Students - What are the career options after completing PhD

PhD?

Many think that academia is the only option for PhDs. However, there are several other paths that PhDs can take. 

Here are 10 career pathways you can take.

𝟏. 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐝𝐨𝐜 - 𝐀𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐚: Perhaps the most common path - take a postdoc position at a university. This position is mostly focused on research.

𝟐. 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐲 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 - 𝐀𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐚: Get a lecturer/assistant professor position at a university. Here you have to do both research and teaching.

𝟑. 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫/𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫 - 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲: Join an industry in your specialization area. For example, a PhD in IT/computer science can become a software developer.

𝟒. 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫: If you are a risk-taker and passionate about something needed by the public, you can start your own company.

𝟓. 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 - 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲: Join a research-based position in a company. For example, Tech companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon hire PhDs for research in areas like software engineering and machine learning.

𝟔. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭: Become a consultant in a consultancy firm. For example, Silverlight Research hires PhDs for data science consultancy. You can become either a full-time or part-time consultant.

𝟕. 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐫: You can become an advisor to policymakers in your area of expertise. This would require you to be a good communicator who can present technical content in a non-technical way.

𝟖. 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: You can join the government sector such as defense science & technology, grants assessment, education, higher research sector, etc.

𝟗. 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭: Join a research center as a scientist. Several countries have large research centers. For example, Data61 in Australia and Simula in Norway. These centers mostly hire PhDs.

𝟏𝟎. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫: PhD equips you with several capabilities. You learn how to solve difficult problems. So, you can develop the capabilities to become whatever you are passionate about.

Anything to be added?

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