When you are trying to break into a new industry, generic advice is useless. “Network more” and “Optimize your LinkedIn” are great, but they don’t tell you how a theoretical physicist actually landed a job doing AI for a quantum computing startup.
We realized that what scholars actually needed were blueprints. Real, verified case studies of people who made the jump.
“I don’t need another seminar on resume writing. I need to see the exact resume of the guy who got the job I want.”
Enter the Transition Database
We reached out to our alumni network and compiled the PhD-to-Industry Transition Database. It’s an anonymized but highly detailed registry of actual transitions. You can filter by your domain (e.g., Biotech, Energy) and see exactly what roles people took and, more importantly, what their core transition strategy was.
Some learned specific open-source libraries on GitHub. Others used very specific networking tactics. By reading through these cases, you can reverse-engineer a pathway for yourself.
Don’t reinvent the wheel. Use the database to find someone with your background, see where they ended up, and borrow their strategy.