A Career in Robotics: Do You Need PhD or Industrial Knowledge?

If you don't know anybody right now working in robotics, it's a great opportunity to change that.

If you're worried about the future job security of your current career, it could be time to switch to a more in-demand career, such as one offered by the robotics or artificial intelligence fields. Fortunately, you don't need a doctorate to make that kind of a job transition. By showing creativity, dedication, and a willingness to learn in-demand skills, you could set yourself up for success despite not having an advanced degree. This article features how you can build a career in robotics.

Strong Programming Knowledge

In a wide sense, robotics technology is about sensors giving input to a framework that is playing out a task in real-time. Robotics is truly at its developing stages, with different worldview conflicts and ubiquity challenges, both in the academic community and industry.

In case you're searching for an academic career or want to transition to robotics, one route is to get into some math courses. Robotics warrants a noteworthy holdover at any rate college-level math, in particular, linear algebra, probability, and calculus.

Pay and lifetime earning potential

Engineers are significantly better paid in the industry than in academia. Since working in an industry for a minimum of five to ten years and getting a PhD in robotics are often considered equivalent experiences for many job applications, even the time spent getting a PhD in robotics – where you will earn much less than you would in the industry – can mean that you give up a substantial amount of money. Let's say that an entry-level engineering job makes US$100,000 per year, and a graduate student earns US$40,000. If your PhD takes six years, you lose out on US$60,000 x 6 = US$360,000 of potential pay. Consider also that a PhD student's stipend is fairly static, whereas you can expect to have incremental salary increases, bonuses, and promotions in an industry job, meaning that you actually lose out on at least US$400,000. This is a totally valid reason to either skip the PhD process completely or to work in the industry for a few years and build up some savings before applying to PhD programs.