careerladder.fyi › Career paths › Massachusetts Institute of Technology
How people got research & staff jobs at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
What 39 people did before they joined Massachusetts Institute of Technology: where they worked, what they studied, which role they came in through, and how long it took.
39
people in our data got there
52%
had a graduate degree first (of those listing one)
4
typical years since first job
- The most common step right before: from other companies (54%).
- The most common way in was Research (74% joined in that kind of role).
- Of those who list their education, 52% had a graduate degree before arriving and 24% a PhD.
- The typical person arrived about 4 years after their first job.
How Massachusetts Institute of Technology compares
- 52% had a graduate degree, below the 60% across other universities, the 2nd-highest of the 3 in our data.
- 21% came straight from a degree, well above the <1% across other universities, the highest of the 4 in our data.
Among people who list their education; places with at least 10 such people.
Show as a table
| People listing education | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| Stanford University | 24 | 42% |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology (this page) | 25 | 24% |
| Columbia University | 22 | 18% |
Show as a table
| Median years | ||
|---|---|---|
| Columbia University | 5 yrs | |
| Stanford University | 4 yrs | |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology (this page) | 4 yrs | |
| University of California, Berkeley | 3 yrs |
Which role they joined in
Kinds of role with fewer than 5 people are combined into "All other roles".
Show as a table
| People | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| Research | 29 | 74% |
| All other roles | 10 | 26% |
Show as a table
| People | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| Research Assistant | 6 | 15% |
What they did right before
Show as a table
| People | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| From other companies | 21 | 54% |
| Straight from a degree | 8 | 21% |
| Other | 10 | 26% |
Education
Among the 25 of 39 people who list their education.
Show as a table
| People | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| Bachelor's | 12 | 48% |
| Master's | 7 | 28% |
| PhD | 6 | 24% |
How much experience they had
Among the 27 of 39 people with an earlier job listed.
Show as a table
| People | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1 year | 4 | 15% |
| 1-3 years | 4 | 15% |
| 3-5 years | 7 | 26% |
| 5-8 years | 8 | 30% |
| 8-12 years | 2 | 7% |
| 12+ years | 2 | 7% |
Where would your path lead?
Paste your LinkedIn or resume and see the ladders people like you climbed to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and how each step changes your chances.
Plan my path to Massachusetts Institute of Technology →
Paste your LinkedIn or resume and see the ladders people like you climbed to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and how each step changes your chances.
Plan my path to Massachusetts Institute of Technology →
Related
How these numbers are made. From 3k+ public career histories collected for careerladder.fyi (dated jobs, degrees and publications). The collection was built around particular employers, so people who reached well-known tech, AI and finance employers are over-represented: read shares as "among people in this dataset", not as hiring odds. Names are shown only when at least 5 people are behind them; smaller groups are combined into "Other". No individual profile is shown. Updated November 2026.