Thread by @ljhundley

One year ago, I made the jump from academia to tech. It’s been a wild ride so far, so I wanted to share a few reflections on the transition for others that might be considering tech roles. 1/many

First, getting a job in tech isn’t easy, and the rhetoric that it is easy *is harmful.*

It took me months of networking and applications to land the role I did. When I didn’t hear anything back from the first jobs I applied to, I felt like a failure because of the rhetoric that tech companies handed out these roles like they were candy.

In my experience, getting a job in tech was just as hard as getting positions on the academic market. The key difference was that I wasn’t stuck on a once-a-year schedule to apply to tech jobs. That and there was more than one role available in the city I wanted to live in.

I am emphasizing this point because the tech job market is only getting more competitive, given the macroeconomic conditions affecting the industry and the resulting hiring freezes/slow downs. Careers in tech are not the academia equivalent of applying to a “safety school.”

Second, I *strongly* encourage folks considering careers in academia versus tech to approach the choice holistically. Instead of asking “Which job would I like more?,” ask yourself “Which life do I like more?.”

To this day, I can’t answer the first question. There were many things I loved about the day to day work in academia. There were also many things that I found frustrating. The same is true for my current role. They’re just different.

The second question is a lot easier though. A year out, I’m even more confident that making the jump to tech was the right decision for me. I get to do interesting work and I get to work with good people.

I *also* get to live in a city where closest friends are, where I am near family, where I can try new restaurants, go to the theater, and do interesting things in the middle of the week. And I am paid a salary that enabled me to buy a house and to afford the lifestyle I want.

(A friend recently asked if I’d recommend trying to do tech for a few years on compensation alone. The honest answer is no. If you’re happy with the lifestyle you have in academia, it’d be foolish to give it up. But it’s also foolish to pretend that compensation don’t matter.)

Third, an industry job isn’t a panacea to all the things that make careers in academia difficult. Eg. I *still* struggle with work-life balance. I had assumed that since the work wouldn’t be so personal anymore (ie. working for a company), I’d just be able to “clock out."

Turns out, taking my work home with me and thinking about work at most hours of the day is just as much a *me* problem as a structural one.

There are certainly times when I’ve worked late because the job itself is demanding, but there are just as many times when I worked late by choice because I was interested in what I was doing, I wanted to clear another item off the to do list, etc.

Fourth, there are many things I miss about academia. I will never have the same amount of space to think about the big picture, to study things just because I’m interested in them, and more. I didn’t appreciate this as much as I should have when I was still in academia.

I have more research ideas now than I ever had before, and I won’t have time to work on most of them.

That said, I’ve also gotten a TON from industry. I like that the work is faster paced. I get to do so many different types of work in a single day. And, even though it’s easy to lose sight of the impact that I have, the work I do can affect billions of users.

I’m very fortunate that @olgs7 took a chance on me.

Anyways, that’s more than enough for now. If you’re considering making the jump and would like to chat further, please feel to reach out! I benefited a ton from programs like @BtGProjectDC that helped me realize how my academic training could be used in policy careers.

Also, if you’re not considering making the jump but are working on topics related to influence operations, tech & national security, social media & politics, etc. I’d love to chat too!