Pursuing Research in Engineering Versus Hobby Projects

[person123]

Background: I'm a just graduated Masters student in Civil Engineering, and I'll soon be working in industry. I've done research in Civil in college, and I've also done a few hobby projects, mainly coding, and often related to physics and/or engineering.

I've really enjoyed hobby projects since I can understand all the parts of the thing I created. Having an idea, implementing it, and seeing the system actually come together and work is really satisfying for me. However, it doesn't pay the bills, and knowing what I'm doing is useful enough for someone to pay me is a great encouragement.

When I first started research freshman year, I was hoping for something similar. I definitely enjoyed some projects more than others, but my Master's project is most relevant and most fresh in my mind. I initially was looking forward to the project since I was going to run numerical modeling programs. However, I ended up more or less treating them as black boxes, and the work was mainly spent making sure I got the formatting details of the input files correct. I also didn't end up with something I felt I actually built, nor did I get many moments of insight from it.

I've also worked part-time in industry. While the work was more repetitive, I actually sort of preferred it -- the good parts were less good but the bad parts were also less bad. Any frustration I had toward a project wouldn't accumulate like with research since the timespans were weeks instead of months or years, and I could focus on solving the problems since similar work had been done at the company many times before.

When I started college, I was probably thinking I would go into research, but the above (among other things) made me shift to work in industry. However, I'm still not sure what to make of my dissatisfaction and which direction I should head.

One possibility is that I just have to realize that work is going to be a lot of often ugly grunt work. It's also possible as I move up the work will got more interesting. In those cases, I would continue to work in industry, and do side projects when I manage to fit in the time. However, I've also wondered whether there's work on more basic research, whether academia or industry R&D (e.g. building models) which would be much closer aligned to what I enjoy. My fear though is that might be a "grass is greener" type mistake, and once I work there, I would end up being dissatisfied again. Instead, I should train myself to be committed to something and not leave when it's not fun.

Of course there's a lot of personal factors involved, and I'm not asking anyone to necessarily recommend what to do, but I'm curious if you have any thoughts on this.

Thank you!

 

[osilmag]

It's hard to go back and forth between academic research and industry because the cultures are different. What level and position is the industry work? It seems like in your situation there is more potential to go higher in industry, but it could be more volatile. On the flip side, now that you have a Masters, you might be put on something more aligned with your interests or academia might tell you that you've had enough. Just some thoughts to consider.

There is plenty of time for hobbies, so I wouldn't consider that as an issue.

 

[SparkBird]

Background: I'm a just graduated Masters student in Civil Engineering, and I'll soon be working in industry. I've done research in Civil in college, and I've also done a few hobby projects, mainly coding, and often related to physics and/or engineering.

I've really enjoyed hobby projects since I can understand all the parts of the thing I created. Having an idea, implementing it, and seeing the system actually come together and work is really satisfying for me. However, it doesn't pay the bills, and knowing what I'm doing is useful enough for someone to pay me is a great encouragement.

When I first started research freshman year, I was hoping for something similar. I definitely enjoyed some projects more than others, but my Master's project is most relevant and most fresh in my mind. I initially was looking forward to the project since I was going to run numerical modeling programs. However, I ended up more or less treating them as black boxes, and the work was mainly spent making sure I got the formatting details of the input files correct. I also didn't end up with something I felt I actually built, nor did I get many moments of insight from it.

I've also worked part-time in industry. While the work was more repetitive, I actually sort of preferred it -- the good parts were less good but the bad parts were also less bad. Any frustration I had toward a project wouldn't accumulate like with research since the timespans were weeks instead of months or years, and I could focus on solving the problems since similar work had been done at the company many times before.

When I started college, I was probably thinking I would go into research, but the above (among other things) made me shift to work in industry. However, I'm still not sure what to make of my dissatisfaction and which direction I should head.

One possibility is that I just have to realize that work is going to be a lot of often ugly grunt work. It's also possible as I move up the work will got more interesting. In those cases, I would continue to work in industry, and do side projects when I manage to fit in the time. However, I've also wondered whether there's work on more basic research, whether academia or industry R&D (e.g. building models) which would be much closer aligned to what I enjoy. My fear though is that might be a "grass is greener" type mistake, and once I work there, I would end up being dissatisfied again. Instead, I should train myself to be committed to something and not leave when it's not fun.

Of course there's a lot of personal factors involved, and I'm not asking anyone to necessarily recommend what to do, but I'm curious if you have any thoughts on this.

Thank you!

I read your post and IDK why, but can't stay aside.... Perhaps, because it's about work-life-balance matter, that is so familiar to me. If you don't mind, I'd share my external glance on the described.

It looks like you've already mentioned the main things you need in order to fill satisfaction: i.e. to do "research" - which allows you to go by your interest + to get "results of your job" - materialized into models (preferably useful for somebody or applicable in real life) and paid bills (i.e. giving you enough income). Actually, that is the simplified "formula of THE INNER balance" = "insurance of disappointment". IMO: in this situation it worth to consider serriousely the way on which you'd DO and GET both enough.

I mean the balance is the matter and it's less important if it's academic or industrial research chosen. As for the "greener grass" fear - it's beyond the INNER factors. The fear is just about choise to think of "undone" and "non-gotten" things or to look at the "done" and "resulted"...

The last but not least is our time: that's really personal decision on how to spend it. Although that 's the main resource we have to invest, according to our priorites and needs: into interest, into business, hobbey, health, fun... We can spend 80% of time for doing interesting things, like "the job of the dream" without revenue and 20% for "making money" by doing some "mundane job", just to cover bills enough. And the viceverse.... Depend on the own choice.

 

[person123]

It's hard to go back and forth between academic research and industry because the cultures are different. What level and position is the industry work? It seems like in your situation there is more potential to go higher in industry, but it could be more volatile. On the flip side, now that you have a Masters, you might be put on something more aligned with your interests or academia might tell you that you've had enough. Just some thoughts to consider.

There is plenty of time for hobbies, so I wouldn't consider that as an issue.

Thanks for you thoughts. I'm a junior structural engineer, and it's very much an entry level position.

Yes, I think I have to just wait and see how I feel about my work and what job's I'm put on and take it from there.