Ph.D Employment?

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?

Comments

Google

[Apreche]

Google hires a lot of doctors. Granted, most of them are doctors of CS. But still.

Go back and get an MBA

[foniksonik]

Go back to school and get an MBA as well... should only take you 3 years... then you can a) have an awesome number of jobs to pick from or b) start your own company and do what you really want to do.

Having an MBA and a PhD in EE will guarantee you plenty of funding for any idea you have. VCs and Traditional lenders will be knocking down your door to give you money.

Re:Go back and get an MBA

[foniksonik]

Sorry to tell you but I know first hand that if you have the right credentials and the right idea you can in fact get VCs to not only play ball but to put serious money down on something.

I spent 4 months in a 3 bedroom apartment working on presentations and demo software with 15 to 20 people in the first months of 2000 putting together a valid business plan for CMGI@Ventures, Benchmark Capital and Lightwave Venture Funds to get 13 million in funding for a software startup company...

Yes there was $600,000 Angel investment. Still that amount is not insurmountable by anyone with a legitimate idea with any amount of connection to the business industery whatsoever... and the MBA in the company got the Angel funding as well... an SBA loan would have done equally as well.

Within 1 months there was a very basic working demo of the software... 1 month more it was closer... 2 months more we got funding... 13 million... after I personally spent 2 months of 18 hour days going over data to put together the best presentations I could create at the time and all the founders spent even more time in conference rooms with the VCs going over ROI numbers and timelines. We moved into a 10,000 sq ft building and got down to some serious work. Since then there has been Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as funders... not too bad I'd say.

Yes.. the comment was superficial... nobody is knocking on your door... literally, but with even a little buzz they will be doing so metaphorically.

No... it is not impossible for you to get incredible attention for your idea if you actually know where to look and how to ask for said attention... and really that is what an MBA will get for you.

Having been through such an experience I forget that almost everyone else has not! Seeing the start of a 500 million dollar company from it's very humble beginnings to it's very honest success gives me confidence that anything is possible... sorry if the parent is jaded or needs salt with his meal....

All I know is that this startup had several PhDs whom couldn't get squat for funding on their own... and a Harvard MBA whom at age 26 could get 13 million using their credentials as collateral.

Imagine if either the MBA also had a PhD or at least one of the PhDs also had an MBA?

My doctorate is in Mechanical Engineering

[NVH Engr]

I have never worked in academia and have never seriously considered it, other than as a part time adjunct faculty member. Industry has a strong need for PhD's; you have to look hard and be somewhat creative to find the opportunities but they are there.

Earlier?

[Anonymous Coward]

>> 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?

Re:Earlier?

[PylonHead]

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.

heh

[jbellis]

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.

What's Your Background?

[David Greene]

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.

! job

[drDugan]

do not sell your mind. go do your own thing.

if you have a phd in engineering... stop. relax, take 6 months and THINK about what you want to do with the next 30 years of your life. Think really big. Got that? OK next take another 6 months and create a 5-year plan to make the first step of the 30-year plan work. then go do it. When it's done, repeat (but this time use 25, not 30)

Trust yourself. your ideas will be just as good as anyone else's, probably better. DO NOT go look for a job. you will be very disappointed.

in my case I worked 2 years, then 1 more, then started the above plan and I've never had a "job" since.

Thanks for your responses...

[dr_nik]

To be more specific, I have specialised in the area of wireless systems optimising high data rate systems at the physical layer. I also have experience in industry designing wireless products for a well-known company in North America. I am basically a 'radio-subsystem-guy'. I am also currently employed in what many here would consider a low paying job (making wages that are below industry standard for those interested in knowing). But I digress. My purpose in asking this question was to get an idea of what people with PhD's are doing these days. Is academia the preferred route these days or are EE's finding industry at the forefront of technology? As one poster said.. shouldn't I have thought about this before doing a PhD? The answer is NO. I did a PhD for the love of it, not because the market told me to do so. A PhD is never "SET FOR LIFE". Just like anybody else, we simply look for what challenges us most. Money is never the reason for doing a PhD. No one in their right mind would think of a PhD as a licence to print money. thank you and I look forward to your responses. regards, Dr. Nik