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• 4 years - 51 posts - Latest - RSS
• Thread: 192 Goods vs 85 No Goods

1. Economist
   4254
   

   The people who want out of academia are the weakest of them all. It's just an empirical fact. The % of talented academics moving to industry is less than 5%. Almost never happens. This thread here is just a circle jerk of industrytards. The idea that workign in industry, like say econ consulting, is somehow more prestigious than being a professor at a major University is ridiculous.

   Lol imagine believing this.

   News: The vast majority of jobs that require a PhD (or MS, for certain fields) will likely be prestigious for laymen in one way or another, and not necessarily because they signal wit.

   4 years ago # QUOTE 0 Volod 0 Vlad !

2. Economist
   6673
   

   The people who want out of academia are the weakest of them all. It's just an empirical fact. The % of talented academics moving to industry is less than 5%. Almost never happens. This thread here is just a circle jerk of industrytards. The idea that workign in industry, like say econ consulting, is somehow more prestigious than being a professor at a major University is ridiculous.

   Have fun wasting 6 weeks of your life revising your paper next time you get an R&R, just because a referee had to write something in his referee report, and now, once written, he'll be personally offended if you don't follow all the comments he pulled out of his ash on a whim.

   4 years ago # QUOTE 14 Volod 0 Vlad !

3. Economist
   061f
   

   OP is very inspiring. Academia feels like such a rat race where everyone has such a singular focus, where everyone is constantly badmouthing each other, and everyone is gossipy like high school. Many people are so focused on their area that they can't see bigger issues. I'm looking forward to a life with balance.

   4 years ago # QUOTE 8 Volod 0 Vlad !

4. Economist
   5e42
   

   OP, no gooded you for using the phrase 'wild ride' about your career switch. Take it down a notch.

   4 years ago # QUOTE 2 Volod 2 Vlad !

5. Economist
   0073
   

   OP here, wow this really took off!
   I do not want to have people thinking this journey for them will be easy or direct. Every situation is different (This is that last comment about self awareness.)

   Tell us more about your job. What you do? Why you like it? How challenging is that?
   I have zero ideaof what a PhD econ do outside academia. I like academia because I like my research line and love the challenge.

   I don't want to be too specific, but I work in niche consulting and software. This is not the area I used in research, but my area was more mathematical and statistical than most. I could code, but just like in R and basic python. I think what I do now is challenging, but it sort of stretches another muscle. I found academic research to be like a mole going down an ever darker tunnel. It takes a certain personality.

   I found OP's post completely stupid and as someone noted cliched. This I find far far more enlightening.

   4 years ago # QUOTE 0 Volod 1 Vlad !

6. Economist
   0073
   

   This one also is good.

   Someone needs to write a guide for the academia -> industry transition. I want to leave but am completely lost. I have no f* idea on how to do it or where to apply.

   They have some online blogs about this, but all too often they diverge into either a bitter hatefest of academia or they are trying to sell you something. I found them useful overall though as they helped me see what employers would want. I guess it gave me some scaffolding. But yea, this should be written more about in an even handed way.

   I would pay 20% of my first year salary for a program that helped me place in a "good match" industry job.

   I agree whole heartedly. My advisor would have abandoned me if I tried to go to industry. They really need to stop seeing with tunnel vision, but this is how academics see the world.

   What do you do if you land a great job but your boss hates you?

   I would try to get all the useful skills and experience I could until it became a problem. Then have a good solid backup plan to parachute out if needed. You don't owe anyone anything. Especially in industry. This is a job, not some holier than though priesthood as in academia.

   So you were failing tenure OP?

   I honestly don't think so.
   _____________________________
   Anyway, these are my two cents.
   Would I ever go back?
   Never.
   -ExAcademicBro

   4 years ago # QUOTE 1 Volod 0 Vlad !

7. Economist
   0073
   

   I have no idea who are these people into prestige one way or another. Most of my friends are industry people/entrepreneurs but non-phds. Most make much more than I do but why not? They are curious about the academic world and so love asking questions but they are curious. I guess that is what all of them have in common: smart, hard-working and curious. They would find this whole thread funny.

