5 things I learned by leaving academic research
Yes, this is clickbaity. Yes, there are more things that I've learned. But I've also learned, that you don't want to read all the 100 things I learned. Here is the curated version.
1. I am not my PhD
The academic sector can be like a cult. It often emphasises its excellence and brilliance over other industries, and alongside that, it can usually induce impostor syndrome and even depression. You spend a vast amount of your waking hours working or thinking about work, assuming that others always work better, harder, faster. It’s something everybody does, but nobody talks about it. At least, not enough.
Leaving academia is silently considered as failing. Most of the career opportunities presented for PhD students focus on getting a tenure track — which is the Holy Grail in the academic career path. The truth is there is not enough room for all of us. There is not enough funding, and the competition for the scarce resources is vicious.
Often, too often, it is also a question of luck.
But I’m not my PhD. It’s something that I did, but not my identity.
It’s a degree, not a life's purpose.
2. It’s not quitting, it’s redirecting
Getting a PhD is a degree. Just. A. Degree.
It’s not committing to a lifelong career path where you work sometimes without actual pay, without clear goals or too many overlapping goals. It’s not your only achievement in life.
Deciding to proceed elsewhere and applying your know-how outside of academia is not quitting anything but redirecting your career path for a more personally meaningful and reasonable way. It’s applying the complex skills of your degree to something you find more meaningful and reasonable.
3. Find a way to translate and evolve your skills
Academic know-how is notoriously abstract — and it should be. It is not a vocational school. Especially with a philosophy degree, you learn how to process, collect, and analyse abstract information with no clear ways to apply that knowledge elsewhere besides producing more abstract knowledge.
Knowledge in itself is valuable and important, but especially in industry, it can often feel too abstract to apply to concrete problems and solutions. This is why it’s crucial to understand where your work can be applied. Sometimes it’s the methods, sometimes the theory, sometimes the themes. Sometimes just your rigorous ability of analysing complex questions. But even the most theoretically induced works have some connection to reality, some practice level know-hows that would benefit from the academic point of view.
You just need to find your niché again.
4. Surround yourself with diversity
Keeping yourself surrounded by other academics will keep you closed and sealed from other opportunities. A big part of your dissertation is finding the connections to your relevant academic network, but it helps to have a foot (or sometimes two) outside the academic world.
Follow non-profit organisations, companies, individuals, and other relevant stakeholders that can help you to stay on track with what happens in society and what themes are currently in the public debate. It helps you to bridge your knowledge and know-how with the outside world — and it also makes you a better researcher.
5. Stay curious
Humans are inherently biased.
It’s in our nature, and it is hard to fight biases without curiosity. Curiosity is the cure for prejudice since it allows you to ask questions and pursue understanding instead of relying on preconceptions and mere reactions. Oftentimes, your own academic field can fuel prejudices and close your eyes to new opportunities and interests. For example, the humanities and STEM sciences have a notorious battle between them by debating “what is actual science”.
Remaining open and curious about other views, other disciplines and ways of creating knowledge helps you to verbalise your professional know-how better.
Not to mention, it makes you a better researcher to stay open-minded.
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And finally, it does get better. Trust me. Been there and done that, bought the t-shirt.