The world is keen to convince us that we’ve made a terrible choice by doing a PhD:

“So many research scientists, so few openings for professors”

“Why doing a PhD is often a waste of time”

However, these headlines and articles tend to ignore the fact that there are career options other than academic research for those with a PhD. As someone who has not taken the ‘traditional’ route into a post-doc I am frequently asked about life outside of academia. I initially felt a bit of an anomaly, and even a failure, for not sticking around. This is despite the reality that the majority of PhD graduates will not go on to do post-docs, fellowships or even teach.

There are a lot of opportunities out there beyond academia, but it can be hard to have a discussion about these with your supervisors or peers. Understandably, this is because they only have experience of academia or clinical work themselves. Well-meaning chats about post-PhD careers can become tiring when they keep drifting back to fellowships.

With that in mind, here’s my experience of moving into a job as a medical writer and some advice on going down this route yourselves. And I promise I won’t even mention post-docs once.

What even is a medical writer?

Briefly, medical writing refers to a range of jobs that include everything from writing manuscripts, posters, slides, editing others’ work, pitching to international clients, writing materials for patients, bit of journalism, preparing symposia at conferences, a bit of graphic design, pretending you understand about diseases or drugs you’ve never come across, drinking copious amounts of tea and many other things. You can read a considerably more comprehensive description here.

I came across medical writing by chance when I was looking at my options for staying in Manchester longer. It seemed like the perfect deal. I knew I loved writing, being kept busy and speaking to people and medical writing came up as the ideal opportunity to do just that whilst remaining in science.

I can definitely recommend attending an open day such as the one I attended in Manchester last September (details for this year’s event here). For someone who didn’t know too much about medical writing I found the day incredibly useful. Guides online are great, but nothing beats speaking to a human being. Who knows, the interviewers might even remember you.

How does medical writing differ from academia?

Well I still spend my days writing about scientific findings, reading through journal papers, and writing materials for different audiences. For me, I have also managed to wriggle my way into writing for the general public (something I loved during the PhD) and have been involved in event planning. I’ve found that the main differences are job stability and a healthier working environment. Let me give you an example from a second week in the job. I was given a project to work on that I found difficult and a little out of my depth with. Nonetheless, I worked on it and did all I could after asking people for advice. However, I knew with more time I could do more and produce something even better. The day was coming to a close and I was prepared to stay late. It was a Friday night, but I figured it would be better to sacrifice part of my weekend than have someone think I couldn’t do this. Eyes fixed forward I felt a tap on my shoulder,

“You’re not staying late are you?”

“Yeah, I just got some mor…”

“Nu uh, that’s not on you. You go home and enjoy your weekend.”

One of the senior writers had seen I wasn’t moving to leave for the day and came over to tell me firmly it was not my responsibility to stay late. It was spontaneous and it was nice.

The second main way that medical writing has differed for me is that I feel more part of a team than I ever did during my PhD. I appreciate my experience may be different than others but my ‘team’ were those I shared an office with, and the cohort who started their PhD at the same time. We worked on very different projects and so there was not this shared sense of progressing the same ‘thing’ together. Medical writing is different. I am part of a team, within a much larger team, who are assigned to specific projects. There are clear obstacles, issues to address, and a sense of shared achievement as we all muck in and pull together to overcome them. By comparison, despite the fact I had amazing office mates and friends, there were plenty of times it was easy to feel isolated in my research. Even if you have fantastic supervisor support, that’s still somehow not quite the same as being part of a group of people working together.

What I miss about academia  

Research and outreach. Pure and simple for me. I may have not liked the idea of academic uncertainty, but I loved the research I carried out. At times it felt disconnected from the real-world, but I was still answering questions and contributing something new.

I liked my research and I loved the outreach it enabled. To me studying sleep was a dream. Talking about it even more so, and as part of the PhD I could do this every day. However, a job can make this hard as you cannot really (all that successfully) write an article or complete an application for an outreach event during work. These are things that have to happen in the evening. After work. After the commute. It’s by no means impossible but it’s harder.

