All change

When I announced to a senior researcher in my PhD department that I’d been offered a job as an editor, they warned me to think carefully before accepting it. Was I certain I wanted to leave academic research? Because, they said, returning to academia even after a couple of years away would prove almost impossible.

This wasn’t enough to put me off – I’d already firmly decided that the challenges of a research career did not appeal to me. But I’ve since learned that the advice was wrong anyway. I now know several people who have returned to academic positions after a few years in a different industry. While switching careers may not always have been easy for them, the skills they gained outside of the lab have been valuable for their research.