academia vs industry

[spectastic]

For those of you who know about faculty research vs industrial R&D, what are the key differences? To me, it seems like that faculty members' jobs are completely integrated into their lives. When they're off work, they're not really off work. They're keeping up with literature, revising grants, answering emails and such. On the other hand, R&D researchers are done when they clock out. They're not constantly under the pressure to publish, get grants approved, putting pressure on students. Is this a correct assessment? 

[jacket24]

Well the most obvious distinction would be the teaching factor. Professors are generally expected to manage some degree of course instruction whereas their industrial counterparts would not have this expectation.

 

Also, and this is just my general sense so others please correct me if I'm wrong, R&D tends to focus on more specialized problems relevant to a particular company or field's operation whereas academic researchers apply for funding based on their own interests and can have either a "basic research" or "applied research" focus.

[Infimae]

Industrial R&D is WAY faster paced, because you will be working on actual, real-world products or solutions. You don't have the pampering that is a university lab schedule; you have deadlines that you have to meet, or else you jeopardize your company's products, and ultimately you own standing in the company. If you end up working for a big engineering company that gets results it is pretty much the antithesis of working in the ivory tower. Trust me, even though you don't have to work for grants and handle students, you have VERY high pressure to perform well on the job. That is especially true if you are in an entry-level position; your work schedule will typically go well beyond 5 pm and sometimes on weekends.

 

If your ideal work day is one in which you can leave sooner than 4 pm and have weekends to your self, stick with academia. In industry, you have to perform because you won't be sitting on a fat pile of research funds that you can spend at your own leisurely pace. I commonly see professors and postdocs leaving school/work very early, although that is not always the case. 

 

Obviously your experience in industry will vary depending on the company. From what I can tell you from experience though, working for certain companies can be absolutely brutal; graduate school feels like total cakewalk by comparison.

Edited October 4, 2014 by Infimae