May 25, 2016
What were your biggest challenges moving from academia to a commercial role?
The currencies are different in the two worlds. To be successful in academia you need to publish your work in prestigious journals and your work needs to be relevant to other researchers so they cite you in their own publications. In the corporate world practical skills are much more important. So the biggest challenges are to acquire the skill sets that companies seek and have evidence of demonstrating these.
How do the skills you’ve used in both positions differed?
Critical thinking, meticulous preparation and analytical skills are key in academia. In industry communication and interpersonal skills are equally important as you have to work with other stakeholders who usually have a vastly different background.
Everyone says the pace is much slower in academia. What are your thoughts?
In many cases 20% of the work gets you 80% of the way. In the commercial world these 80% are often sufficient for educated decision making, which in turn enables agile development with high velocity.
In academia you have to go all the way to prove your hypothesis. Thus the last 20% take 80% of your time and therefore the throughput is much slower.
The general perception is that academics are trained to look for the Needle in haystack, hardest problem first and that’s not necessarily useful for a commercial company focussed on profits and speed of delivery. How would you respond to this?
Being trained to take on hard problems can be an advantage if solving these problems gives your company the competitive advantage. It only becomes an issue when it is taken on without any cost-benefit analysis.
What advice would you give other employers with the above perception?
If your company thrives on speed of delivery then motivating your company’s strategic goals during the on boarding process is key. Agile product development often contains challenges around every corner, which easily gets their mind excited and focused. It’s up to the manager to make that happen.
How do the salaries compare between Academia and Commercial?
Postdocs are fairly well paid in Australia. However, if you have specialized in a very competitive and trending field, like data science, you can double your salary by going commercial in the long run.
What advice would you give to other academics trying to break into a commercial role?
If you intent to break into a commercial role have a look at job description in your targeted career and start acquiring the necessary skill set during your academic studies. If, for example, programming skills are required then demonstrate your skills by making your software publicly available on Github, so potential employers can discover you. Sharpen your skill-set. There is heaps of online courses available to fill the gaps. If you are into data there is no way around a decent degree of statistical knowledge and SQL skills. Also, attend meet-ups and industry conferences to grow your network. LinkedIn and similar social networks can be very helpful too.
What advice would you give employers hiring someone out of academia in terms of support they will need to offer?
One of the many challenges that academics face is their lack of training and experience. Academics have rarely been trained in project management nor have they been exposed to agile development environments. It is important to get everybody aligned on the project requirements, milestones and especially the timelines. Buddy them up with a team member or project manager and make sure they are engaged with the current development cycle. However, academics can bring unique skill sets or perspective that, in my opinion, makes it worth while to train them up.
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