   Finally, there are (small) returns to faculty in terms of where their students place. Someone who produces good academic students gets a boost in academic rankings. But that shouldn't really be a surprise....

   -perhaps I taught OP grad micro

   4 years ago # QUOTE 1 Volod 0 Vlad !

8. Economist
   5c06
   

   Did anyone here take OP's advice? Seriously considering industry but hard to leave friends in academia behind

   4 years ago # QUOTE 0 Volod 0 Vlad !

9. Economist
   1a3c
   

   Pathological verbosity.

   An old scenario on EJMR:

   I am in an academic position and its terrible, can I get out?, what about my prestige? My background is X, can I do Y?

   I'm sure it will be fine. Chill out. Hey, I have been there. But, you have a PhD in a solid subject, most likely from a solid school (globally speaking). Even the dreaded theorist can figure some career out with some retooling.
   Leaving academia feels like you are leaving a religion. When you are locked into that world, getting out seems impossible and ego shattering. You wrap every part of yourself in this suit, and (like a JMC) even if it doesn't fit you try to lie to yourself into thinking it does.
   I left the ivory tower. I hated where I lived, what money I made, and ultimately with some outside perspective discovered I did't really even like what I researched (always felt like square peg-round hole). I hated fighting with reviewers over minutia that doesn't matter. I hated teaching students who just want their piece of paper. Applying to grant calls with topics that bordered on ludicrous. Always having to shoe horn my research into areas it was not useful. I felt like a liar.
   Flash forward now: I like where I live, I make great money, I have great coworkers and gosh darnit I even like what I do! I and am genuinely happier.
   Just apply. Do not be dismayed if you do not get tons and tons of industry interviews. It will take time. They may not really believe you want to leave, are too far away, are too advanced of an AP etc etc. You can not control that.
   You can control your applications and you can control your preparation.
   When I decided I couldn't handle it anymore and wanted to leave, I devoted every ounce of my life towards getting out and prepping for that new life. A large part of this prep will be learning (or re-learning to code), or pivoting other skills.
   You need to take the search and pivot as serious as you took your previous academic research career. You need to be open to new areas of work, but at the same time try to find out what core things you wanted to keep in the pivot. For me the new job needed a modeling and simulation component. So I focused my search there. I am no longer directly in the field I did my PhD in, but I use the same skills and am developing new ones as well. Its been a wild ride. I am actually excited about my future.
   At the end of the day you will get out and probably be happier. It may not be as "prestigious" but you will learn that was all a brass ring. Ever reaching, never obtaining.
   Happy hunting. Keep your chin up, and be self aware.
   -ExAcademicBro

   4 years ago # QUOTE 0 Volod 5 Vlad !

10. Economist
    fa90
    

    nice

    1 year ago # QUOTE 0 Volod 0 Vlad !

11. Economist
    f328
    

    weird obsession with pivot tables

    1 year ago # QUOTE 0 Volod 0 Vlad !

Reply

Post <blockquote>Ok, good luck with all that. tenure is pretty sweet deal if you can get it. <blockquote><blockquote>The truth is that academia isn't for everyone; in fact, it's for a very small number of people. Most adults need supervision, support, schedule, etc. That's why PhDs who werent meant for academia feel so much better in industry. It's like getting out of jail for these people. The real problem is that you made the mistake of enrolling in a PhD program to begin with. Please don't come on here and start spreading bs about academia vs industry. You just started your industry job after beig in graduate school for several years. Let's see you how you feel in a couple of years when you start to get sick of the repetitive nature of industry work and you finally realise that your "real colleagues" are imbeciles. </blockquote> I do not agree with you. I loved doing my PhD and am glad I did it. I also was an AP not merely a grad student. I am glad I got the chance to be an academic. It gave me a lot of perspective. True industry is still shiny and new, but I would not say the people I work with are imbeciles. Sure they are not all great, but that was true in academia as well. </blockquote></blockquote>

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