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.
