The Academic Dead End: Lessons for a Successful Transition into Industry
I have spent the last year transitioning from academia to an industry role in data science consulting.
Sure, leaving academia was something that I considered several times (and already did once, dropping out of UCLA’s evolutionary anthropology PhD program to go traveling and “find myself”).
Still, no matter how much research I did, how many people I spoke with about how industry compares to academia, or how many times I made a list of all the things that I hated about academia, leaving a career path that I had been on for 12+ years was still a grueling process.
It is hard enough to come to terms with the idea that you are throwing away your prior aspirations, community, and career plans, without also needing to worry about landing a job that fits your competencies, working for an organization that shares your values, and trying to land a salary that fairly compensates you for your skills (without really knowing what your skills are or how valuable they are on the market).
Given that many academics are or will find themselves in similar situations, I wanted to share a few observations from my experience to help those who are considering a switch or are in the middle of an academia-industry transition.
Collaboration is key in industry.
The culture of collaboration in industry is typically more prominent than in academia, particularly if you are coming from the social sciences and are used to being the sole person working on a project. The independence of academia was something that I once loved, but that eventually made me feel lonely and isolated. In industry, collaboration is not only welcomed but also expected (my current company, IG&H, even strives to do smart collaboration, defined as the “integration of individual, specialized expertise of knowledge workers to deliver high-quality outcomes on complex issues”).
Not that industry is perfect. I currently work as a consultant, and consultants are sometimes off by themselves at a client for months or years at a time. But generally, industry is ahead of academia in this regard. Unlike academia, where your research is about you and your career, in industry your work is about providing value to your company and your clients, which is often done better if you collaborate.
If you really, really enjoy doing your own thing and really, really don’t enjoy working with others, then working in many organizations will be challenging for you.
Industry focuses more on practical applications.
Industry emphasizes solving practical problems, often prioritizing tangible outcomes over theoretical explorations. For example, it could be that 5% of the transactions processed by your company are suspicious, and you need to figure out if any of them are fraudulent and develop a solution. Or maybe a client doesn’t understand in which direction to take their company, and you need to help them develop a strategy. Or maybe your company just needs access to data that is distributed across 97 different Excel sheets, and you need to collate these into a single easily-accessible spreadsheet or database.
As a scientist who enjoys theory and ideas, I am slowly recalibrating my approach and interests, both to find work that is more theoretically interesting and to find practical applications of my knowledge. This is still something that I am struggling with, but which hopefully will become less of an issue once I move into roles with more strategic and managerial responsibilities.
Fit with company culture and values matter (a lot). Fancy buildings and coffee machines (almost) do not matter.
As you explore job opportunities, consider the company culture and how you align with it. When I was deciding which company to work for, I had several on-site interviews, and I found it difficult not to be impressed when being given a tour of a company’s fancy new office, dotted with luxury coffee machines. I suspect that my reaction was partly due to having gotten used to the austerity of academia, where academics are laughably underpaid and spend 20% of our time begging for money. Then when we walk into a nice building and are offered a nice coffee, our instinctive reaction is “wow, where do I sign?”.
The reality is that fancy buildings and luxury coffees may be nice, but they are almost completely irrelevant to your day-to-day happiness. My happiness hinges much more on the fact that my company encourages a good work-life balance, has interesting projects to choose from, and that I work with nice, smart colleagues who show up to meetings on time and care about their work.
Take the time to evaluate whether a company is the right fit for you.
Ask about what their ideal team member looks like. Ask about people’s day-to-day working routines and how often people work nights and weekends. Ask for details about the types of projects that your team has in the pipeline for the upcoming years. Notice whether the company’s employees treat you with respect during the interview process. Do a gut check to see if you genuinely enjoy interacting with people at the company. It’s OK to savor the coffee and the fancy building, but don’t be under the illusion that this will matter in your day-to-day working life.
You are smart and your academic skills are valuable.
You are smart and your academic skills are valuable.
Once more, in case your brain has difficulty processing this. You are smart and your academic skills are valuable.
If you have a PhD, you are (probably) very smart. And by doing a PhD, you have essentially been running a one-person startup for several years. This probably included tasks such as developing a strategy for your career and project, acquiring funding, conducting research and development, analyzing data, and selling your research (product) to diverse audiences (markets).
By running this one-person startup, you’ve gained skills such as critical thinking, project management, sales, data analysis, communicating to diverse stakeholders, information synthesis, and scientific reasoning. All these are highly valued in industry.
When I first moved into industry, I was told this by several people. However, I didn’t internalize this belief until I began to acquire more practical experience. In the beginning, you will lag behind others. Your colleagues will have more practical experience and better knowledge of industry jargon.
But that’s ok.
Spend your first months as a participant observer. Join in on a diversity of company activities and take on a wide range of tasks. Ask nice colleagues for help when you don’t understand a term or a process. Find a more senior mentor who can help guide your development and whom you trust to provide you with honest feedback.
Within 6 -12 months you’ll feel less like an outsider and you will have a better sense of the practical nuances in your industry. And I guarantee that you will feel much smarter and competent than you felt during the transition itself, because 1) you will see just how many of your academic skills are directly transferrable to industry and 2) you will realize that your scientific training has imparted you with unique skills that are not shared by colleagues who do not share your background.
Wrapping up.
No matter how much research you do or how many blog posts you read, transitioning from academia to industry will be challenging. That said, it is almost certain that your academic background has prepared you better than you may think. Sure, at times it will be grueling. It will take time to adapt to industry culture, to learn which roles you enjoy most, and to see the connection between your academic training and the needs of industry.
But with patience and persistence, you will find your place.
I hope that the lessons I’ve shared will be useful to those of you navigating this transition. If you’d like to discuss your own journey or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I am happy to share my experiences, offer advice, or simply be a sounding board as you embark on this new chapter in your professional life.
All the best,
Leo
You can follow me on Twitter or connect via LinkedIn.
Thanks to Ethan Young, PhD for feedback on this post.
