This post is about the comparison of an academic and industry job after the PostDoc level.

The Academic System

Many scientists describe the academic system as a hamster wheel:

  • You manage to aquire funding (position or grant)
  • You produce high quality research
  • Hopefully, high impact papers coming out of it
  • Go to step 1 if you did not fail (and if you fail you are f-d)

You enter this cycle when you become a PhD, but it becomes more and more vicious as you progress in your career. Apparently, the jump from PostDoc to PI is extremely difficult (most people do not make this step) and any step upwards on the academic career ladder from there on becomes progressively harder.

Why you might want to stay in academia

  • You can way more freely decide what you work on.
  • You are working towards advancing humanity instead of mainly just for money. I bet this really pleases your ego…
  • It is generally easier to go from academia to industry than the other way around. Possibly because in academia you learn more skills.
  • You work with highly motivated and sophisticated people.
  • You can feed your curiosity.

Why you might want to leave academia

  • Lower salaries (significantly)
  • Financial instability: You might never get a permanent position until you become a Professor in academia (if you ever make it there even)
  • Academia is filled with narcicists (but are there less in industry in the upper levels though?)
  • Science is very competitive, many people value success over scientific advancement.
  • Grants tend to go to people who are already established. If you do not have a profile, it is very hard to get any opportunities.
  • Working times seem to average around 50 to 70h/week
  • The insecure job perspectives (never having a permanent position, failing tenure) and having to deal with frequent rejections (papers, grants) causes constant stress and makes burnout significantly more likely. [3]
  • Scientific leaders are not trained or selected for being good supervisors. This is enforced by rating scientific performance based on grant money, impact and citations primarily.
  • Thriving in science very much requires a large amount of networking.

Some Opinions

  • “You really have to love science if you want to stay in academia, otherwise you will not be willing to cope with all its downsides.”
  • “We often don’t really know why we want to do science. It might be part of our character, somehow influenced by many factors (parents, books, friends, idols).”
  • “A PostDoc is mostly just not worth it IMO. If you decide to do one, make sure you absolutely love the project, lab and location you are committing to.”

Summary

Note: Keep my perspective in mind, which is that of a german computational biologist. If you do your PhD somewhere or in something else, your situation can be very different.

Ask yourself: What do you want from your life. How do you think that might work out with a career in academia? Don’t be afraid to make a wrong decision. You can always go back.

Read More

  1. https://beyondacademia.berkeley.edu/
  2. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAcademia/comments/8328la/average_working_hours_per_week/
  3. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00663-2
  4. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03235-y