Hectic pace

The nice thing about being in academic circles is the ability to take your time and think things through.  Generally, when it comes to papers, I found there was one relatively large problem that needed to be solved.  Solving the problem took time, and it was up to the author (me) to take the time and thoroughly investigate the problem, and ensure the solution made sense.  Of course, it was important to solve the problem relatively quickly to get the paper out, but in the end, solving the problem correctly was dominant.

In my experience, that isn't the case in industry.  There isn't time to reflect on the problem and investigate multiple scenarios.  You generally pick your gut instinct and go with it.  Granted, the problems in industry are solved quickly and you can tell immediately if it works or not, but the 'laid back' atmosphere of problem-solving from academia is non-existent.  You just need to make things work.  And when they work, it's time to move on.  That problem is ancient history - no longer present to be criticized by a panel of scholars during peer review.

This is good and bad.  Good:  any single problem is not important enough to piss and moan about for months.  Bad:  you no longer have time to fully employ your reasoning and evaluate (and re-evaluate) the solution.  It's hectic.  It's a madhouse.  But at the end of the day, you can forget about it.

The slow pace of academia was already not in-line with my personality.  I would procrastinate and throw away days/weeks working on minute details.  So I was already prepared (in a way) for a quicker atmosphere, and I would assume that most people leaving academia would have a similar mindset.  It is a bit of an adjustment though...

On the Dark Side...

When considering Industry, I was always apprehensive about Challenge.  I figured that Industry jobs would be mundane and tedious, performing the same tasks day-in and day-out.  When we think of Academia, we are inspired by the never-ending pursuit of knowledge; the cardinal rule of applying a new technique/method/analysis to an unsolved problem.  During my graduate and postdoc studies (to a certain extent), I believed I was advancing human knowledge by my research (how vain it sounds!), even though it was pertinent to a small applied field.  How could Industry possible compete?  Industry relied on Academia to forge new methods in order to combat prevalent problems in society.  Industry took a backseat to the innovations produced by Academia.  Industry merely applied 'old' solutions to problems that were conceived and solved in Academia.

Being on the other side, I realize this is still partially true.  Industry is not solely concerned with solving problems that have been otherwise insoluble.  The kicker is, Industry is concerned with applying (and developing) solutions that actually matter.  Though Academia may rejoice in its laurels as a producer that upholds unrestricted freedom of research, I now subscribe to the mindset that Industry manufactures the real test of whether or not a production of research really matters.

The problem with Academia, in my opinion, is that it does not care how the innovation can be applied, or if it can be applied.  In a certain sense, this is ok - we don't necessarily want to restrict the scope of research as new innovations are often found from obscure methods.  However, I feel strongly that there is too much 'research for the sake of research' going on.  (Think of how many PIs you know that solely care about the amount of papers/grants they can publish/obtain).  Though I haven't the time nor the inclination to provide due diligence on the subject, I often wonder how many researchers there were at the time of Einstein or Pauling compared to the modern era.

Two points:

1.  Do we really need this much investment into research? and,
2.  Industry is not tedious, mundane application of proven methods, but rather a justification and proper application (with appropriate research) of solutions to problems.

It's been a long ride, but I am truly enjoying Industry, and I don't miss Academia for a second.

How do things look now?

It's been a few months since the last update...

The reason being, I didn't want to 'jinx' myself.  It's not that I am superstitious, but I wanted to wait until things had cleared a bit.  What is going on now?

I have left academia.  It's gone.  Although it hasn't been too long (roughly 5 months), I think I can safely say I am done with it.  When I came back to the city I wanted to live in, the first jobs I looked into were academia based at a university close by.  Everything looked quite good - there was funding for a five-year position and it needed to be filled soon because the time on the grant was ticking.  I talked to quite a few profs that were very interested in what I wanted to bring to the university.  However, a number of factors needed to be in place before any formal position would work out.  Part-time seemed to be ok (although later didn't work out at all because the profs couldn't figure out what part-time meant), but for a full-time position, a few different funding sources needed to come together to produce the entire package.  And, as we all know, university funding is the slowest procedure out there...

In the meantime, I was in contact with a group since last January (outside academia) that seemed to be slow on the uptake.  Additionally, I contacted everyone I knew in my field and also in fields completely unrelated to anything I had ever done.  Everything was looking bleak.  I even put my application in to several grocery/stationary stores and temp agencies because I knew the university would take forever to figure it out.

