Industry positions

[tiy123]

[deleted]

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[deleted343839]

You might look into the pharmaceutical industry and contract research organizations. You're not going to make $80K right out of the gate but $50K is not unreasonable. An experienced CRA (clinical research associate - essentially someone who oversees clinical trials) can pull in $100K in some markets. Data analysis and regulatory writing are other possibilities.

 

[dissonance_]

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[PsychMajorUndergrad18]

Maybe be a market research analyst or something similar to that?

 

[biscuitsbiscuits]

You might look into the pharmaceutical industry and contract research organizations. You're not going to make $80K right out of the gate but $50K is not unreasonable. An experienced CRA (clinical research associate - essentially someone who oversees clinical trials) can pull in $100K in some markets. Data analysis and regulatory writing are other possibilities.

You beat me to it!

This. Find a CRA job. Your experience makes you a great candidate for a CRA position and you might find it to be enough of a change while still pulling from your skill set and interests.

I would avoid the pharmaceutical rep thing altogether but I agree with dissonance otherwise- don't stay too long. I started as a CRA the year before I planned to apply to PhD programs and ended up staying eight years. It gets pretty comfortable. Don't lose sight of your goals (unless you want to).

 

[tiy123]

Thanks these are super helpful. The CRA thing seems like it would be up my alley--but if I should only do it for a few years then what's the end goal? We had one in a hospital that I worked at and I kinda got the impression that it was a phd/med school cv booster. Are you saying do it for a few years to make some $$ and then go back for a clinical phd?

Dissonance--do you mean like a pharma sales rep?

Also--any suggestions that would put my comp sci minor to use?

 

[biscuitsbiscuits]

Well, if you wind up loving it, you can certainly build a career in pharma/biotech. I didn't mean to imply that there was anything wrong with that; just that if you still want to apply to doctoral programs, don't let that goal slip away.*

*...as I did. I may have been projecting.

 

[tiy123]

Haha okay good to hear! I have an irrational/immature dislike of "big pharma" that it sounds like I'll need to get over soon...

 

[dissonance_]

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[biscuitsbiscuits]

Haha okay good to hear! I have an irrational/immature dislike of "big pharma" that it sounds like I'll need to get over soon...

I don't think it's immature. There are very real reasons to be skeptical of the pharmaceutical industry and I wish there were more people who felt that way within the industry. I worked for a small biotech that was a scrappy startup at the time that I started. The founder of the company was motivated to find therapies for neurological conditions that were largely ignored by the pharma industry because they weren't necessarily "profitable." The company has since grown (still far from "big pharma") but has not abandoned its close relationship with communities of patients with these conditions or the drive to help them.

Of course all of these companies are motivated to make a profit at the end of the day, and you may have trouble reconciling that (and I'd understand completely). But there is definitely a range of motivations among pharma companies, some more or less ethical than others. There are definitely pharma companies that I would never work for. You'd just have to draw that line wherever feels comfortable for you (if at all).

 

[PsyDr]

I know guys and have myself consulted in marketing, Pharma, finance. and computer sci. Approximately 90% of this is because of social connections (I.e., At various social functions and I nerded out with people about different types of math who later hired me to consult).

There's great money in medical device, emr, and such. One of my buddies is in that and has a half million dollar house, a stay at home wife, two kids, and two luxury cars. If you're good looking, pharm sales is good. If you're a not great looking guy, surgical sales is an even better income. Plus you get to travel and wear scrubs. Electrophysiology monitoring peeps only have bachelors and make a decent living I think. The male I work with has a Ducati so that's not too bad.

Behavioral economics PhD programs like at Stanford have some very cool physiology and imaging studies. They seem to make bank. Dunno how. But the one at Harvard is living okay.

 

[tiy123]

[deleted]

 

[PsyDr]

What do you mean by electrophysiology monitoring? I have some experience with ECG/impedance cardiography/EDA so in theory that sounds like a great fit. From quick googling I'm just seeing a lot of cardiac electrophysiological techs though, which looks like a specialized 2 year degree. When you say medical device/emr do you mean sales? Or research/development?

Intraoperative Monitoring jobs. Pays around 60k or so. They put in some leads after the patient is sedated. Info goes to a neurologist. Surgeons ask the techs some things. Last I looked most jobs train applicants. A psychologist is head of the professional association or was at some point. Look up intraoperative monitoring. ABRET and some stuff. I don't think they do cardio, but that's also not my area so....

I meant sales for EMR and medical devices. I can't imagine the R&D teams would have anyone on staff without a graduate degree minimum.

 

[dissonance_]

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[erg923]

Keep in mind that you will need more schooling/certification if you want to treat/diagnose or administer any tests in health care (well, legally anyway). There are some states that are less restrictive and have more nonchalant laws re: licensing and administration. However, I think it will continue to get more restrictive across the board.

In clinical trials (which is healthcare, cause a treatment is being given), undergraduate level individuals are often trained on the administration of various rating scales and psych/neuropsych instruments.

I recently interviewed for a clinical science advisor position at a large company that runs clinical trials in the pharm industry. Its different, but very rewarding work, for psychologists. Pay is pretty high too.

 

[dissonance_]

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[stw2010]

Just curious -- (and @erg923 you touched on this briefly), at the PhD level, what options do we have for transitioning into industry. In wanting to explore options -- the first step and one I'm finding difficult - what are the titles of the positions to even search and understand what they entail. Erg, you mentioning Clinical Science Advisor was helpful. Does anyone know other position titles to search?

And would anyone mind explaining a little more about clinical psychologists as pharm reps? Thank you!

 

[Ollie123]

Depending on what you mean by industry and what your background/skillset entails, there are boatloads of "Research scientist" positions across multiple industries that a psychologist might fit in.

 

[PhDToBe]

I know some people with non-clinical/counseling degrees who do research for Honeywell** with their Cognitive Psych PhD, and a Social Psych PhD who does research for the military. I believe both make over 80k. Maybe also a statistician, depending on your ability to do stats.