I was, and I am, facing this dillemma. I have talk to a lot of people, think long night. Those people were from both areas. Some of them shift from academia to industry, others shift the other way.
I have already shift once. And as I am looking back about results of my decision. I can honestly say, if I wont make this decision, it will bother me until end of my days. So, what are the results of my research on topic academia vs. industry?
This question usually comes with the beginning of PhD. studies. More people tell me, that PhD. can open you many doors. And I agree. PhD is usefull not just in academia, but also in any kind of research activity. For example IBM is hiring for research positions people only with PhD. degree.
The other thing is, what you want. Is it money? forget about PhD. If money is you primary motivator, don't do PhD. Interesting work can be in academia and also in industry. In academia you have large amount of freedom, in industry it is a bit more tight, but good idea is never lost. If you want your work to have real impact, go for industry. If you have many crazy ideas, which you want to realize, go for academia. Well the truth is, academia is all about freedom. Like one wise (academia) man said to me, what holds me in this place is the freedom of what you can do.
Don't forget, whatever is your decision, you can always switch if you don't like it. So try PhD. write few articles, teach students, do research, realize your ideas. Try industry, go to work, use agile development techniques, cooperate, see impact of your work, have money.
So what is the result? One can not exactly say what is "better". You can just make decision what is better for you. It is like 2 equation, one for academia, one for industry. And you are the variable. Put yourself into those equations and then compare result.
So bye for now. It is time for me to do some Math.
P.S.: Here is an example, that one can found his true path, even if he is professor on Harward.
No comments:
Post a Comment