<p>I'm an undergraduate junior. And I am strongly considering graduate school (PhD). But there's one thing I actually don't know much about: careers for PhDs.</p>
<p>I know you can do PostDocs and become a Professor. But surely, not every PhD student can become a professor. So what other options are there? Industry research?</p>
<p>Here are some of the paths I have witnessed for EE PhD’s:</p>
<p>Become a professor, either with or without doing a postdoc first (Americans usually do not, internationals usually do) - you probably have a pretty good grasp on this one. This is where you teach a little bit but mostly do fundamental research.</p>
<p>Industry research - this is where you start exploring the practical side of your field, taking it into the 5-10 year range of being commercially applicable. You will still hand your concepts over to other people to actually execute, however.</p>
<p>Specialized engineering - this is where you execute your thesis concepts for other people, usually by developing the theory into practical devices. At this point you are shepherding your ideas all the way into production.</p>
<p>Engineering leadership - believe it or not many companies will hire PhD’s just to take advantage of their maturity and general engineering skills. Plus, in certain circles it is easier to get business if you can point to PhD’s on staff.</p>
<p>Engineering management - less common, as it essentially wastes most of the purpose of the PhD, but it does happen because the PhD carries so much weight in technical discussions.</p>
<p>Entrepeneurship (sp?) - Kind of like specialized engineering above, but all you. Take your thesis ideas and try to make your own business out of them. I recommend some business classes.</p>
<p>Consulting - hard to do without a lot of experience, but you can go and offer your skills freelance to various people. Depends a lot on the demand for your skills.</p>
<p>Analyst - government and companies often hire PhD’s to analyze technical proposals and reports and establish associated risk factors. Check out DARPA - 200+ STEM PhD’s who do no research at all, they just analyze and manage.</p>
<p>Patent law - very uncommon at the PhD level, but some do go back to law school, get the JD, and go into patent law. Downside - 3 more years of school. Upside - $$$$$, and no more research.</p>
<p>Hope this helps!!</p>
<p>wow, thanks, that really does help.
Btw do most PhDs go into industrial research, I would assume so (but then again I might be wrong)?</p>
<p>It depends on the school - at Northwestern I was told that 60-70% of their grads go to research positions in industry.</p>