CAREER TRAJECTORIES FOR EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGISTS
Ray Lopez, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
University of Texas at San Antonio
[email protected]
Watson Platform Technical Enablement
IBM Corporation
[email protected]
OVERVIEW
o Traditional career path for research psycholgists
o Traditional career path for clinical psychologists
o Current employment environment
o Non-traditional career paths for psychology graduates
o Psychology skills mapped to non-traditional jobs
o Going outside your comfort zone
o My own experience
o Resources
Traditional career path for research psychologists
o Earn research experience and papers as undergrad and grad
o Ph.D. awarded
o Post-doctoral work
o Non-tenure-track faculty positions
o Faculty position
o Research v. teaching
o Tenure and beyond
Traditional career path for clinical psychologists
o May earn bachelors and masters degrees in variety of fields
o Doctoral degree not necessary
o Different US states have different regulatory requirements for counselors
o Texas LCP: Master's degree + clinical rotations + state exam
o Ph.D., Psy.D., Ed.D.
o Jobs include
- Private practice
- Government (e.g. supervisor for social workers)
- Schools
- Industry
Current employment environment
o Ph.D. glut
o Decreased higher education and research funding
o Fewer college students
o Higher education "accountability"
o "publish or perish"
o Rise of adjunct teaching positions
o Huge opportunities in clinical and health care
o Opportunities due to rise of
- data analytics
- globalization
- machine intelligence
Non-traditional career paths
o Business consulting
o Information technology consulting
o Software engineering
o User interface design
o K-12 teaching
o Human resources
o Sales and Marketing
o Hospitality industry
o Non-profit organizations
Psychology skills mapped to non-traditional jobs
o Scientific method
o Data acquisition and analysis
o Individual and group dynamics
o Technology use
o Writing about complex topics
o Public speaking and teaching
o "Big picture" perspective and strategic thinking
Going outside of your comfort zone
o Know thyself
o Learn new things
o Make opportunties by learning AND meeting new people
o Networking
- Volunteer
- Social groups
- Active networking
o Great opportunities are not accidents!
My own experience
Wanted to be an M.D. ...
1982 Graduate Uvalde High School
..but discovered physiological psych in college ...
1986 B.S. University of Texas at Austin
1992 M.S. University of Texas at Arlington
1993 Ph.D. University of Texas at Arlington
1994 Postdoctoral researcher UTHSCSA
..and decided to volunteer because I missed teaching ...
1995 Volunteer instructor SeniorComp
..Skip Poole and Ray Gibson gave me new opportunity in IT ...
1996 Consultant MarTek
1997 Consultant EDS Corporation, GCS Military Systems
2000 Partner Caucus Systems, Inc.
2001 Managing Consultant IBM, Global Services
2007 Lead System Engineer USAA
2009 Chief Technology Officer HACU
2014 Advisory Software Eng. IBM, Watson Platform
Resources
The usual career sites ...
LinkedIn.com for networking
Search engine "<your career choice> jobs"
Search engine "phd careers"
VersatilePhD.com
