We have seen so far what are the key options for academic jobs after doing a Ph.D. Now let’s see what other opportunities there is outside academia.
Research Lab – Research Lab or Laboratory is one of the major destinations for Ph.D. degree holders. There are plenty of research labs, public or private, whose big task is to discover something new with time behind the research.
The American Government has many National Labs – these are extremely prestigious and famous places. Such as Los Alamos National Lab, Lawrence Berkeley Lab, Aragon National Lab, Oak Ridge National Lab, Pacific-Northwest National Lab and so on. In these labs, there are various scientific studies. That’s why researchers and scientists with Ph.D. degrees have the opportunity to work. The benefits of the National Lab are the reputation – each National Lab is an internationally renowned institution. And the job security here is good too. Since there is no business lab, there are many basic research opportunities. The disadvantage is that in some labs there is a lot of secret research done, only the citizen or a permanent resident of the green card can work. But there are also non-classified / secret jobs.
Apart from the National Lab, there are reputed laboratories of various universities or other institutes. Many of us know the names of Bell Labs, but there are basic research institutes like Microsoft Research, IBM Research, and so on. The advantage of these places is that good quality research can be done with very good researchers. An intern is available to help with summer. However, two places do not actually do the research that way – the company has to do things that benefit. (I have heard that Microsoft Research or IBM Research has once had the option to work arbitrarily, but now it has decreased).
The benefits of working in a research lab include better pay, various benefits – such as the company’s infrastructure and the opportunity to work on data. The disadvantages are that I said, instead of doing things voluntarily, it is often necessary to work in the interests of the company. Many times, research cannot be published until a patent is obtained. The research labs were not trimmed at one time, but many labs have closed due to poor economic conditions.
Industry – Ph.D. degree holders can work in engineers or other positions in various companies. Like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, many people work outside the research labs in the development area. Personally, I think that joining a job that is possible after doing a Ph.D. is actually a waste of time – a lot of research needs to be done, but it can be seen that under the non-PhD boss or manager, those things are going on. It doesn’t matter who has the degree or the history of the company’s job, who can work. Ph.D. degree holders do not receive any additional benefits for this.
However, the benefit of this class work is that there is no headache other than development. So after returning home, I did not worry about the work, I did not have to worry about teaching. Salary is also good in many cases. Holiday / benefits / stock options are all there. But the figure of wages is really misleading – even if California costs $ 2 million a year at a high cost, but it actually costs less than the state’s $ 5,000 payroll job – the cost of living is well over 3,000.
Anyway – this is one of the ways of employment in America after getting a Ph.D. If you have questions please comment. I apologize in advance for the fact that I cannot answer a single job on a career outside of being a science and engineering man.
Thank you!
Credit for this article goes to Ragib Hassan.
