Debate: Working in Industry vs Academia
Our latest post on Insta has to do with looking at the two different sides of STEM that I have worked in thus far in my 5-year career: Working at a university and working at a big company. I loved both of them for different reasons and I think it's very helpful to hear from other people's points of views, especially if you are looking for a career change or are graduating soon.
Below, you'll find my two cents but I am more interested to hear your point of view. What do you think? Do you work in industry or are a grad student, or something else? Am I completely wrong? Let me know.
Industry Pros:
Money- I doubled my salary coming to this job. I also moved from AZ to CA, but still
Could be more stable- I was a university employee at the U of Arizona but specifically for the NASA mission NEO Surveyor, so when they changed funding and schedule and ultimately nixed our lab, we were all out of the job
More opportunities- There are (probably) more companies out there than universities and companies (probably) need more employees than schools need grad students/employees. Not 100% sure of course but this is the way it seems.
Possibly more coworkers and more fun- I had TWO coworkers at UA. Here I have 200.
Industry Cons:
Less benefits- My benefits at UA were AMAZING and I miss them so much. Could also be due to two different states but nonetheless I miss my health benefits.
Very company-dependent some really suck (may be the same for schools also though)
Academia Pros:
PTO- SO MUCH FREE TIME! My boss told us he does not care when we are there, as long as we get our work done. No charging hours. No need to take PTO for a long weekend vacation. Also a boss having trust in you is so nice.
Freedom of schedule usually- Goes with the previous bullet but it definitely does not have to be a 9-5. This could be both good and bad, it's very easy to become a workaholic if you're working on cool stuff so remember work-life balance.
Usually a learning environment with like minded individuals- Hugely different than where I am now. Some people are interested in learning more and improving, but the vast majority seem to be complacent and just here for a paycheck. It is quite sad. I love learning new stuff and trying to be involved and do more, that is not the norm here.
Academia Cons:
Less money- Schools just have less money than big companies. But benefits are great and lots of time off, so depends on what you're looking for.
Sometimes job description is not well defined bc you’re doing R&D.. which could be cool but also incredibly frustrating- I had NO IDEA what I was doing at my previous job! My tasks were incredibly vague and nebulous because everything was new. Here, we've been doing a lot of this stuff for a while so the job description is quite robust. But there's also that sense of R&D on certain things WHICH I LOVE.
So that's my (very limited) experience working in academia and industry. What do you guys think? Which one have you worked in and what's your experience like? I'd love to hear!