1. Academic vs. Industrial Research Jobs
Jennifer Rexford

2. My Story Princeton EE undergrad, UMichgan EECS grad school
PhD on hardware support for communication in parallel machines
Four summers working at AT&T in the research lab
Two before grad school, and two during grad school
Grant from AT&T Research during graduate school
Job search at end of grad school
Interviewed for a mixture of academic and industry jobs
Ultimately, decided I preferred an industrial research job
Nine years at AT&T Research
Same department where I had been a summer intern
Enjoyed having real data, doing tech transfer, working with peers
Ten months at Princeton, and counting
Making the transition to academic life

3. Choosing Industry Over Academia
Strategic aspects
Wanted to switch research areas, to data networking
Thought industrial experience would enhance research and teaching
Personal taste and experience
Enjoyed tech transfer and working on real-world problems
Wanted to focus exclusively on research work for a few years
Knew I really liked AT&T from my summer job experiences
Balancing trade-offs
But, I also wanted to do research, stay professionally active, mentor students, teach, and everything else academics do
Found I could do these in industry, in different proportions and ways
… though, with extra effort (and negotiation) to make room for it
This balance is arguably harder to strike in industry labs today

4. Choosing Academia Over Industry
Personal growth
Ready to take on a new set of professional challenges
Felt ready to (try to) juggle a wider range of responsibilities
Feeling a little too “comfortable” in the technical work I was doing
Shift in research direction
Wanted to step back to do more “clean slate” research, building on the operational perspective from AT&T
Wanted ultimately to branch into some other research topics, and make connections across disciplines
Interaction with students
Found I was happiest in the summers, when students were around
Wanted more of an opportunity for teaching
Balancing trade-offs
Striving to keep my research grounded in reality, with extra effort

5. What Does Industry Look For?
Hard question to answer
Differs across research groups, and non-research industry jobs
Some common elements
Subject-matter expertise
Knowledge of an important technology or problem area (e.g., a particular protocol)
Problem focus rather than technique focus
Emphasis on formulating and solving problems, moreso than applying a particular technique (“the nail, not the hammer”)
… though having your own special hammer is good, too!
Willingness to jump right in
Talk to practitioners, write code, collaborate with others, be a “hub node,” share your expertise, …

6. Advice for Deciding What You Want
Getting to know your own personal taste
What kinds of problems you like to solve?
What part of solving a problem most excites you?
Working alone? Managing a group? Working with peers?
Focusing on one thing vs. juggling many things?
Keeping your options open
Selecting an interesting and important research problem
Worrying about whether you are working on the right problem
Acquiring domain knowledge, skills, and practical perspective
Interacting with industry, through collaboration and internships
Resist ranking either type of job over the other
Ultimately, the specifics of the place matter a lot
Some industry job may be better for you than some academic job
… and vice versa… no need to form a total ordering in advance

7. Internships at Industrial Labs
Working with new people on new problems
Valuable complement to your PhD research
Figuring out what you like
Gives you a sense of whether you like industrial work
… and whether you like that particular company
Gives you an “in” for a full-time job later
Try before you buy, for you and the company
Enhances your thesis research
Access to interesting problems, domain knowledge, and real data
Opportunity to see your ideas applied in practice
Building your resume
Work experience and domain knowledge
Publications with other researchers

8. Job Questions: Research Area
What government agencies would you target for funding your research?
What companies would use your research? Any small companies?
In what conferences/journals would you publish your work? How do these conferences/journals differ in the type of papers they publish?
Who are your "competitors" at other schools?
Is it possible for academic researchers to make significant contributions to your field, or are industrial technology and resources necessary?

9. Job Questions: The Department
What would you consider as the weaknesses in our department?
Who here would you consider as potential collaborators?
Who would you consider as potential mentors in the department?
Which of our courses are you qualified to teach?
Which of our courses are you most interested in teaching?

10. Job Questions: Teaching
Given that existing technologies and tools will be obsolete in a few years, what should we teach our students?
How would you approach developing a curriculum from scratch?
What is your teaching philosophy?
What do you think about having undergraduates serve as TAs?
If an undergraduate wanted to work with you, what type of project would you give them?

11. Job Questions: Research Plan
What start-up funds/facilities would you need to establish your research?
How would you organize/manage your research group?
How many graduate students would you like to have in your group?
Where do you see yourself in five years? Ten years?
What would be possible titles for the first three PhD thesis projects in your research group?
What new courses would you create on your research area?

12. Job Questions: Philosophical
How did you decide what school to attend for your PhD?
How did you choose your thesis topic?
What would you consider as your biggest weakness in starting a faculty position?
If you start having difficulty juggling the combination of research, teaching, advising, and proposal-writing, what would you do to fix the problem?
Do you have entrepreneurial aspirations?
Who would you most like to emulate?
What are your non-technical interests?
What factors will determine which academic/research position is most attractive to you?