If someone wanted to work in academia I would say academia is very research oriented and allows for great opportunities to discover new things and maybe even travel the world to share your knowledge. At the same time for academia, job security could be dependent on whether or not you are able to get funding for your research, but in the same vein, this means you are also in charge of your own work. In addition, you are expected to write a lot in this field while juggling with internal politics and multiple projects at the same time. Its a lot of backbreaking work, but it pays off towards the end since people working in academia have tenure, benefits, and not as strict schedules as their counterparts in industry.
If someone wanted to work industry I would say it is a fast paced business orientated kind of field; however the pay is mostly high and could be rewarding since employment is based one's own merit, so doing a good job is necessary. The scheduling in industry is tight, but unlike a person in academia, an industry person will not have to as much research and will be expected to do more "hands-on" work. In addition, an industry person will have fewer projects than a person in academia, so the load will not few as heavy. The traveling in industry is also a bit different in that it is limited to conference rooms and going outside for lunch. Overall, if someone likes to research and do things at his or her own pace then academia is probably the appropriate field for him or her; otherwise, industry may be the right fit.
Based on my experience of working in both side of the field I will say they both have their pros and cons, it depend on the individuals what kind of career they want for them self. If I have to compare both side of the field based on the Merits then I will simply say job in the industry is fast pace and competitive you have to be on top of your game. Definitely the industry job pays way better then academia. Their is no job security in industry job, if you don't perform you get kicked out or if they don't need you are job less. If you are like me who wan't their career move forward fast and seeking for opportunity all the time then Industry is the most rewarding side. On the other hand academia is slow peace, their is no particular deadline for the projects. After years of research you might get a publication and again it depends on your projects so the career growth is really slow. The pay is not that good on this side for couple of years when you start you career but after you get Tenured you are set for your life, no one can fire you unless you get arrested for felony, so the job security is amazing on this side. Basically you can come to work at 10am and leave at 12pm after teaching your class and you are good no one can fire, also you don't have to do research you can just teach and leave.
At this point in my life based on my career need's I will definitely consider going to industry to get more experience of the field and most important Industry will give me a ton of opportunities to apply my book knowledge to build a real life products.
Outside of of the pros of industry salary and academia tenure, I would argue that there are certain pros and cons with the type of people and personalities you can expect to work with in industry and academia.
I believe many people in industry, especially upper management, is very "Type A". These are your people who like to compete, need to have a set plan and prioritize, and take careful consideration of time management. When you are in industry, upper management tends to have this type of personality possible because of the sense of urgency of meeting deadlines, product launches, and satisfying stakeholders. I think the pro here is that, because of their driven competitive nature, these people are highly likely to succeed and if you are on a team that is led by this type of personality you can expect to accomplish what your goals are. The con here is that sometimes these people are very hard to work with because, from my experience, they tend to be stubborn.
From my time doing research as an undergraduate, I found that professors who are conducting research are more so "Type B". These are your laid back, go with the flow, low stress people. This isn't to say some professors aren't "Type A" or a combination of the two, but professors are more concerned about grant money. They tend to move toward a "Type B" personality especially after becoming tenured. I think the pro here is that, working in academia isn't as high stakes/job on the line as compared to industry. Because of this, there is wider margin of error, and you can be wrong on more than one occasion (Ex. Research fails and lost money) and still keep your job. Therefore, I believe this tends to lead to that "Type B" personality that academia offers. The con here is that, from my experience, with these teams, things can move slowly and its a lot of trial and error.
Academia v/s Industry.
Academia is a place of trial and error. We will learn much by doing lot of mistakes. Although you work on a research topic for more than a year there are higher possibility that it is of no use due to some reasons. Failures are generally high in academia when compared to Industry. But despite the learning opportunity is tremendously high for the people in academia. One should grow themselves in academia because no deadlines are given by any authority. So academia is a place where one can gain an immense amount of knowledge by personal efforts.
