What to do after PhD?

[DogDaysNeverEnd]

I'd like to ask for some impartial advice for a soon to be post doc. Im in my 40's, having worked in my field since early 20's (engineering). I took an income hit to do a PhD, but I needed a change and have loved learning/being surrounded by terrifyingly smart people. I'd like to stay in academia, but I'm wondering if there is a way to get "credit" for some of my past experience? I'm prepared to start at the bottom so to speak, but I'd like to fast track to more responsibility (and salary) otherwise I think I will be resentful. I have a solid record of securing funding, program management and designing/delivering training which all feel relevant albeit in different circumstances. I have a paper ready to publish and 2 others on the go based on my PhD work, so I am by no means a stellar academic at this point.

Does a fast track exist, and will my 15 years of professional experience count for anything? If it's a flat no then I may as well jump back to industry. The PhD will not be wasted in my field, and I can expect a decent salary but with 20 years of work to go I don't want to risk stagnating again and wishing I'd stuck with some research element.

Any wise words appreciated!

So do you want a postdoc or a lectureship or something else? A postdoc job is pure research and may not have much responsibility - you mostly implement someone else's project. a lectureship means you can bring in grants & run projects, but you will also have teaching etc. From there, you can go up pretty rapidly to Prof if you bring in enough grants, but that is by no means certain. Your past experience is mostly valuable to the extent that it helps you do the core bits of your job - research & teaching.

Caveat - my knowledge is from life sciences, not engineering which might be different.

Also, in academia, the track & salaries are fairly rigid. For example,
www.ucl.ac.uk/human-resources/sites/human_resources/files/21-22_ucl_non-clinical_grade_structure_with_spinal_points-202108.pdf
on that pdf, grade 7 = postdoc & grade 8 = lectureship. you'd be very lucky to get much flexibility to go outside those scales. I believe other universities are v similar.

Thanks for reply. I think lecturing sounds more suited, but do people go straight into that or is it expected to have a couple of years as an RA first? I'm fine with starting at the bottom of the scale, and obviously I would have a lot to learn but I'd hope that at some point my previous experience would pay dividends.

I would have liked to have had this conversation informally with my supervisors and department but covid had been the shittiest time to be doing a PhD and I haven't had the opportunity to engage in this way.

some people go straight from PhD to lectureship but that tend to be PhD at top10 uni -> lectureship at an ex-poly.

But do set up a formal meeting with your PhD supervisor or any other advisors in your dept to ask what career options are. they will know much more.

Following as you are in a very similar situation to me. I’m just about to start PhD after a long career in same field and like you, am hoping that all that experience counts for something in the medium term!

I'm also not in your field, but I would hope that in engineering industry experience would count towards something, as I imagine that's where many of the UG you would end up teaching would hope to go...

Your supervisors/dept probably have the best idea, but if I were you I'd test the waters by applying for lectureships. Many will say something like 'X years postdoctoral experience or equivalent', and I would plunge in with the assumption that 15 years industry experience pre-PhD was 'equivalent'. And the training experience you have should also translate to teaching.

Does a fast track exist

I'm in Humanities, but in terms of academic employment, the fast track for entry level scholars - and as a new PhD you are "entry level" in academia - is available via research.

You could look at postdocs on others' projects, as this is the standard way in. Not fast track, but that's how the profession is organised.

For fast track you'd need to look at something like the European Research Council (ERC) Starter Grant, or various universities' fast track research fellowships - Birmingham had a fancy scheme called "Birmingham Fellows" which sought to fast track early career scholars (ECRs).

Once you get into a post, you could fast track using your professional experience - not that you should expect this to be the reason to fast track you, but that it gives you a solid background to exploit in publications, further academic/research grant income, attracting PhDs etc.

But academia is a slog, and anyone succeeding is usually super bright & super hard-working.

A lot of people dismiss, diminish, or don't realise just how highly qualified & hard working successful academics are.

My PhD in Education helped me to get a post in a central unit in a university. With a PhD you should be able to apply for lecturing posts. Most unis will be pleased to get someone with professional experience but I doubt that they will appoint you at anything other than a basic level. You also need to work on getting research published in peer reviewed journals and giving presentations at conferences. My supervisor encouraged me to do this all through my research process. Apply for jobs that you see advertised. Don’t be put off by the requirement to have post-doc experience or previous lecturing experience. They may not be getting too many applications. My nephew was appointed to a maternity leave cover lecturing job at the last minute one September a few years ago and that transformed into a permanent post. Beware posts where you have to self fund by getting research grants. You will live on a knife edge.

Is your university running courses on employability etc? Mine seems to run them every month or so.