does grad school count as work experience?

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

I'm wrapping up undergrad and starting a master's program this upcoming Fall. Since I'm switching fields and diving into a rather rare field for grad school, I was curious about job opportunities. I started looking up job opportunities for my future degree (computational linguistics). Lots of the jobs I found required a "MS or PhD in Computer Science or Computational Linguistics and X number of years experience in Natural Language Processing or Artificial Intelligence (grad school counts)". Some of them included "grad school counts" as experience. I was wondering if this is common. I know a lot of people finish their PhD while they've never really not been in school. Meaning they went straight from high school to undergrad and undergrad to PhD. Technically, once these people get their PhD they have zero real-world work experience. So I would assume the work they did in grad school counts. I was just curious. A lot of people tell me I shouldn't pursue a PhD if I don't want to stay in academia, but if pursuing a PhD will help me gain "work experience" then it could still be useful to jumping into the job market. Anyway, so as I was saying, does grad school count as experience? 

[TheGirlWhoLived]

I would say it counts if you are a TA or RA. I mean, you are working for the school.. Some people choose to teach classes as well, which I would definitely think counts.

[Munashi]

I imagine this varies by field and would also depend on what you do while you're in grad school.  In my field, a lot of people end up with industry experience through required internships etc. as part of their program, so you do end up with "real experience" in addition to the fancy degrees.

 

But hell, in general?  I'd say it counts.

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

Yeah, good points, both of you. See, I'm transitioning from a social science/liberal art to a hard science field so I have no non-school experience when it comes to this field. A year and a half ago, I had no programming experience and very little math background and just had a linguistics BA, before pursuing a computer science minor. Now, I'll be starting a one-year computational linguistics MS that is very programming-intensive. Most of the jobs in this field require a computational linguistics OR computer science background and a lot of programming experience. Since I've just made the transition, I obviously don't have work experience at any tech companies. My overall career goal is to do something not in academia, but I do really enjoy school and would be very interested in pursuing a PhD. A lot of people tell me a PhD isn't needed for a programming career, but if it'll help me gain experience and allow me to take classes in areas that I'm lacking in, I would much prefer to stay in academia for another 4 years. My MS has an option to continue on to the PhD. I'd love to do that instead of going right into the job market. I also feel like I wouldn't be qualified enough to go right into the job market since my MS is so short and I'm coming in as a newbie to the field. 

[GandalfTheGrey]

If employers are looking for experience in NLP, I would think that grad school would count if it gave you that experience and you can demonstrate sufficient competency in it. It seems silly to get a PhD just for "work experience" (but if it genuinely interests you, then go for it). You might even be able to convince employers that your different undergrad degree is a strength - maybe you gained writing experience or something else that would get your foot in the door in a related position while you gain more experience with NLP. You might also be able to take additional classes as a non-degree student to bolster your experience after you graduate. Does UW have a career office that would be able to help you with your questions?

 

And from one linguist to another, welcome to the dark side. =). Good luck!

[Vene]

From what I've seen in my field education can count as work experience if and only if you have a higher degree than the posting requires. So, if you have a MS and the posting wants a BS, you have 2-3 years of experience.

[soylatte5]

go for the phd if you are genuinely interested in getting it whether you plan on staying in academia or not. in my field, school counts towards work experience depending on how you present the skills you've gained whether though class projects or thesis. i labeled my experience section as research experience rather than work since i wasn't paid to do most of them and organized them by projects. if you do end up going for the phd, it's highly likely you'll be working on various research projects throughout your time so you should be able to put all that on paper. 

 

i suggest getting an internship or 2 (free/paid) while completing your masters, whether you're doing a thesis project or not. it could potentially help you decide whether you really want or need to go for the phd (in my case, i realized i need the doctorate to get where i want to be professionally after interning/working post-masters).

[juilletmercredi]

It depends on the job. Technically, grad school doesn't count as work experience - it's not the same.  However, some jobs will allow you to substitute education for experience.  I would say that unless the job says otherwise, graduate school doesn't actually count as years of experience.

However, many people work during graduate school.  I don't count grad school as experience, but I DO count my research assistantship as experience.

[themmases]

I agree with juilletmercredi-- grad school isn't work experience. However, an assistantship probably is. While some jobs treat education and experience similarly, it's more common to see an allowance made for people without a degree than without experience, i.e. "Requirements: MS in Field Y, Field  X, or equivalent experience." This is often on top of stuff like "5 years experience with software Z and process A."

 

At least in my field, I often see advice to get some kind of office or clinical setting experience (depending where you'll be working), even if it's not otherwise relevant. This is basically to show that you know how to behave as an employee, i.e. familiarity with being reliable, email etiquette, and realizing that a certain amount of boring bullshit is not beneath you. You might be surprised how many new grads don't know this stuff, and how much it can help you.

[Sigaba]

I'm wrapping up undergrad and starting a master's program this upcoming Fall. Since I'm switching fields and diving into a rather rare field for grad school, I was curious about job opportunities. I started looking up job opportunities for my future degree (computational linguistics). Lots of the jobs I found required a "MS or PhD in Computer Science or Computational Linguistics and X number of years experience in Natural Language Processing or Artificial Intelligence (grad school counts)". Some of them included "grad school counts" as experience. I was wondering if this is common. I know a lot of people finish their PhD while they've never really not been in school. Meaning they went straight from high school to undergrad and undergrad to PhD. Technically, once these people get their PhD they have zero real-world work experience. So I would assume the work they did in grad school counts. I was just curious. A lot of people tell me I shouldn't pursue a PhD if I don't want to stay in academia, but if pursuing a PhD will help me gain "work experience" then it could still be useful to jumping into the job market. Anyway, so as I was saying, does grad school count as experience? 

 

The following is based upon my experiences working at the R&D lab of a multinational consumer/business electronics company and at a structural engineering consultancy.

• Graduate school can count as experience when those doing the hiring go through resumes and make the first or second cut.
• Graduate school can also count as experience when an applicant gets hired and those making the offer are trying to figure out an adequate level of compensation.
• Graduate school can also count as experience when management is figuring out potential career paths for a new hire.
• However, as has been noted, graduate school will probably not count as actual work experience when it comes to delegating a new hire authority to manage people, projects, and resources. 

Your experiences as a graduate student has the potential to work against you. Your employees and colleagues may well conclude that you have limited "real world" experience and take you less seriously than they otherwise might/should/could. On the other hand, they may assume that since you're very well educated, you should be able to do your job with a minimal amount of training.

 

A way you could potentially square the circle is to take courses that will help you in the workplace. For example, if your program requires you to do an outside field and UW has a business school, you might take classes in project management or technical writing.

 

IRT your goal of earning a Ph.D., I recommend patience. Wait until you have some work experience (gained during your time in your master's program or after) in your chosen field before making the decision. You may find that your industry has a counter-intuitive bias against people with doctorates, and the issues may be beyond your control once you have the doctorate in hand. You may find that there's a greater need in your industry for individuals with skills learned in a business school. You may find that you're simply exhausted and that you want to do some work and earn some money while taking a break from the Ivory Tower.