Transitioning From Academia to Industry

What this is notI’m not encouraging leaving academia.I would have stayed if possible.I don’t have all the answers (or even close to majority).I’m not going to speak on the cons of academia or answer questions that don’t seem appropriate.

About Me Got PhD in applied mathematics August 2014.Had three job offers for postdoctoral work. Chose the wrong one.Got job at Booz Allen Hamilton (pending clearance) as Operations Research Analyst.

Beginnings Not all jobs are assured.I lost my job unexpectedly (kind of) and had one month to find a new one! “If I don’t find a job in academia I’ll just get an industry job”

Lets get a job! (things to know)

8000 PhD’s in the UK are bartenders!! 80% of PhD’s end up working outside of academia.17% of STEM field PhDs get a professorship within 3 yrs. of graduation [1].Reproductive number for STEM professors around 7.8 [1].

[1] Larson, R. et al, Systems research and behavioral science 2014.

Always apply for positions!!

To do: constantly…Update CV AND Resume!!! (most jobs wont ask for CV). Got to job fairs and had out resume and business card.Updating git repositories and website! Do kaggle or intensive python coding!

Lots of jobs (need to know what to look for)

Problems Having a degree doesn’t guarantee a job.Position you’re applying for.Skills required for job.

Position you are qualified for

Anything with “analyst” in the job title.“Data scientist”

This is literally what you did for 5+ years! Need convincing…

Most programming positions (know your skills).Consulting (many “prestigious” firms hire non MBA people these days…)

Data + Science = Research!

So how to get one of those 60,000 jobs on

LinkedIn?Git Python/Ruby/PerlC++/Fortran/C#WebsitePublic code

GitAlmost every job posting asks for your github page!In your first interview they will ask about it. Use the git tutorial (its really great)!

https://try.github.io/levels/1/challenges/1

PythonTake a character string and reverse the order of the characters (you have two minutes).

Char = ‘hello world’Char_reverse = Char[::-1]

What’s the difference between an array and a dictionary?

Dic stores key-value pairs, arrays values are referenced by an index.

What’s the difference between a tuple and a list? Tuple is immutable (can’t be changed, referenced by pointers)!

Website (Githubpages)Spend a day and create a webpage using Github pages.Great way to get used to git and have a forever website! Code: https://github.com/ajbaird/ajbaird.github.io.gitTutorial: https://24ways.org/2013/get-started-with-github-pages/

Website: Jekyll, Markdown

Process Initial phone screening (top 20%).Second longer phone interview (top 10%).On-site interview (Top 3-8).Remember: They may not hire anyone.PhD in applied math got me in the door.

Interview ProcessSeems like a mess to me.Often times I felt like they knew before hand they wouldn’t hire me. People interviewing you don’t know the difference between Masters and PhD.

First InterviewWith company hiring manager.Need to have an elevator talk of research ready.Need to use as many buzzwords as possible. I used python to do…, I developed Matlab code that…, I Analyzed data to understand…,

LinkedIn is your friend!

Job interviews: like comps with no prep

time.You need to know what they will ask (Glassdoor, research on LinkedIn…)I spent a day or two prepping. You need to be ready to code!

I had three programming tests (two timed on the spot).

https://github.com/ajbaird/ipsos_tutorial

Onsite interview This went two different ways for me: Discuss my role:

Here’s what we do, how do you fit? Does this seem interesting to you?Where do you see yourself here in 5 years?

3hr in person testPractical: Here’s a computer do stuff in python.Software engineering: Design code structure for a library (on whiteboard).Math: State the binomial distribution. What is the probability 3 of 10 coin flips are heads?

Anecdotal EvidenceJohn works at Deloit consulting after pure math postdoc. Physicist PhD from Cornell happily works at Boston Consulting Group.Simi happily works at Amazon. Robert works at CDC in Australia! So it happens!

ConclusionsAlways look for and ponder new opportunities.Never sacrifice your well being on a job (there are many many more out there!)Try and become as competent as possible in one largely used programing language.I applied for 100+ jobs:

20 stage 1 interviews10 stage 2 2 onsite 1 job!

Prepare to be unemployed.