Whereas in Industry all projects are taken in to consideration regarding their success. Only if there is a higher possibility of success then the projects are proceeded. So, this is not a place for trial and error and since they have a perfect deadlines, efficient performance will be done. Individual development will be indirectly initiated by the industry or a company and thus the individual achieve their challenges. So Industry is a place where experience of outside world and knowledge will grew simultaneously.
While I have not had experience in academia, I prefer the workforce of industry. I see how industry has a direct influence on helping the general public, by creating a device that will increase someone's quality of life and in some cases even save their life. While it takes intense research to get to that point, the end-goal for research and development in industry is a marketable and usable product. In terms of academia, the end product may be a paper which will inspire someone further or shed light on a topic that is misunderstood. However, it does not directly result in a project to help the general public.
In the debate of academia vs industry, I have been fortunate enough to say that I have had experience in both. Personally, my experience in academia lasted a total of just over two years and I really enjoyed the relaxed schedule and friendly atmosphere. However, after 2 years the project I was working on was scrapped because the lead professor wanted to peruse a different direction to better allocate limited resources. Luckily, by that time I had moved on to grad school because I would have been pretty disappointed (personally) to see all my hard work disregarded in front of me. My industrial experience from both pharma and a medical device company was significantly more fast paced, goal, and deadline oriented. I immediately saw my work and efforts advance my team closer towards the overall goal and deadline so there was more imminent satisfaction.
As akshayakirithy stated above, if you are the type of person (like myself) that likes to see the project they work on advance and immediately see impact of their work, then industry is most likely more suited for you. In my case, I both take great pride in my successes and painfully learn from my failures so I would not be well suited long term for an academic setting where failure are more common. However if a more patient and understanding individual wants to work in academia, they would enjoy a more flexible schedule and benefit from being able to direct their studies more towards their interest and not restrained to those ideas most profitable or with the greatest chance of success.
There are many differences one has to consider when deciding what career path to choose. I am not too exposed to the aspects of the industry field, but I have been exposed to research for about 3 years. An academic field is much more flexible, being able to come in at any time and finishing up experiments. However, the experiments do take some time to finish, and results are often never perfect. The rewards are that much more meaningful, however, when they are due. Patience is the key in this field since it takes a lot of time until results are shown, and benefits can finally be reaped. Research is always changing as well. It is not as routine as a job in industry. A lot of improvisation is needed in this field, which makes it much more exciting.
From my knowledge of industry job, I understand that it is much less flexible. Working as a phlebotomist, I was required to work from 8 am to 4 pm every day. However, I know that after working for some time, routine jobs become much more comfortable and allows you to perfect a certain skill set necessary for the job. Unlike jobs in academia, it also allows for promotions and working your way to the top of the field. It pushes you to work harder in order to be recognized and climb the ladder. An industry job also gives you much more experience working with other fields and interacting with much more people than those in an academic field.
In either case, the person can grow in either setting and can prefer either based on their preference and also their personality. Both can be rewarding in their aspects, and both require work and effort in order to make the experience meaningful.
I had an internship in Industry and there were a lot of perks, good pay, and ability for growth to move up. However on a day-to-day basis you were really only expected to follow the SOPs and record keep as appropriate.
On the non-profit side, there is a more flexible culture where creativity and change are a little more accepting. I found myself finding problems and people supported my solutions to make things better. On the industry side it was more of traditional attitude of well this is how we do things and just follow the SOPs and do your job.
There are pros and cons to both as many have mentioned. Like Scott pointed out- things like personality can be a factor. Maybe you like to have SOPs and follow them and be done for the day and aren't necessarily looking to change anything. Maybe you would like a more flexible work environment and aren't concerned as much about the salary.
Working in academia has quite a few benefits. First, there's a certain satisfaction that comes with developing new research and technology and disseminating ideas in an academic setting. Also, there is greater time flexibility and access to a broader field and other highly intelligent minds and university resources.
