Ask HN: Is my career as an HCI researcher a dead end?
Briefly about me: I hold a M.Sc. in Applied Computer Science and Human Computer Interaction and have been working as a junior scientist for HCI and applied AI at a German research institute for about 3 years. However, I do not hold a PhD. I am over 30 years old, and the career prospects are not very promising. Doing a PhD would be the next logical step, but there are hardly any paid positions in my field. Without a PhD, however, my time in academia is severely capped and the opportunities very limited, plus it would take a good 3-5 years again at least. The compensation is relatively poor, especially compared to a position in industry. Therefore, I am now considering looking for an alternative. However, this step is very difficult for me because I can't find any comparable positions in industry where I can adequately use my skills and talents. I mostly find jobs in UI design, which is mainly a design job and less that of a computer scientist. But I also don't want to work as a pure programmer. A job description I could well imagine would be "Interaction Designer", however you can hardly find such jobs of in Germany.
Is there anyone who is or was in a similar situation and who has some advice for me?
Research itself isn't valued much in the software industry, but working on monetizable products can pay handsomely.
You mentioned AI. It seems like much of what we used to call UI research will quickly be swept away by generative interfaces which are not based on pixel designs. Have you thought about helping an employer move in that direction? It's certainly a special new skill.
There are tons of UX positions, and every UXer worth his salt does way more than mere UI design. But frankly, you dont sound as if an individual contributor career in engineering is what you aspire, so you could also try to get into product management, but then your programming skills might atrophy rather fast.