Between completing my undergraduate degree and master's degree, I have gained some perspective on choosing between the "ivory tower of academia" and industry. Over the last three years of my career, I have explored both sides of the argument.

In undergrad and grad, I worked between two distinct companies: one with a more traditional approach to management and workflow not involving total quality training/oversight initiatives, and another that did nearly the opposite in every regard to the former; I have witnessed (and been on the receiving end of) bad and good guidance during the day; I have seen infrastructure that is archaic and not up with the times, to one that is ahead of the curve with upcoming technologies; and I have had experiences where I got discouraged or could not wait to get on the job, respectively. In short, I have seen the best and worst of one avenue of industry, as I'm sure there are many others with varying experiences for employees. That said, I was able to gain much-needed experience within both of those roles, all contributing to my progress positively in the sense of prioritizing what I do best. More importantly, I got to know many brilliant minds with whom I maintain contact to this day, helping me to find my best professional fit.

In terms of academics, I find that studying further into my specialties has given me a more intimate understanding of what goes into what I have learned during my undergraduate career, namely in terms of ethics, designing/modeling products, management, and many more subjects. I have gained a greater appreciation for these subjects and have noticed their effectiveness in the fields I have worked in thus far. Furthermore, this has enabled me to establish crucial connections within the faculty and industry that will help me advance professionally (i.e., being recommended for and becoming a graduate TA and using my experience to enrich the learning experience for those whom I was only recently in the shoes of). 

While I'm currently in a flexible area of my career, I can summarize the two arguments as such: the individual as a "peg" can make themselves fit in a specific "hole" or more in industry, or they can create the hole themselves (and for others, if they decide to teach) in academia, potentially even influencing industry to add those holes.

Ever since I have entered my undergraduate study, I have always been interested in working in the industry after graduation. I personally do not find the list of professions in academia to be what I want to do. With academia, I honestly cannot see myself in those professions since there are not the most fulfilling roles I would take on. The professions in industry are more my cup of tea. I agree that with working in the industry, you would be able to get the hands-on experience of working at a company. To me, that is where you would be able to test your knowledge and put your skills into practice with, for example, developing a prototype or medical device.

During my senior year of undergrad, I got the opportunity to develop a prototype for our senior project, as well as work on creating a simulation and incorporating a haptic device with a team during the summer. That is where I found out that I quite enjoy this type of work. This gave me a little taste of what is to be expected in the industry with it being deadline oriented and fast paced. These factors are definitely challenges, but I believe that is what drives us to work hard and to hone our skills. In that type of work environment, I like to see what I am fully capable of doing and how much I can improve or what I can do better after each assignment or task received. I know it would be difficult with there being fewer projects and sometimes you are on your own to complete your given task, but that gives us a sense of independence to see what you are capable of doing. I also see there being more career opportunities, advancement, and professional growth compared to academia.

My career goals lie with bio robotics and simulation, and I believe working in the industry would be able to help me achieve my goals and expand further. I find that to be the starting point and as I keep working within the industry, I would be able to tackle on more difficult tasks and get trained on something different related to my specialty. There are also more job diversity positions, such as research scientists, engineer, project management, marketing, etc.

@knm7 As an undergrad student pursing a master's degree in biomedical engineering with the hope of working in the industry, I really appreciate this post. From a student perspective, I feel like taking courses stresses the deadline aspect of projects and assignments rather than the details and reaching standards. In my mind, the industry shares the same characteristic of detail orientation as the academia world. From my experience of working in a lab, every time I presented a design there could always be a slight detail that could be improved, some that I would have not thought of myself. But trying to see it from an industry perspective where deadlines are a big part of projects, I think it's important to acquire the skill of being able to notice small details and mistakes that could be improved on your own and anticipate future suggestions or problems that can arise. To me, I think that when you're working in the industry, you have a lot less time to continually get feedback on your project and have others find mistakes. Overall, your insight is very helpful about detail orientation and to further the point I think anticipating suggestions to make improvements in the medical device development industry could also be a good skill to have.

I personally have always wanted to go into industry. When I was in undergrad, I considered pursuing a PhD, but even if I did follow through with continuing my education, I knew that my career goals were more closely aligned with industry rather than academia. For my senior project, I had the opportunity to develop a new medical device, beginning with research and design inputs and carrying it through prototyping, verification, and validation. The project mirrored the structure of an industrial medical device development process, and I thoroughly enjoyed every stage. It was very rewarding to watch a concept evolve into a tangible product, and this experience solidified my desire to pursue a career in industry.

To succeed in industry, I believe it’s important to be collaborative, detail oriented, comfortable working under leadership and with set deadlines, and committed to the mission of the company. These qualities align well with my strengths, as I thrive in structured environments with clear goals and deadlines. Industry offers the opportunity to contribute directly to the development of innovative products that improve patient outcomes, which is where I see myself making the greatest impact.

