Ask HN: Researcher vs. Engineer

[madrac]

After a Ph.D. in CS and three years of postdoc, I realized that academia is not for me. However I love doing research. Now I’ve to choose between begin an industrial researcher or an engineer.

On the one hand, I’d like to be a researcher working on open problems but I’m afraid that industry won’t give me the freedom of publishing/working on interesting problems. On the other hand, engineers deal with well defined concrete problems but I’m afraid that it won’t be as stimulating as doing research.

Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? Any suggestions? Thanks.

[wpmoradi]

I picked engineering. Because doing research in industry is not as stimulating as it is in an academic setting. You do not have complete freedom - often times your project is set and you are just exploring new pathways your director asked you to....

The role of the engineer has more freedom to experiment different protocols/methods and apply their work more readily against the problem at hand.

In short: Research in industry: find different ways to potentially solve problems - & often times your work gets tossed away if something else comes up. => not as gratifying. (also less pay)

Engineering: solve the problem. => instant gratification.

[madrac]

Don't you miss writing papers, giving talks, or attending conferences?

[wpmoradi]

Yea, but I don't miss begging for grants, & headaches around funding. With Engineering you get to enjoy life more. You get to pick your poison...