Academic careers are becoming less linear and secure, and are increasingly shaped by environmental constraints. As a result, highly qualified early and mid-career researchers, in particular from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines, are pursuing careers outside academia. This paper advances theory and empirical research on career transitions and sustainable careers by investigating how junior academics transition into the field of data science by exploring the facilitators of their career transition and the ways in which they experience career sustainability in their new occupational field. This study relies on 28 in-depth interviews with early and mid-career STEM researchers from elite universities who decided to join a data science “bootcamp” to pursue a new career as data scientists. Our study reveals the career barriers that junior researchers experience in academia and how career catalysts increase their career adaptability, facilitating a career transition into sustainable careers in data science. Our study shows that career sustainability is experienced through the reaffirmation of interviewees' identity as researchers outside of academia as well as in the reconciliation between their previous career expectations and actual career outcomes after transitioning into data science.

学术职业的线性度和安全性越来越低，并且受到环境限制的影响越来越大。结果，特别是来自STEM（科学，技术，工程和数学）学科的高素质职业早期和中期研究人员正在学术界以外谋求职业。本文通过研究初级学者如何通过进入职业转型的推动者以及他们在新职业领域中体验职业可持续性的方式，来研究职业转型和可持续职业的理论和实证研究，从而推动职业转型和可持续职业的发展。这项研究基于对来自精英大学的早期和中期职业STEM研究人员的28次深度访谈，这些研究人员决定加入数据科学“训练营”以从事数据科学家的新职业。职业催化剂促进了他们的职业适应性，促进了职业向数据科学可持续职业的过渡。我们的研究表明，通过重申受访者作为学术界以外研究人员的身份，以及过渡到数据科学后其先前的职业期望与实际职业成果之间的协调，可以实现职业可持续性。