moving from industry to education

stabu

Hi,

I have some 18 years experience ICT with a degree in engineering and and MBa and I want to do a career change into education. I want to teach and also do research in learning content.
Would a PhD be a good step for this? Or maybe I should aim straight for lectureship? I mean, I've done endless presentations and have "advised" (read educated) buisness execs on ICT topics, so it's not a wild objective.

However, even a PhD seems a long shot, whereby I think that doing a masters would refresh my skills in a certan area, and would be a better platform.

As you can tell, knowing where to start when facing a change like this is tricky.

Any advice (that is, the coherent sort :-)) welcome. Cheers!

H2G2

If you are interested in getting a lecturer position in Engineering in any University, then a PhD is mandatory and from my understanding of current recruitment practices in the IT’s, it is the de facto requirement there as well. Industry experience (even a lot of it) and an MBA just won’t hack it.

From my perspective where to start is easy: Get a PhD. How? Well you may like to ‘test the waters’ by doing an MSc by research first; or start as a PhD track student, which gives you the option to bail out early with an MSc. Don't forget, there is always the option of part-time research if you want to keep the job as well.
Also, the possibility exists (in many Universities, if not all) to do tutoring, which can led to teaching duties. This is a good route into getting teaching experience and would stand to you greatly in a lecturer interview.

stabu wrote:

also do research in learning content.

TBH this sounds a bit ‘light’ for an engineering graduate. Thread carefully with a PhD choice. Whilst it won’t dictate your research career, it does have an impact on the early days and post-doc opportunities.

Good luck…

stabu

Hi H2G2,

that seems like valuable advice, many thanks, I appreciate it.

Yes, with so many years out of the theory, the MSc first feels like the way to go, and besides it's totally different to an MBA.

In terms of the subject, I threw "learning content" out without thinking. Actually this line of investigation of mine has been mostly about trawling through tons of subject possibilities, period.

Cheers!

Tom Dunne

I have a thread over on the Teaching and Lecturing forum on this topic, though my experience is primarily in Institutes of Technology.

As H2G2 says, a PhD is pretty much required for lecturing in a university. It is required for a senior lecturer position in an IT, entry-level positions only require a degree (though in my experience, most lecturers have at least a masters).

As for the PhD, some colleges will award an MSc part the way through the PhD program. The idea being if you pull out after x number of years, at least you will have something to show for your work.

One thing I will point out is that it is quite difficult to get a full-time position as a lecturer. You will pick up a year here, a year there, but full time (never mind permanent) can be quite difficult.

My standard advice is to get some part-time lecturing experience. If you have the aptitude, you will have no problem picking up a few hours.

stabu

Hi Tom,

Yes, thanks I read through the "how to become a lecturer" thread. Thanks for the helpful pointers, especially getting the lecturing experience, I keep meaning to do that, but it's just that I have almost zero contacts in academia. All my contacts are in business, so where to start has been a big problem with me.

Cheers.

Tom Dunne

stabu wrote:

I keep meaning to do that, but it's just that I have almost zero contacts in academia. All my contacts are in business, so where to start has been a big problem with me.

Start by reading the papers on a Thursday/Friday . When I worked in IT Tallaght, for example, I didn't know anyone there, I just applied after seeing an advert in the paper, no contacts.

Though having said that, having contacts in academia is quite useful, it is how I got my current part-time role.

stabu

Just as a bit of follow-up, I'm coming around to the fact that I'll probably need to do an MSc first, for 07-08 anyhow. It would work as an adaptation year and also to identify a decent subject for PhD'08 onwards.

That's what seems like a paced change and sensible choice. And now to ditch the job ...