81. Ashley Ruba, academic expat and career coach, on being nimble and making pivots

Once a Scientist

Episode 81. Ashley Ruba is the founder of After Academia and a Human Factors Engineer at Arthrex. Ashley did her PhD in developmental psychology at the University of Washington and her undergrad degree at Duke University.
Show Notes:
Infant language and emotional development lab [02:00]
NIH NRSA Institutional Postdoc Training Grant (T32) [03:48]
Ashey’s academic story [01:45]
Leaving academia [07:12]
Human Factors Engineer [9:35]
Arthrax [10:37]
Working in augmented reality [10:43]
Attachment styles [13:10]
How do you get your first job out of academia [16:05]
Pivoting into UX research and Human Factors Engineering and the process of making the change [24:21]
Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive [28:44]
Pivoting from big tech for stability and more growth opportunities [29:40]
Career coaching [32:22]
Getting over self doubt, internal roadblock, and imposter syndrome [34:39]
How do I get recruiter to look at my resume [38:32]
Tactical tips on how to structure a resume [40:08]
Motivating factors beyond salary and benefits [44:22]
Being honest with yourself [47:11]
Core values - growth [48:21]
Most unexpected change and realization [49:37]
Listen to yourself [52:57]
What advice would you give to your younger self? [54:09]
The myth of being stuck in academia [57:06]