One major requirement for academia is being comfortable with teaching and mentoring students. While I would be comfortable training others in an industrial setting, classroom teaching has never been something I felt drawn to, which ultimately confirmed that academia was not the right path for me.

I personally did not enjoy working in research-based fields simply because it lacked a solid foundation. I always felt that if something went wrong it would be difficult to pivot and move forward, but I think it is a lot more interesting than working in industry. Industry you are able to work on various projects and move around as you need, but research there is usually a main focus and that will be the goal until it is complete, but that could take an exceptionally long time. I think as someone that does not know how to think to creatively, research seemed always more difficult to me because from my experience working in the lab, I felt that it was about constantly pivoting, and you were just trying one new thing after another, and it was never confirmed if it would work. While industry you have a lot of foundation already for you to use and it is simply about adapting that concept to work for the current project, especially when comparing a very niche subject in research. I also did not enjoy the fact that working in academia you are forced to simply be dependent on the grants and if those grants were done you are left stranded. A paper I read mentioned that this dependence on grants makes it hard for people to actually put out papers of importance because they are focused on keeping people happy to ensure the flow of funding is continuous, so that can truly deter people from producing work that is actually worthy of being published. 

I very much prefer working in industry over working in a lab because I think it gives me a bit more freedom to switch if I wish, but I can get the opportunity to change to something completely different if I want to change careers. A lot of the times people do not even use their degree and go into a path that is completely different, so I think that I would like to have that freedom. 

@ag2357 Hi, I feel the same way about academic research as well. I have joined many labs to hopefully get my name on publications, but a lot of the work I do is usually for grant writing. Even though I learn a lot through working on collecting data for the grant proposals, I feel a lot of the work goes unrecognized in comparison to being able to push out a publication. However, every field has its pros and cons, and grant writing is even more necessary with the recent budget cuts from the government. This makes grants even more competitive, and this also makes grant writing drive the direction of research in many labs, instead of the science itself. Funding needs to be secured, so labs may be forced to prioritize "fundable" projects instead of more innovative ones. Do you think this makes research more efficient by filtering for viability, or does it risk narrowing the scope of discovery?

For me, this is especially relevant as I’ll be pursuing my MD next year. I'm not really sure if industry would come in during my schooling, but in the future, I can work as a physician in industry if I desire. This will allow me to bring a comprehensive medical knowledge set into the industry, possibly leading to more effective product ideas or management. I have also come to learn that I really enjoy computational academic research, which is where my BME degree comes in. How have you managed to balance research and a demanding career path? 

It's really fascinating reading about everyone's experiences, expectations and reality when considering either academia or industry work. Personally, and I feel this is resonating with everyone else, I would like to work in the industry and get hands on experience. With the way I learn, hands on training and working in the field is what my current goal is after finishing my undergrad and graduate courses. I'll be learning a lot more once I begin my senior project this semester, but I think one of the avenues I'm approaching is working for the Veteran's Administration at one of their medical centers. I'd like to get hands on work with their medical devices or find a way to put myself in the position to assist with research into certain ailments, especially since these centers are populated with a wide variety of individuals with an even wider range of disabilities (myself included). Even if I don't find myself in that position or specific area, I'd still like to find myself doing something similar.

I will say, when it comes to academia, I think the one thing I would not mind teaching is how to perform certain jobs or operate equipment. I don't think that would qualify as academia, but I used to work with a multitude of tactical radio equipment that I became very proficient with and would have to frequently teach hundreds of individuals how to operate and maintain the gear. In this way, I think I also wouldn't mind doing that when it comes to teaching how to handle medical equipment or materials. 

NCarrillo, you mentioned focusing on specialties gave you a greater better understanding: do you mean specialty in terms of biomaterials, biomechanics or medical devices/imaging? Or more so just specific jobs, position, etc. in your experience of work?

I think both academia and industry have valuable but very different paths. Academia appeals to those who enjoy discovery, problem-solving, and contributing knowledge through research, often in a structured environment where publishing and mentoring are emphasized. On the other hand, industry focuses more on applying research to create products, strategies, and solutions that can directly impact patients and healthcare markets.

Personally, I see myself leaning more toward industry because I enjoy the idea of working on tangible products and collaborating across different teams to bring a device from concept to market. I think a key trait for industry is adaptability because projects often shift based on business goals, regulations, or customer needs. For academia, persistence and curiosity seem essential, since research can be long-term, uncertain, and highly detail driven.

In my experience, I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside highly knowledgeable colleagues who suggested improvements or modifications to my projects that I would not have considered on my own. I truly enjoy learning from individuals who have expertise in areas where I lack experience.

In short, I would likely choose industry for professional growth, hands-on experience, and exposure to new and impactful knowledge. My question to the group is: do you think there comes a point when it becomes difficult or impractical to transition between industry and academia?