Should I stay or should I go? Staying in academia vs. going into industry.

There's a lot of chatter among ECRs about The Big Choice we all have to make: academia or private industry. Having worked in both sectors, I feel somewhat qualified to speak on the topic. First of all, it's not really The Big Choice that many early-career researchers think it is. The transition to industry is not in reality the one-way street many imagine it to be. I worked as a postdoc and then as an R&D scientist for a private company and then transitioned back to academia. Each time, it was the right choice. I don't regret taking a postdoc straight after my PhD. I don't regret going into industry for a few years and I don't regret coming back to academia. Some people's research careers are linear; my is more like a winding mountain path. Sometimes, the path seems to lead further away from my goal before turning a corner, sometimes the path slopes downward, away from the summit, and sometimes I stop on the path and just enjoy where I am.

The second consideration is the goals of academia and private industry. In private industry, the goal is, usually, profit. Your research must profit the company or, in the eyes of the company, it's not worth doing. The good thing about this is that if you can make a convincing business case for a new R&D venture, then you'll probably be allowed to do it.

The third consideration is money, both in terms of your own salary and funding available for research. I've often heard my US colleagues say that industry pays far better than academia. Clearly, that is generally true in the US. However, in my own experience in Australia was the reverse. My salary increased ~20 % when I returned to academia from industry (even more when you consider the increase in retirement contributions; Australian universities contribute 17.5 % on top of your base salary to your retirement savings). In terms of funding for research, it is much tighter in academia compared to industry, in my experience. You'll also have to fight harder for it in academia; there are so many academics out there with good ideas and outstanding track records and only a limited pot of money to fund research.

The fourth and, I think, the most important consideration is what you value. If you value increasing the world's stock of knowledge with a vague idea that somewhere down the track someone might find a practical use for the knowledge you've generated, then academia is probably the place for you. Conversely, if you value doing research that leads to direct tangible benefits (for your company or society more broadly), then private industry is probably right for you. I say probably because in the right academic institution or private company, you can build a career that has a nice balance of basic and applied research.

So, there you go. Four things to consider when making The Big Choice - even if it turns out to be only a Mid-Sized Choice.

Productivity Tips: Knowing How You Spend Your Time

In research, productivity has become increasingly important. Our time is precious because when it comes to getting new positions or promotions, the main thing we'll be judged on is our research output. To be sure, our teaching and service contributions will also be considered, but research is still king in most institutions. Something that has bothered me for several years is that I never have a good understanding of where my time is actually spent. At the end of each day, I have a vague idea that I have spent a few hours on this project and a couple of hours on that, but never any concrete way of keeping track of how my time is spent over a week or a month. For me, this often created an anxious background feeling that I should probably be working on something other than the project on which I was currently working! Not a nice way to spend my working hours. The other problem that this lack of accurately tracking my time caused was that I was never sure how long particular activities would take. For example, even after doing protein extraction in the lab multiple times, I still found myself unable to predict how long it would take me to perform the next batch of protein extractions and I would often find myself in the lab way later than I intended.

I wanted to solve these two problems that stemmed from a lack of accurately tracking the time it took for my work activities. For me, the solution came in the form of an app, which allows me to track how much time I'm spending on different projects. The particular app I use currently is Toggl Track. I am really enjoying it so far. It's nice to know that 33 % of my work time this week has been devoted to writing grant applications. I'm looking forward to seeing how my time is spent over the course of this month and this year and then adjusting my work habits if anything seems off. 

How about you? Do you find it difficult the predict how long tasks are going to take? Or do you have a vague feeling that you're not spending enough time on some projects? How do you manage these things?