Academia vs. Industry

I went to the BCF career event last Thursday. It is the place to be if you are looking for jobs or new connections in life sciences, chemistry, food or pharma. Every company or recruitment agency has their own stand. You can get career advice and tips for your cv. There are also many presentations/discussions/workshops, and one of them got me thinking: ‘academia vs. industry’.

The four people on the stage shortly introduced themselves, after which the audience could ask questions about their career paths. Two of them are in academia: Renée van Amerongen (assistant professor with her own research group in cancer research at the University of Amsterdam) and Geert van de Bogaart (assistant professor, molecular biologist focusing on membrane trafficking related to cytokine release). The other two are in industry: Matthijn de Boer (research scientist at intravacc after doing a PhD and post doc) and Suvi Savola (head of tumour diagnostics at MRC-Holland after doing a PhD).

It should be clear that there is no right or wrong. Choosing academia or industry is a personal choice. What is best for you depends on what you are looking for in a job. Independence? Applications? Money? Philip Guo compares academia to industry for juniors (so no tenure track) in a STEM field (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), and describes which branch would ‘win’ for each category. Here is the summary I’ve copied from his article. To read the entire article, click here.

1.       Location flexibility – industry

2.       Time flexibility – academia

3.       Private office – academia

4.       Money – industry

5.       Coworker camaraderie – industry

6.       External credit – academia

7.       Directness of effort – industry

8.       Directness of impact – industry

9.       Sense of control – academia

10.   Independence – academia

Coming back to the BCF career event, there was one thing that immediately got my attention. All of the speakers on stage did a PhD, and 3 of them also did a post-doc. One of the questions asked was what kind of jobs in industry would be suitable for people holding a master degree. The answer given during the discussion was ‘In most cases a position as a technician or as a junior product developer. It’s a different story when you have connections within a company.’ While talking to people from different companies at the event I found out that there are companies who are not interested in people who have done a PhD or post-doc. Sometimes a PhD doesn’t even count as working experience; it’s simply an extension of your studies, an extra-long internship. To other companies people who have done a PhD/post-doc are overspecialised. So no, a PhD is not the only way to start a scientific career. Read more about some career paths without a PhD here. There are also companies looking for candidates with a PhD or post-doc specifically, so everything is possible depending on the company. 

One of the speakers working for a company mentioned that doing a PhD is a wise thing to do, since you develop a certain mind-set that will help you in the future. If you want to go into industry anyway, it is possible to do an industrial PhD or post-doc, where you spend time at the company and you will start to build up your network. They also mentioned it is NOT wise to mention you want to go into industry during your PhD interviews with people in academia. That is very unfair if you’d ask me. People in academia also know that there are not enough job openings for all PhD candidates to stay in academia. There is nothing wrong with choosing a non-academic career path after you finish a PhD. That doesn’t make you a less suitable candidate, less curious or less motivated to successfully finish your PhD. But hey, that’s just my opinion..

Is academia more innovative than industry? No. The speakers agreed that innovation happens at both sides, but it’s a different kind of innovation. Academia asks open questions, there is a lot of research freedom. Industry asks very specific ‘closed’ questions, but that doesn’t mean they are not innovative. A company eventually come up with products, while the ‘products’ of academia are concepts and publications. It is important for academia and industry to work together. Results from academia can be translated into applications by the industry. And industry might run into problems that need to be researched in detail by academia. The collaborations are very important.

It is true that there is less research freedom in industry. If you have a great idea, you have to convince the management of the company, because they decide where the money goes. It is possible that – at some point halfway into your project – the management decides to put more money into another project, and you will just have to deal with that. On the other hand, you don’t have to worry where the money comes from. If you want a career in academia you will have to do your own fundraising for the rest of your career. Starting in academia is already difficult; in the Netherlands you would need a Vidi or ERC grant, but after that you will have to keep applying for more grants. There is a lot of competition among researchers. Everything is about money, in both academia and industry.

Here are some more questions that were asked during the discussion session. Is the working culture in companies more formal compared to academia? Not necessarily. Small companies will most likely not be more formal than academia. Usually the bigger the company is, the more formal it gets. Are there opportunities to go abroad when you work for a company? Yes, that is certainly possible. Some companies have different establishments all over the world. Could working within a company also involve teaching? Not the kind of teaching you will find in academia, where it is on average 25% of your time. Teaching in industry will come down to supervising, whenever that is needed. For example, when students do their internships or when someone is doing an industrial PhD. Do you need extra skills/courses to go into land an industry job, like management? Not really. You will learn about many things on the way, like product development, work related to patents, etc. Compared to academia a job within a company is not so much in depth, but much broader. Is it possible to do a 100% industrial PhD? No, every PhD programme is connected to a university. Is it advisable to do a post-doc abroad before starting a career in academia? Yes, many people go abroad for a post-doc and it increases your chances of getting a grant, but don’t forget to keep in touch with your network. If you come back and you are not in touch with the people here you will find it very difficult to get grants. Is it possible to change your academic career into an industrial career, and vice versa? It is possible at the start of your career. It is not very advisable to change mid-career.

On a final note, here is a frustrating conversation I would like to share with you.

“I am interested to become a Clinical Project Manager”

“Okay, but you cannot just become a CPM, you need to have experience first, as a Clinical Trial Assistant for example. And to become a CTA you need to have a few years of relevant working experience as a Clinical Research Associate.”

“I am still interested. What are the job requirements for a CRA?”

“You need to have relevant working experience. Similar to the tasks you would do as a CRA.”

“Could you be more specific? What kind of jobs should I be looking for that are similar to CRA?”

“CRA in a different company”

“You just said I need relevant working experience to become a CRA in the first place. How do I get the working experience to begin with? Would a PhD involving clinical trials help?”

“No, a PhD is just an extension of your studies. It is similar to an internship. It is not relevant working experience.”

“But wouldn’t someone with a PhD and clinical field experience have a better chance?”

“No, it doesn’t count as working experience”

“Not even a better chance compared to someone with a PhD without field experience? Or someone without a PhD at all?”

“Yes, if you are going to make small distinctions like that you are right. But it is still not working experience”

Happy job hunt!