Working in industry offers higher wages and a more structured career. Often times the funding is more focused, and there is a company vision and mission that can be a better fit than a university mission.
I definitely agree that time flexibility is a significant advantage of Academia. Industry, of course, pays better, but it is important to note that pay and advancements depend on your work being noticed, and your efforts may not be acknowledged if you are not good at marketing yourself (i.e. others can sometimes end up taking credit). This is true for academia as well, but presents itself in different ways, and is highly dependent on the individual workplace.
One advantage that may not be considered as often is ease of switching. Academia and Industry both have internal turnover, but I do believe it is generally easier for an industry worker to switch to academia than the other way around. As such, it can be said that industry provides greater choices. On the flip side, of course, Academia provides greater security (tenure), which makes this a classic choice between safety vs. flexibility.
In the end, it's hard to say one is superior. Individual personalities will prefer what fits them best.
I think the differences between working in an academic setting and working in an industry can be compared in two ways: a. efficiency and productivity and b.creativity-and-time-limitation. While working in an industry, one is required to be accountable for every minute that is spent at the work place. Industry puts emphasis on efficiency and productivity as the individual is being billed for all the time spent at the company working on a particular project or a client. This in turn creates pressure to perform and to also show tangible results as the pay per hour is considerably and very rightfully high as compared to academia. While in an academic setting, although results are definitely important, there is less pressure to perform without making mistakes which gives room for trial and error and creativity. Creativity in terms of devising new strategies to experiment without being highly criticized for its usability and effectiveness.
The primary difference between academia and industry is the route to success and the degree to which work is structured. When it comes to the route to success, industry typically defines it as bring a product to market that is profitable and innovative. In academia, success is usually defined via the acquisition of funding and generating substantial papers. Industry looks at success in terms of profit and market share. Academia looks at success in terms of developing new ideas and uncovering deeper knowledge. Additionally, work in the industry is highly structured. At the highest levels there is innovation and a bit of "freestyling," but the vast majority of positions in any major company involved strictly adhering to SOPs and procedure to ensure quality of the products and processes. In academia, there is a much greater deal of flexibility to pursue areas of interests and many different paths to take toward success. While both can be innovative, there is a considerably greater degree of structure to working in the industry.
I agree with most of the participants in the posts above that there are pros and cons of academia versus industry. I believe there is a mutual relationship between the two as industry is based on the research performed by academia. In academia, there is no profit or money involved and its heavy research based environment. On the other hand, industry is directly related to profit and releasing innovative products to the market. Also, there is a direct affect to people’s lives from the products launch by the industry. In academia, the research must be validated and it requires multiple release of papers. All in all, both can be innovative and rewarding in their aspects, and both require the time and effort to be successful.
The biggest difference that I see for academia and industry is the structured projects present within industry and the unstructured projects you can choose within academia. Within industry for the most part the projects you are assigned are limited in scope to the business needs of the company. If the company is not headed in a direction of a passion project you have then there will be no funding for that project. While on the other hand for academia you can apply for grants and funding to fund specific projects and have more flexibility to incorporate topics of interest into your portfolio. This key difference in lifestyle is all dependent on the individual and how they like to function. Some prefer academia because of the freedom to choose their projects, which has some limits but is not as limited as industry. While others choose the more structured projects in industry and are more comfortable tackling problems in a larger functional group setting.
I have only been working in industry, so I cannot speak to the differences between academia and industry. However, I can speak to what I have experienced in industry. My job is very structured, in that I am assigned to a project(s) and have specific parts of the project that I am responsible for. It is also structured in the sense that we work through very regimented design controls with each project. If this is something that appeals to you, I would recommend a job in industry. I would also add that having this structure does not mean that it gets boring and every project is the same. Every project is very unique, there are constantly challenges that you run into, and I can guarantee that you will not be bored working on a New Product Development (NPD) project in my role. In R&D we work on the development of the product from start to finish, which is really cool because you get to see all phases of the project and get the satisfaction of seeing the final product and launching it into the market.
