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I'm a 41 year old scientist specializing in physics now at the tail end of their second postdoctoral appointment. While I've enjoyed my time in academia and absolutely love my job, the living conditions are incredibly difficult. I am paid 32K with no benefits or health insurance and work 60+ hours a week in the lab doing much of the research, mentoring and overlooking the work of the graduate students in our group. I also teach an undergraduate course to the physics undergraduates every semester. I now realize I will never get a permanent academic position that pays a little better that comes with benefits and health insurance, which would be the dream job. My current wage is pretty tight given I currently live in a city with a very high standard of living and that I recently had to pick up a part-time cleaning job on the weekends just to make ends meet. That brings the net total of hours worked a week to around 80 hours. Realistically, I don't see my salary increasing at all 10 years from now at 51 even if my skills, knowledge, and experience have dramatically increased. By then, inflation will likely destroy what little purchasing power I currently have.
Are there any options for someone like me in industry or government? Whenever I generally show interest in the possibility of working outside of academia, the PI is quick to inform me that industry has no use for 'people like us' and that the work I do (scientific research) is only ever appreciated in academia.
That's tough I do think you you should stay in academia. However I'd look for a better university/research lab. Also if you want to try a different field I'd take advantage of a university that has tuition remission benefits for their staff.
The other option is to apply for a full time teaching position at a community college. I use to work at one and saw all of the professor's salaries who were full time non-tenured and they were pulling in 70k plus a year.
Highlands, I don't see why you couldn't find a job in private industry; the things you learn in physics are applicable to all kinds of other fields. I work in finance and remember my boss being pretty impressed that I had a deep understanding of how exponential growth of an investment was calculated -- no problem if you've made the same calculations for the decay of a radioactive element!
Really, a physics degree is very versatile. And it shows any employer that you didn't exactly fool around in college. The only negative might be that a PhD wouldn't knock their socks off like you might think, and that it might only be mildly more impressive than a plain bachelor's degree, with them thinking of you as a "physics guy" and not specifically as a doctorate holder.
But you could definitely earn more than 32k per year. In New York City, entry level salaries for bachelor's degree holders are higher than that.
I'd imagine you start perusing online job search engines for jobs that in some way are compatible with your experience and send out your cv to perspective employers. https://www.google.ca/#safe=active&q...hysics+job+USA
I'm a 41 year old scientist specializing in physics now at the tail end of their second postdoctoral appointment. While I've enjoyed my time in academia and absolutely love my job, the living conditions are incredibly difficult. I am paid 32K with no benefits or health insurance and work 60+ hours a week in the lab doing much of the research, mentoring and overlooking the work of the graduate students in our group. I also teach an undergraduate course to the physics undergraduates every semester. I now realize I will never get a permanent academic position that pays a little better that comes with benefits and health insurance, which would be the dream job. My current wage is pretty tight given I currently live in a city with a very high standard of living and that I recently had to pick up a part-time cleaning job on the weekends just to make ends meet. That brings the net total of hours worked a week to around 80 hours. Realistically, I don't see my salary increasing at all 10 years from now at 51 even if my skills, knowledge, and experience have dramatically increased. By then, inflation will likely destroy what little purchasing power I currently have.
Are there any options for someone like me in industry or government? Whenever I generally show interest in the possibility of working outside of academia, the PI is quick to inform me that industry has no use for 'people like us' and that the work I do (scientific research) is only ever appreciated in academia.
You CAN get out. But first you have to try.
Your problem is you're listening to the PI, and usually he/she will say anything to get people to stick around and be as miserable as he/she is.
You can look around at places like Brookhaven but honestly I don't think you have to stay doing exactly what you're doing unless you want to.
OP - of course your PI is going to discourage you to leave: you are slave labor to him (no offense meant) - productive and super-cheap.
I have a PhD friend in the exact same situation you're in, except his field is Biology. He got fed up after several post-docs that did not lead to an academic position. He branched out and now does private tutoring (at $50/hr) and is super-busy. He told me he should have left academia 10 years ago. He specializes in tutoring high-school kids who want to apply to a special high school in my area. It's extremely selective, but once you graduate from it you have the chops to excel at any Ivy League university. See if you can do the same in your location.
Your skills would be valuable in private industry too. To be perfectly frank, I suspect that your biggest problem will be that you have been in the academia ivory tower for so long that you aren't familiar with the ways of the real world: how to interview, how to describe a problem and present its solution in a concise way, how to convince your boss you can make money for the company, etc. I am required to read a lot of academic papers and I find most of them filled with fluff. I could swear some of the authors are paid by the word.
Just saw this yesterday. I can tell you a strong analytical background and the ability to use software (R, SAS, SPSS, etc.) to turn data into solutions is blowing up in the private sector.
Just don't be a push over with your phd like a lot of them are. My mother teaches nursing and her world works so much differently because she is in academia. She doesn't understand even simple things like how I only get a certain amount of time off and such. Im surprised you spent all this time devoted to being a scientist and now want to leave it. My mother has spent all of her life getting up to the phd level and is one level before assistant dean.
If you were a good programmer you could do the whole bioinformatics thing. But they are going to want someone with computer programming experience and without it you will not get a job.
Last edited by wintersbone; 03-13-2015 at 08:20 AM..
I don't have specific knowledge; my general advice would be to try and hook up with a recruiter who has contacts in industry, particularly defense (Raytheon, Northrop Grumman etc). Even if you get shortchanged on your 1st contract, it would still be a huge improvement over what you have now.
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