
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.<p>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&#x2F;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.<p>Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? Any suggestions? Thanks.
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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.

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

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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...

