[zck]

It's interesting thinking about this. In my career, I would not think nearly anything I've done resembles research. Just pumping out development tasks.

The one thing I can think of that was like research was really enjoyable.

I should think about how to get more of this in my career. Even making personal projects isn't exactly "research".

[appplication]

I was on a moonshot team in a previous role. Research is a lot of fun to get paid for certainly doesn’t necessarily imply academic (being a DS lends to a bit more of this than typical SWE). In my experience it’s big open problems that no one really expects you to solve, and rarely would there be any top down direction on how to do so. And those problems aren’t always e.g. mathematical. It could be figuring out how a new product could enter a market, quantifying demand for some product, testing out a new algorithm, or doing a greenfield rebuild of something that exists but could only be meaningfully improved by starting over.

I think what is satisfying about this is the fact that your day to day is largely self directed and open ended. It’s not the type of thing that lends itself to backlogs and well defined tickets, and typical productivity methodologies like whole/scrum tend to fall flat in teams like this for this reason. You just sort of dive deep on a problem, put together prototypes, figure out how to quantify their utility, and keep trying new things. There also tends to be less pressure on deadlines because of the lack of top down.

[lobsterthief]

This sounds right up my alley. Any suggestion on roles/titles/companies to keep an eye out for? I’ve been a SWE for 20+ years and have a background in mechanical engineering

[appplication]

Research scientist is one common role I’ve seen, but there are often supplemental engineering roles for these as well. Another way to find these is look for moonshot projects at any major company. Basically divisions that are outside of the core product and business operations. Some risk in these though, since they can be the first cut in a bad economy.

[lobsterthief]

Thank you!

[harimau777]

What does the acronym DS mean? Digital Systems?

[appplication]

Oh, my mistake for assuming familiarity! Data Science in this case.

[coffeebeqn]

In your average job instead of “research” it’s really “discovery”. which is trying to decipher what some business guy at your company or a customer really wants

[doctorpangloss]

If people are asking you to do something that doesn't make sense, there's still nothing to discover. There are only a finite number of holistic social needs, simply do all of them.