I know a few people who quit business schools to join industry. Their reasons were mostly personal (spouse didn't get any job or the weather was terrible). They joined different companies in the Bay area. One of them said he is very happy with the transition in terms of money and dynamism but he rarely sees his kids now!
Ask HN: Academics who switched to industry, what's your experience been like?
71–77 of 77 posts
Re: Ask HN: Academics who switched to industry, what's your experience been like?
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
Firebase is good platform and loved by many now. What was your reasoning to join firebase in its initial days ?
I had failed to make a multiplayer computer game with traditional approach and realized firebase solved all my concurrency and push problems in a much neater way, and the security language didnt compromise too much expressivity unlike many other SaaS dbs. So i saw it solved a real problem in a simple way, way better with better ergonomics than i could do myself I found out about it just by reading hacknews and notice…
Re: Ask HN: Academics who switched to industry, what's your experience been like?
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had failed to make a multiplayer computer game with traditional approach and realized firebase solved all my concurrency and push problems in a much neater way, and the security language didnt compromise too much expressivity unlike many other SaaS dbs. So i saw it solved a real problem in a simple way, way better with better ergonomics than i could do myself I found out about it just by reading hacknews and notice…
Thanks. I missed one such opportunity in my life .. encountered guys at a YC event and thought they were brilliant. Managed to get an interview but it didn't work out (partially my fault, and partially because they had no idea how to deal with PhDs). Such opportunities are so rare in life. It is almost like winning the lottery.
I got a job offer becuase i wrote software to solve a particular issue with firebase at the time, and posted it to their user group, then they offered a guest blog post which i wrote here https://firebase.googleblog.com/2014/02/firesafe-add-complex... then i think i got the offer!
Re: Ask HN: Academics who switched to industry, what's your experience been like?
#74When I was post-doc at a well-respected university, the Profs treated me with a combination with disrespect and contempt (when they were not outright ignoring me). I switched to industry; my pay went up 3X-fold, and my talented colleagues praised those problem-solving abilities that I developed over the course of my academic career. My advice to you; f*ck academia! Its a petty pointless prison where you’ll never do a…
I'm sorry to hear that, I never had that experience in my post-doc phase. May I ask in what field/location that was?
Re: Ask HN: Academics who switched to industry, what's your experience been like?
#75I left academia in the UK as a postdoc in robotics, joined Firebase via H1B visa to San Fransisco, got aquired by Google, worked for 4 years. I found working for Google stressful, but lucrative and so it was the best decision i made. It totally change the course of my life for the better. I learnt so much about building teams, scaling impact, productionizing software, dealing with public. I missed academic problems,…
Re: Ask HN: Academics who switched to industry, what's your experience been like?
#76Re: Ask HN: Academics who switched to industry, what's your experience been like?
#77I left academia in the UK as a postdoc in robotics, joined Firebase via H1B visa to San Fransisco, got aquired by Google, worked for 4 years. I found working for Google stressful, but lucrative and so it was the best decision i made. It totally change the course of my life for the better. I learnt so much about building teams, scaling impact, productionizing software, dealing with public. I missed academic problems,…
Why was working for Google stressful?