#140 - Should You Leave Academia? Advice for Researchers with Joe Stubenrauch

<p>The decision to leave academia can be difficult. Often, it involves giving up a stable career path and a lifetime commitment to a particular field of study. </p><p>But as <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-stubenrauch/">Joe Stubenrauch</a> explains, the move also offers researchers the opportunity to pursue new career paths, improve work-life balance and geographic flexibility, and reinvent their lives.</p><p>And he should know: Formerly a professor of history, he walked away from tenure to join a big tech company as a UX Researcher at AWS. In this episode, Joe discusses his decision to walk transition to the private sector and shares thoughtful advice for others considering a similar move.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Highlights from the episode</strong></p><ul> <li>[04:06] Joe reflects on feeling burnt out, bored, and doubtful in academia </li> <li>[11:23] What makes you happy? Joe weighs the pros and cons of things like mental health, geographic mobility, and proximity to family and friends.</li> <li>[19:41] Breaking into a new field, experimenting, and talking to people. </li> <li>[34:47] The importance of having a portfolio that includes compelling stories </li> <li>[41:35] Tactical advice for job seekers (resumes, LinkedIn profiles, job interview strategies, etc)</li> <li>[44:23] Working in a team environment as a former academic</li> </ul><p><strong>About our guest</strong></p><p>Joe Stubenrauch is a former professor of British history at Baylor University, and the author of a <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-evangelical-age-of-ingenuity-in-industrial-britain-9780198783374">prize-winning book</a> published by Oxford University Press. During the height of the pandemic, he walked away from tenure and joined a big tech company in order to redesign his life. Now as a UX Researcher at <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/">AWS</a>, Joe has found unexpected similarities between his work as Victorianist and his work in the cloud. He also writes regularly about the transition from acad