Past events: Grant Berry. Why I left academia... and why I came back.

What: Why I left academia... and why I came back

Where:  BCBL zoom room 2. (If you would like to attend to this meeting reserve at info@bcbl.eu)

Who: Grant Berry, PhD, Assistant Professor and Freelance Consultant, Villanova University, PA, USA

When:  Thursday, May 5th, 2:30 PM

The traditional academic trajectory (graduate school + tenure-track position) in language sciences is a thing of the past. The number of tenure-track positions is shrinking and the number of applicants with tenure-track and postdoctoral experience grows disproportionately every year. As a new doctorate, what hope is there for landing that coveted tenure-track position? How many post-docs do you need to do to be competitive? Is there another way to make your application stand out? In this talk, I'll outline my professional trajectory, where my postdoctoral work took the form of engineering and management positions in language technology in industry. I'll discuss the skills I needed to secure in those industry positions, the skills I developed as a Language Engineer and Technical Program Manager for Amazon Alexa, and how those skills gave me leverage when applying for tenure-track positions in academia. I'll also share my thoughts on the pros and cons of industry and academia in the modern job market and how I think industry and academic positions will co-evolve over the next few decades.