There is a slight ego aspect here no doubt. It was nice to think that you’re the person who knows more about your research than anyone else. An expert in a teeny tiny spec of knowledge but an expert nonetheless. You can still have those enthusiastic and excited conversations, but these are caveated with “can we talk about this in the evenings or weekends”?

Finally, teaching is something I definitely miss. I still tutor students in my spare time but it is not quite the same as providing support to a large group of students.

What I don’t miss about academia

It’s weird to write this section because it’s easy to think about research in the same way you consider an old relationship. It can be easy to gloss over all the bad parts and think “well it wasn’t that bad really…?” only to think that bit longer and remember all the ways you went a bit mad. To me, working long hours and focusing primarily on work was seen as the right way to spend your life. I had fun, don’t get me wrong – too much apparently – but there was never a switch off while I was in research. There was always more to do. On the one side that’s amazing and exciting and stimulating. On the other it can be draining.

Also, I always thought I’d be happy to hop around and live in different places constantly. As a child we moved so many times I lost count but that leaves you feeling like nowhere is really home. Maybe it’s Manchester or maybe I know what I want more as I get older, but I like having a place to call home. I like feeling part of a community, of a place, and having a bigger connection to it other than nostalgia. With the expectation to move around frequently for post-docs and positions, academia, to me, made developing a sense of ‘home’ difficult.

Advice for those who are thinking of medical writing

• Do your research

If you are based in Manchester, there are a lot of different medical writing firms with very different atmospheres. My advice is to not just look them up online but chat to people working there. Pick up the phone and speak to someone; get a feel for the size and community. Part of your interview will be your potential bosses not just sussing out your ability to write but also how you will fit with their team.

For example, do you want to work with a big company where you’ll be given structured training and a lot more support early on? Or, would you prefer something smaller where you’re thrown in and allowed to just get on with it with support from experienced writers and team members? Do you want to work in the centre of the city, outskirts, do you mind a commute, do you like the colour orange? Of course, you can stumble into it and work out what you want while you’re there – I just found it useful to think about these things early on.

• Use LinkedIn (I know but bear with me) and communicate

I’ll admit I spent a little bit of time getting my profile up to scratch as I was looking at medical writing jobs. I found it helped. If nothing else, then use it to find people who have recently started working at medical writing companies you are interested in. Contact these people and ask them for their honest opinions, what their journey into medical writing was like, and what their company is like to work for. It’s infinitely more useful than just reading descriptions on job adverts and company pages.

• Know you’re allowed to change your mind

This is relevant in more ways than one. To me, I had gone through the university machine with the feeling I would be a clinician or a researcher. It was a fixed thought and the notion of hopping around, trying things, and perhaps even coming back to jobs was an alien concept. For a start, it is not unusual for medical writers to move from company to company and experience a broad range of jobs that come under the umbrella of medical writing. On the other side, you don’t have to stick as a medical writer forever.

I get asked about my transition from academia, about whether I miss research and these questions come with an air of rigidity, “You’ve left research now and help me make the decision about whether to step blindly off that cliff too”. I don’t know where I’ll be in 5 years, but my path feels much more flexible now I know that options are out there. Maybe it’s just me who thought in these fixed ways but moving away from academia has changed my outlook on work, and where I want to end up.

• Try to get a good feel for all the different things a medical writer does

This is linked to doing your research, but I think it deserves its own point. Medical communications cover a broad range of jobs and areas. I have done a lot of different things already and some of these were not what I initially had in mind before starting as a medical writer. It’s useful to chat to people from a range of different agencies and backgrounds to get a feel for all the different things you can get involved in. I’m always happy to answer questions, and most other people in this field will be too.

Ultimately, this is only one of many available jobs out there that are open to someone with a PhD in science. Life outside academia may not be something that your supervisor necessarily knows all that much about. However, there are plenty of us outside of academia ready to tell you about the other opportunities available. Please bug us, we are usually happy to help make your post-PhD transition as easy as possible.

There was a time, not all that long ago, when the doomsayers had us scared too. That doesn’t mean they were, or are, right.

Jack