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Realities of Academia vs Industry

Introduction

The PhD path often creates a gravitational pull toward academia. This pull comes from advisor expectations, departmental culture, and years of academic socialization. But should you stay?

‘Industry’ is a broad term, but colloquially it is now used to mean ‘outside of academia’, usually at a profit-focused business, a non-profit, or government.

First, here’s some Facts about Academia vs Industry, from a general perspective:

📋Key Data: Academia vs Industry

Not a great picture.

But this is general, and what actually matters is your PhD and your career track.

So we need to narrow down and see if we can gather hard data about what expectations should be in academia versus industry. Perhaps you become more excited than ever about making your way to tenure track or maybe your eyes turn more towards industry.

The best way to find out is by looking deep into both sides. In this section, we will:

  • Understand how our priorities align with each career path
  • Interview people who are on each path
  • Look at Salary Comparisons
  • Find paths that bridge academia and industry

Exercise: Academia vs Industry Assessment

This exercise helps you objectively evaluate both paths against your personal priorities from Identity Station. Things aren’t grounded until there's data behind them, so lets create data for our specific situation.

We’re going to create a matrix that helps with measuring potential paths forward, whether academic or otherwise.

Guided Exercise:

  1. Personal Priorities Assessment
    2. ⚖️

    Reconsider your top career priorities from the last section (autonomy, salary, work-life balance, etc.) Reflect on how your high quality priorities will be adjusted on either path.

    Link to the spreadsheet is found here:

    3️⃣Life Priority Alignment

  2. Reality Check Interviews

    3. Conduct structured interviews with at least one PhD in academia and one in industry within your field. Use this prompt with your chosen LLM to generate tailored interview questions:

    🤖

    I'm a PhD student/graduate in [your field] considering both academic and industry career paths. I'm preparing to interview [person's role and brief background] to get realistic insights about their career pathway. Based on this information and these general areas I want to explore:

    1. Day-to-day work reality vs. expectations
    2. Compensation structure including non-salary benefits
    3. Work-life integration challenges and opportunities
    4. Career advancement timeline and milestones
    5. Research autonomy and project selection
    6. Collaboration opportunities within and outside the organization

    Please generate 10-12 specific, non-generic questions that will elicit honest, detailed responses rather than platitudes. Include follow-up questions I should ask based on possible answers.

  3. Salary Differential Check 

    4. Nothing ever hits like numbers, right? There is no wrong career to desire, but if income is a factor that matters to you, getting insight into expected salary levels could be insightful.

    Use the following prompt with your favorite web search-enabled LLM:

    🤖

    I am getting a PhD in [enter your field]. Based on current data, what percentage of PhDs in my field secure tenure-track positions? What's the typical salary differential between academic and industry positions? What are the most important factors I should consider when deciding between these career paths?

  4. Hybrid Pathway Identification

    5. Research and evaluate career options that blend elements of academia and industry. Use this prompt with your chosen LLM to generate pathway ideas:

    🤖

    I'm a PhD in [your field] with strengths in [list 3-4 key strengths] and values that include [list 2-3 key values from Identity Station].

    Please identify 7-10 specific career pathways that blend elements of academia and industry rather than fitting purely in either category. For each pathway:

    1. Provide a specific job title or role
    2. Name 3-5 organizations or companies where these roles exist
    3. Explain how this role blends academic and industry elements
    4. Describe the typical day-to-day work
    5. Identify the most valuable PhD skills for succeeding in this role
    6. Suggest one concrete step I could take to explore this pathway further

    Focus on realistic options that would be available to someone with my background, not theoretical possibilities or extremely rare opportunities.

External Resources for Gathering Data:

Salary & Labor Market Data

Career Outcome Tracking