Working in Academia and Industry are two very distinct settings and should be highly considered before going into either of fields. These two types of work settings really depends on an individuals interests and temperament.

Academia’s main priority is research. If one is interested in doing research and working long-term and possibly teaching, academia is for them. Like many students have mentioned, your time is very flexible. You are not restricted to an 8 hour shift. You can go beyond that or shorten it. In addition, working in academia you are at the forefront of knowledge and discoveries, which can be a very rewarding aspect of the job.

However, one must consider the pay, as it does not pay as much as working in a company since it is based off the funding the company or research facility gets. Additionally, the benefits are not as good as benefits from the industry. Another negative to working in Academia is that you can be working on a research project for an extended period of time before there is a discovery. Therefore, one must have a lot of patience and must love their research.

On the contrary, working in the industry is substantially different. Working in this type of business requires a fast-paced environment where one must work quickly and get deadlines done. This ultimately creates a different environment, a fast-paced one, whereas working in academia has a more relaxed vibe to it. It is primarily business oriented, which pays more than working in academia. In addition, job positions are very versatile as a biomedical engineer working in industry as compared to Academia such as a CAD operator, development engineer, research scientist, data manager, and many more.

One negative to working in the industry, from prior experience, is the stress and pressure one may feel when working on projects. If you do not meet the deadlines, it can become quite stressful when there are other deadlines approaching.

From those that have had experience in working in both academia and the industry, which setting do you feel causes you more stress?