Right now I work in R&D, kinda like a research engineer? a little multi role in the sense that for one project I'm a contributor, another I'm just an "expert resource" that chime in now and then for some domain knowledge, and then I also get pulled now and then for my expertise when the business guys need some technical input (due diligence work etc). A weird role in my first ever big corporation work so I don't know how to find it, I got lucky being in the right place right time with the right background.
Before that it was mostly startup (robotics engineering) and out of sheer sense of impostor syndrome (and curiosity) I spent a lot of my free time just learning(online courses) and going to tech meetup and through that met a researcher, that suggested a joint research project on the weekend, and later got a research job at a startup (with a pretty steep pay cut). I think that experience is what helped me the most.
It's fun but at the same time expertise and learning is a continual process and at some places (like where I am right now) it's a bit tricky to keep it up through free time study alone. I also feel like unless you're exceptional(I'm not) you'll struggle to convince others of your expertise a lot if you don't have it on paper (I don't have a PhD, when many do in what I do).
I guess also being "expert, in a cross domain project" helps. My last job was ML + Neuroscience + Robotics and I was the only person with expertise in robotics which made me valuable, and I could spend time learning a lot. In a team of exceptional robotics experts, I think it would've been a little bit harder for me
Before that it was mostly startup (robotics engineering) and out of sheer sense of impostor syndrome (and curiosity) I spent a lot of my free time just learning(online courses) and going to tech meetup and through that met a researcher, that suggested a joint research project on the weekend, and later got a research job at a startup (with a pretty steep pay cut). I think that experience is what helped me the most.
It's fun but at the same time expertise and learning is a continual process and at some places (like where I am right now) it's a bit tricky to keep it up through free time study alone. I also feel like unless you're exceptional(I'm not) you'll struggle to convince others of your expertise a lot if you don't have it on paper (I don't have a PhD, when many do in what I do).
I guess also being "expert, in a cross domain project" helps. My last job was ML + Neuroscience + Robotics and I was the only person with expertise in robotics which made me valuable, and I could spend time learning a lot. In a team of exceptional robotics experts, I think it would've been a little bit harder for me