Dont get old
• National Labs subject to Federal funding
  priorities
• Generally much more stable than industry
• Still less stable than academia
• Academia provides ultimate security (thanks to
  tenure)
• Research focus is stable if funding is stable
• Successful faculty become nimble and learn to
  apply their expertise to hot areas
• Generally much more stable than industry
• No age restrictions (Work until you cant
  remember where your office is)

16
Rewards

• Small company
• Large potential payoff from stock options
• Salary may be substantially deferred
• No consulting
• IP belongs to company
• Large company
• Bonuses, stock options
• Limited to no consulting
• IP belongs to company
• National lab
• 12 month salary
• Research university
• 9 month salary
• Summer available from grants
• Can share in IP and licensing
• Teaching college
• 9 month salary (summers off)
• Limited consulting opportunities

17
Management Opportunities

• Industry
• Management is the recommended career path
• Lifelong MTS often not wanted after 55
• Sometimes must relocate to get promotion
• National Labs
• Less opportunities than industry but more than
  academia
• Can have successful career as lifelong MTS
• Generally dont relocate on promotion
• Academia
• Flat organizational structure
• Limited opportunities (esp. after age 55)
• Often must relocate

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Career Paths to Academia

• Industry MTS ? Asst./Assoc./Prof.
• Significant danger of not having enough
  publications on CV to get academic job
• Try to get involved with student interns and
  local university as adjunct
• Be careful not to miss the age window
• Good overview of important problems and good
  contacts with industry
• National Lab MTS ? Asst./Assoc./Prof.
• Typically able to generate pubs
• Try to get involved with student interns and
  local university as adjunct
• Good overview of important problems and good
  contacts with industry and funding agencies
• Be careful not to miss the age window
• High success rate in academia
• Academia Ph.D./Post-doc ? Asst. Prof.
• Employers dont expect as many pubs of new
  graduate
• Will be judged by advisor at least in part
• Can be very difficult to get traction with
  funding agencies
• Most productive years will be spent in academia
• Opportunity to start building your program early