Industry Internships for PhD students – Take a break, gain new perspectives!
Nicolas Lanzetti – Citadel, New York City
When a research stay fell through, Nicolas decided to apply for a summer internship at Citadel, a hedge fund in New York. What started on a whim turned into a valuable three-month experience. “I learned a lot in a short time”, Nicolas says. “You gain so many insights by working in a different environment for a while. I could acquire new skills and expand my network. It also helped me get a better idea of possible careers after my PhD studies.”
Wasn’t he afraid of losing time for his research? “No, if you put it into perspective, an internship is very short compared to the duration of a PhD.”
Nicolas strongly recommends PhD students to pursue internships and believes they are beneficial for all parties involved: “In academia, industry work is often undervalued, and in industry, academia is seen the same way. It would be great if internships were addressed between researchers and PIs as part of the PhD journey.”
Marta Forchesato – Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL), Boston
For Marta, a four-month internship at MERL in Boston offered a change of pace, but not so much a change of working style: “MERL is one of the few places where industry closely resembles academia: you do research, you write papers, and you go to conferences”. Even though the work itself was very similar to academic research, Marta still learnt new things and was able to strengthen her profile and network: “Doing an internship in industry definitely helps to improve your soft skills, and the experiences are very useful in job interviews, especially when it comes to behavioural questions about teamwork and communication, and application-oriented questions.”
Her recommendation to her fellow researchers is clear: “Do an internship but possibly pick something different from your research to explore new topics. Also, five years is a long time. Taking a break and doing something different for a few months really helps to recharge and find motivation.”
Francesco Micheli – Amazon, Luxembourg
Francesco spent six months as a research scientist intern at Amazon in Luxembourg, working on the optimisation of transportation networks. His projects spanned mathematical programming, Bayesian optimisation, and machine learning. “It was a fun experience and a great opportunity to connect with new people who valued my skills”, he says. “I also got to improve my technical skills, and it is definitely a benefit for your CV.”
The biggest advantage in his case was that the internship directly opened the door to a job: after graduation, he got a full-time job at Amazon in a different team.
Francesco recommends doing an internship during your PhD at a company that has experience with internships, as this ensures good supervision and smooth procedures. He also advises selecting organisations where you could imagine working afterwards.
Nicolas, Marta, and Francesco agree: Doing an internship during your PhD is a valuable experience. It offers a unique opportunity to broaden your horizon and prepare for the next career step and can help you recharge motivation during a long PhD journey.
How about you?
Would you also like to do an internship but do not know where to get started?
In the US and the UK, industry internships for PhD students are well-established; companies advertise them on their websites and have processes in place to handle the applications. If you want to go there, it is best to check the company websites.
If you prefer to stay local and become more connected with Swiss industry, many companies in the NCCR Automation’s industry network would be very happy to host you. Reach out to Claudia for more information.
