by Kevin Foley » Sat May 13, 2006 8:44 pm
Max: "The biggest shock for me while working in industry was that of all coworkers no one was interested in science, the progress of science and the progress of humanity..."
Obviously, we can only comment based on our own personal experiences. It sounds like your experience in industry was not that great. But if what you describe is generally true of life in industry, why would anyone want to work there? There a lot of scientists clamoring for jobs in industry…but you don’t hear much about industry scientists clamoring to get back into academia. Maybe life in industry isn’t so bad?
At one company I worked at, we had a monthly book club to discuss philosophical and ethical issues in biotechnology. At another company, greater than half the employees were fluent in a foreign language. At one, we had an annual charity auction that raised $40-50,000 from items donated by employees and bid on by employees. At another, we had an annual community service day where employees would get the day off to work at soup kitchens, Habit for Humanity, etc. More than one company I’ve worked for had weekly lunches or dinners where the employees could talk with the CEO in small groups. And I certainly haven’t had the experience of working for a company where “no one was interested in science.” Quite the contrary, many of the smartest, most motivated scientists I have met in my career happen to work in industry. And most importantly, I’ve worked at companies where the medical discoveries we made saved or profoundly changed many people’s lives. I know, because we would invite the patients to speak at our company meetings. Nothing is more motivational that hearing about how a debilitating disease has impacted someone, or more gratifying than hearing how their lives were improved by a treatment you helped develop.
None of this sounds like the sterile environment you describe.
Industry is like academia--there are good supervisors and bad supervisors, good labs and bad labs, good companies and bad companies... We should avoid making sweeping generalizations. If you find yourself in a bad situation, you need to move on, just as it sounds like you did. But don’t let one bad experience sour you on future opportunities.
Personally, I have enjoyed everywhere I’ve been, both in academia and industry. But I can’t imagine going back to academia; I’m having too much fun in industry!
Cheers,
Kevin