Does CS research topic affect job prospects?

[ponylevel]

Hi all,

I have a question. Say we take an identical set of candidates, all who receive a PhD in Computer Science from the same program, all with identical credentials EXCEPT for their research topic (i.e. one's topic is networks, another theory, and another HCI). If these candidates opt to go for the industry route instead of academic, how important is the actual topic they picked (NOT how well they researched it, assume they all published papers in equally ranked conferences) in finding a job?

Specifically, say these candidates were looking to get a job at a consulting company. How much would the company care about research topic, over and above that it's a CS degree?

My question is because I am considering potentially pursuing a highly unconventional topic in which very few people are doing research (both academic and industrial) but that I am interested in. Does this hamper non-academic job prospects?

[ponylevel]

BUMPITY BUMP

[Azazel]

If you want an industry job as a software engineer, I don't think it matters. Write good code (and pass interviews) and companies will be happy to hire you. No one will care much about your research (e.g. all those PhDs who go to google don't work in their former research area).

If you want an industry research position, then of course it matters more. The key question here is: does your research have an industrial application? I'm pretty sure some companies hire all sorts of researchers (e.g. you can probably work in almost anything at MSR) but in general I don't know the ratios. A priori, HCI or networks would seem a safer bet.

You have other options, too. You could become chief scientist at some smaller technical startup, or a data scientist ("big data" is popular), CTO, etc. These positions often require a scientific background and credentials (and networking!), but in most cases your research isn't directly relevant.

So I'd say do what you're interested in if you can get it funded. You'll probably do better work. And unless you have very specific career goals, I wouldn't worry too much about a job.

[ssk2]

Just to add to Azazel's post - our company does a lot of 'big data'. One of the most useful skills to have with that is a good understanding of statistics - something which I'm guessing nearly all forms of academic research will involve. We have a PhD on our team who did his PhD in machine learning - he's very valuable to the team because of his extremely good knowledge of stats. It's not so much the subject you did as the skills you learn.