I am a software engineer living in Berkeley and I think more and more about research, and the way to get there is not clear in my mind.
Should I study online? Go back to school? Get a job as a software engineer in a company that focuses on research?<p>here is my background:<p>- dropped out of school at the age of 18 to start my startup ( www.producteev.com )
- Learned the basics of AI at wit.ai
- Worked at Apple on push notifications / iMessage<p>I would love to work in the energy industry for example, but I am open to other things.<p>Any advice is welcome.
Most of the advice you receive will be to do a PhD as that's what most researches have and what they do.<p>That may be hard without a bachelors degree, prior research knowledge, and potential academic recommendations.<p>One way to short-circuit this is to take your software engineering skills to a research lab and work as a research assistant.<p>This allows you:
a) contact with academics who are doing research
b) the visibility of what research actually is
c) to add value from day one<p>Most labs are in heavy need of software engineers to help with software related tasks.<p>So first focus on what type of research you are interested in (look at as many research labs in as many different disciplines as possible) and then contact them to see how you can help.
Try working at a research-based agency or research branch of an university. I've worked at NASA and Georgia Tech Research Institute as a Research Scientist when I only had my bachelors. Bonus is both place will pay for you to get a graduate degree if you want one.
You can try working as a software engineer in some research project for a while, say at an industry research lab, then slowly make a transition to a research position (which may require a PhD degree).
Why are you leaning towards research, what part of energy sector interests you, and can you afford to take the time off from career for a little bit while you change tracks?