I ended up dropping in personally to the company I had been in contact with since January a couple of times, and landed an audition.  Everything seemed to go well, but I was still a bit cautious as I knew (after 100s of applications to industry jobs, seriously I think I counted 110) that things don't seem to work out.

I landed a really good job with that company.  They were interested in applying my background to some of the projects they had on the table, and also furthering some of the skills I had learned in my Ph.D./postdoc studies.  It worked out incredibly - the day that my old checks ran out (vacation pay) my new job started.  I definitely felt 'looked after' by God, and I know that that may not strike a chord with several of you, but I know what happened and the circumstances behind it.

What happened to the university job that looked so great?  Even though I have been in contact with them for the last several weeks, I have heard nothing.  They are still tripping over themselves trying to figure it out.  Not to mention that they need to post the position internationally for three months (it is a full-time academic position...).  Basically, I don't know if they will ever figure it out, and at this point, I am glad that they didn't figure it out in time for me.

How does it feel?  In one word - incredible.  The job I am doing has real deadlines.  These deadlines benefit the company, are short-term, and my future career is not at stake (well, it is in a way if I did crappy work, but not in the way of 'I need more papers; I need more grants').  Usually, during the holiday season, I am pretty stressed and I plan out the next year of how many papers/grants I will be submitting, and I always feel bad about not doing enough during the previous year.  But guess what?  With my new, non-academic job, I am fulfilled knowing I did the best I could and that my future is not riding on how many papers I get in the future.  I actually enjoyed the break, in contrast to having a break where I need to re-motivate myself so that I can get more crap submitted.  Not for one second do I miss the old academic routine.  Since I have quit, I have had several past supervisors wondering when I will submit such-and-such a paper, and it is an incredible relief to just say, 'I'm sorry, but I won't be doing that paper anymore, unless it is contract work that you are willing to pay for'.  Of course, they never get back to me after I say that - they are just trying to get as much as they can for as little effort as possible.  Cheap academic bastards.  It is so refreshing to see it from a different viewpoint, and not feeling the underlying guilt of not finishing a paper.  Granted, at this point, I still feel a bit of allegiance or something to my past supervisors, and when they came 'a-calling', I even felt scared telling them to politely 'screw off', as I don't feel entirely free of the academic vice grip, but at the same time, the feeling of a true industry job as a foundation to stand on is indescribable.

To all those looking to make a break:
If you know deep-down the academic life is not for you, it is time.  Regardless of what you do, you will probably make the same or more money than you did as a postdoc, and the work will be no less challenging on your brain because of your skills.  You will get to interact with real people.  You won't be doing goofy non-essential research on something that will never be used/read, because that would be left on the chopping floor long before it is undertaken.  Looking back at it now, I would never have completed a postdoc or the Ph.D., and I would even change my B.Sc. to focus on more mindful industry areas prevalent in the region that I wanted to live in.  Definitely do not move somewhere foreign to do a postdoc.  Take it from me, it is not worth it.  I don't know what it is like to be a superhuman researcher like Dr. Einstein or Dr. Hawking, so if you are in those leagues, obviously this doesn't apply.  But, if you think you are smart, have the 'right' amount of papers/grants, know the 'right' people, have graduated from the 'right' university and also undertaken the 'right' postdoc (i.e. excellent pedigree - ivy leagues), and things still seem messy, GET OUT NOW!  It won't get better.  The last four years of my six-year postdoc life were hell on earth (obviously, this is hyperbolic) which I wish I could get back.

I wish you all the best.  I'll keep updating with interesting things from a postdoc who has left academia.

Yours truly,

Aimless

I did it.

I up and left.

I completely relocated to the city I wanted to live in, with no real job prospects in sight.

Smart move?  I am not sure right now - with no job to fall back on, it doesn't feel like the right decision.  It feels like a mess.  There is a university in the town I have moved to that does research in the field I have worked in, but it is the same old song-and-dance - positions need to be posted internationally (which means up to a year before anything materializes), and no funding to hire anyone.  And, it would be some stupid academic postdoc with no future after the funding runs out.  Sure, they like what I have done and would like me to work for them, but obviously I can't do it for free.  I knew this when I moved.  It seems stupid now, to leave a postdoc that at least paid me for about another year.  I try to rationalize my decision with the prospect of an actual career in another field.  I know I will be starting from the bottom again, and that is ok, but it is incredibly difficult to convey my skills to people that aren't familiar with academia.  I've had a couple of interviews outside academia, with some success, but no concrete job offers.  I am now a firm believer that it is not what you know (outside academia), but that you need an 'in' with someone in the industry.

