Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Scientists working in US industry, pluses and minuses

 The main plus to work in US industry is of course  the very high pay. Also, if you joined the company early enough, stock options may make you rich. 

The downside is,  US companies need scientists for a not very long period of time,  only  until the product is made and further  improvements, upgrades, etc are still needed.  This sometimes requires a very deep and specialized expertise and US industry is happy to find the right people  and to pay them well.  However, when it is done, this is the end of it; the product is passed to completely different people.

It does not necessarily mean that you will be immediately laid off; in fact you can/may stay with the company for a while,  in particular if the company is still profitable. However, your career growth stops and people gradually forget you. The new generation comes in and is going to replace you- either because the company focuses now on other things in which you do not have an expertise, or the research is stopped completely; what is left is the optimization, material sourcing , logistics  aka 'supply chain activities'.

The challenge to an industry PhD  is to constantly change and adapt, which is sometimes hard to do.


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