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Ph.D Employment?

Posted by Cliff on from the advanced-education-in-the-workforce dept.

Dr. Nik asks: "As a recent Ph.D graduate in EE, I am curious to know where other Ph.Ds are employed. More specifically, I would be interested in knowing if you have moved into careers other than academic. Have you veered from the path? Are you still working in the field, or have you completely changed direction?" A couple of months ago, Slashdot was polled for PhDs in IT. How well do other areas of the workforce compare when it comes to hiring Doctorates?

4 of 51 comments (clear)

  1. Earlier? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    >> As a recent PhD graduate in EE, I am curious to know where other PhDs are employed

    Uh...shouldn't you have thought about this a couple years ago?

    1. Re:Earlier? by PylonHead · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They're just a different type of person than you are. They're not as motivated by money or status. They're motivated by an opportunity to really understand some small part of the world. To have the chance to learn everything everyone else has ever writting about this small thing, and then advance the knowledge of it in a small (or large) way.

      Makes no sense to you, or to most people for that matter. Probably good that there are people out there like this.

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  2. heh by jbellis · · Score: 2, Insightful

    VCs never "knock down your door to give you money." Even if you are God's own biotech researcher.

    Personally, I think if you want to go the entrepreneurship route, you'll learn in 3 years from starting your own business and bootstrapping (even if it ultimately fails) than getting an MBA.
    MBAs are for middle managers.

  3. What's Your Background? by David+Greene · · Score: 3, Insightful
    This seems like an odd question to me. You must have some idea of what you do and don't like to do. You just spent five or more years working on a major research project. What did it involve? Are you still interested in the area? Are there branches off the research you'd like to pursue?

    At the end of my degree I had come to the conclusion that academia wasn't for me. Too many long hours with all the ridiculous politics of every workplace. So I joined the industrial workforce and am quite happy working in the general area of my research. But you'll find that wherever you go, it won't be exactly the same thing you've been working on. Nor should it be.

    My degree enabled me to pick exactly the kind of job I wanted. I felt completely comfortable turning jobs down if they weren't what I was looking for. Because no matter what else, the fact that you finished a Ph.D. is a big plus in your portfolio when it comes to reliability and dedication.

    There are plenty of EE/CS companies looking for Ph.D.'s. But don't go looking on Monster. Talk to your advisor and get "ins" where you need them. That's how it works. No one in H.R. has any idea what you did or how it applies to the company you may be looking at. Get a technical contact and pursue it.

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