Ask HN: How do I bridge the gap between PhD and SWE experiences?

Well put. The standard practice is to hire a scientist and a developer, both with deep expertise, and have them work together. For a successful collaboration, it's obviously desirable for them to have some cross-disciplinary skills or experience. Ultimately, you're still primarily doing either development or research.

I keep the two halves separate.

I was a studio recording engineer for about 7 years. I switched to software, and now I work in industrial global logistics. Job attributes I optimized for over the years: insulated from manufactured stress, autonomy, control over working hours, good relationships with my boss and coworkers.

I did move from physics to becoming a SWE. I could put the knowledge I gained doing 3D rendering and GPU compute used for visualization and simulations in my academic jobs on my CV, and get a job as a SWE that way. Later I moved to another job where I could use my physics background to help develop a new sensor.

As for how to market yourself: first you should convert your academic CV to one that is suited for the type of companies you are applying for. Unless you wrote something that ended up in Nature or some other super high profile journal, companies typically don't care about your publications. What they do care about is things like: can you communicate well? How well can you organize things on your own? Do you handle stress well? You did a PhD, so the answer to those things is yes, you just need to write that in your CV in a way a company recruiter/interviewer understands, even if they themselves are not from academia. So you don't have two halves that belong to different resumes, you are just one person and you just translate your resume to the "language" that your prospective job provider speaks.

Finally, your list of skills does not need to be a perfect match for what a company is looking for. Of course, there needs to be some overlap, but as long as it means you can pick up new things quickly, it will be fine. That and being a good fit for the company's culture are the most important things.

I did not start out with a unicorn role, but in I found ways to apply my physics background in my current job.

Make a list of the most interesting companies / areas you want to work in from a scientific perspective

Cold call or get introductions to their R&D leaders (principal researcher /director / VP). While connecting to something they or their company did, ask for a coffee meeting or phone call to learn more about their company and how it works.

Use this to Network network network. At some point a job will appear with interviews. Chances are good it’s with a good manager as they’re the ones taking time to build good teams and talent.

You are special. There are lots and lots of "software engineers" in the world. Very very few can bring scientific experience and knowledge to the job. I might look for a developer role in a large university project where they need programming skills and scientific rigor. Or a R&D person in a large software company or the government . These kinds of jobs aren't listed on Indeed or Monster. Attend conferences related to your field (don't attend the talks, hang around in the lobby and chat with people). Reach out to professors in your university or your field.

All the Best!