
Ask HN: How to become an R&D engineer? - wallzz
Should I have a PHD to be able to get to a similar job ?
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lgieron
IMO: R&D is all about specialization, so choose an area you'd like to work in.
You don't need to choose immediately, you can play with various stuff to find
the right kind of work for you (the factors that matter for me are: the amount
of low-level/high-level coding, the heaviness of math, the size of projects).

As for PhD, I think that, as long as you're exceptional in your area of
expertise, you can get R&D jobs without it. On the other hand, getting to that
level can easily take as long or longer than doing a PhD. Also, I think you
can probably gradually advance into more researchy positions through smart
career progression, starting with more development-oriented jobs in R&D areas
combined with doing plenty of research on your own.

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hanniabu
Right out of college I found my place at a startup working on R&D. I was the
only engineer/technical person there so it was a great experience for me. I
was given free reign over product development so out really helped me grow by
forcing my to learn every aspect of the development process of going from idea
conception, to prototype, to running a full swuite of tests, determining
component reliability and life cycle, finding manufacturers/suppliers, and
eventual winding up with a reliable, efficient, and cost effective product.
After that job I could have undoubtedly gone on to work in R&D in the
corporate world, but I decided to go into management for various reasons not
related to work.

So my advice to you is see if you can get in on the ground floor at either a
startup or small company that is in R&D and you'll be forced to learn a ton of
provable marketable skills that will allow you to move on and work for a
larger company without a PhD.

