mardi 3 février 2015

Would a (temporary) industry position before starting a tenure-track position have a negative effect on academic career?


I have obtained a tenure-track offer (computer science) starting in 1 year that I'm planning to accept. I'm currently a postdoc in theoretical computer science and I'm facing the situation where I could either extend my current postdoc for another year or, somewhat by coincidence, I have also the option of going into industry with the knowledge that my appointment there would have a fixed ending date (when my tenure track position starts). The potential industry employer does not have any knowledge of my tenure track offer, so in a sense I would be "abusing" my position there as an industry postdoc. (Considering that the company is a big player in the financial world, I'm sure they wouldn't be too heartbroken over me leaving after a year...)


I feel somewhat more inclined to go for the industry position just for the sake of "trying something different" before going the full academic route.



Would taking up a temporary appointment in industry be perceived as lack of commitment to research once my tenure clock is up and/or could there be other negative repercussions for my future (academic) career?



Edit: to add more detail, I'm planning to continue to work on research problems during my industry appointment as time permits. I'm reasonably well connected to avoid suffering from the fact that I'm not going to be physically located at a research institution (considering it's a short term absence).





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