In a way, it is liberating - I can embark on a new career, something with real potential in terms of future development.  But this is only an ideological argument inside my short-sighted envisage of the future.  Until I secure even the 'next job' or the 'temporary job', it seems as though I have made the wrong decision.  I was on the cusp of finishing a great deal of projects with my old postdoc; things that promised productivity (papers/grants/abstracts) in the next year.  But for what?  Another lost year on the academic job market?

I am very excited to be out of my former position.  But, if it doesn't pay off with some position somewhere, what's the point?  Don't get me wrong, I am not looking for management-type positions, I just need a foot in the door.  Is there anyone willing to give a smart, willing-to-learn Ph.D. graduate a chance?  I need a job to start in the next two weeks before my 'holidays' expire, and only time will tell if it will be bagging groceries or building sandwiches for the local coffee shop.

I need to make a living...  This point is not stressed enough in the post-academic-leaving circles...

Which brings me to the underlining point - my Ph.D. is completely useless.  Even the B.Sc. doesn't do me much good.  Is academia the route for you?  Maybe, if you are doing a professional degree (engineering, medicine, dentistry), but otherwise, I would say, "Think twice before beginning any degree program".  The old adage that you should do something you like is complete bullshit if there is no market for it.  How do you pay the bills, even with a job that you love, if no one wants to pay you for your services?  Although it is extremely difficult to see the big picture when you graduate from high school, ask yourself the question:  "Are there any jobs available when I finish my degree?"  Or, "What industries are looking for science graduates?"  Basic research at its finest.  That, my friends, is what I wish I would have done if I could erase the past fifteen years.

Giving advice

I am not sure what to think about all the advice out there about leaving academia, particularly during the postdoc years.  There are many blogs and articles about leaving - how you should do it, why you should, where to look for jobs, how to tailor your CV/resume, etc. - but a question remains to be answered, namely, "Has anyone actually done it and found a good job?"  I have visited many sites of those who have left graduate school/postdoc and found jobs outside of academia, but they (the ones I have seen anyway) all seem to be stuck in a worse situation or job than when they were in academia!  There may be a few that have found jobs outside they enjoy, but it is very limited.  Where are all the successful, awesome, industry-employed, postdoc-science leavers now?  Sure, you can read the odd article about how someone switched 10 or 20 years ago and is now a scientist at NASA or something, but that is the worst case of misinformation for the current job force (almost as bad as saying the academic market is the same as it was 15 years ago).

Now, assuming that most recent postdoc leavers or would-be leavers (in science) have not found good employment outside academia, what gives us the right (I have done this also) to push people to leave?  Do we want to comfort our agony with more company?  How are we qualified to give this information, provided we haven't made a claim on a good job outside academia?  I realize that staying in the postdoc world may also have emotional problems as well, but I am starting to think that being healthy emotionally is not necessarily achieved solely by leaving your postdoc.

This all comes as I have been re-evaluating my industrial/other job search.  Last year, I felt great thinking that I could find a job other than a professorship and I was comforted that others were forging through the same mess I was.  At the time, and I realize it was my fault, I construed the information I gleaned from others' experience as advice and confirmation that my decision was not foolhardy.  It would only be a matter of time (a few months) to get a decent job, or so I thought (as did others giving advice/experiences on leaving), and that has slowly decayed into another lost year.  Again, given my (and others') poor experience, how do we justify instructing future postdoc leavers?  It's kind of like teaching someone to drive a car without ever having been behind the wheel yourself.

Granted, blogging is about conveying your experiences and feelings, and I guess many blogs out there aren't necessarily about directing the next generation per se, but it often comes off as advice.  What I am trying to say, though not so eloquently, is:  There is no guidance for those in our particular situation, and though we can take solace in recognizing we are not alone, being accompanied on the journey does not mean you are following the right route.

Do you have a different experience than mine?  Am I missing something that you might be aware of?  Like always, I look forward to your input.

Disclaimer:  This may be nothing more than a cry for help in finding 'successful' (whatever that means) science postdoc leavers, and I am not criticizing anyone in particular.