> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://panav.gitbook.io/robotics-handbook/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://panav.gitbook.io/robotics-handbook/career-paths-and-research-opportunities/career-paths-and-research-opportunities.md).

# Career Paths (overview)

Career paths in robotics - academic research, industry roles, startups, and emerging opportunities from autonomous systems to humanoids.

Robotics offers diverse paths: pure research in SLAM and learning, system integration at scale, deep specialization in hardware, or full-stack work at startups. This section covers the landscape.

Read it in roughly this order. [Job Roles](/robotics-handbook/career-paths-and-research-opportunities/job-roles-in-robotics.md) tells you what the work actually is, [Companies Hiring](/robotics-handbook/career-paths-and-research-opportunities/companies-hiring-for-robotics.md) tells you who is doing it, and [Conferences and Journals](/robotics-handbook/career-paths-and-research-opportunities/conferences-and-journals.md) plus [Leading Institutes](/robotics-handbook/career-paths-and-research-opportunities/leading-institutes.md) cover the research side.

### In this section

<table data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th></th><th data-type="content-ref"></th><th data-hidden data-card-cover data-type="files"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Job Roles in Robotics</td><td><a href="/robotics-handbook/career-paths-and-research-opportunities/job-roles-in-robotics.md">Job Roles In Robotics</a></td><td><a href="https://923066007-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FJR2yBCOFnSaxfostbWYx%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-40b15c9d2dfba8f1bcc1699f279c533f9470fc69%2Frobotics-job-roles.gif?alt=media">robotics-job-roles.gif</a></td></tr><tr><td>Companies Hiring for Robotics</td><td><a href="/robotics-handbook/career-paths-and-research-opportunities/companies-hiring-for-robotics.md">Companies Hiring for Robotics</a></td><td><a href="https://923066007-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FJR2yBCOFnSaxfostbWYx%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-f8eeb952689db6e427a03550422cc9184a06c3b1%2Frobotics-toolbox.gif?alt=media">robotics-toolbox.gif</a></td></tr><tr><td>Leading Institutes &#x26; Labs</td><td><a href="/robotics-handbook/career-paths-and-research-opportunities/leading-institutes.md">Leading Institutes</a></td><td><a href="https://923066007-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FJR2yBCOFnSaxfostbWYx%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-03519525d52d1d4ffd5ad6682767c3e3db22ab20%2Frobotics-lab-research.gif?alt=media">robotics-lab-research.gif</a></td></tr><tr><td>Conferences and Journals</td><td><a href="/robotics-handbook/career-paths-and-research-opportunities/conferences-and-journals.md">Conferences and Journals</a></td><td><a href="https://923066007-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FJR2yBCOFnSaxfostbWYx%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-51112c7f5891cc1c2b464f354630d59c7bc8281e%2Frobotics-community.gif?alt=media">robotics-community.gif</a></td></tr></tbody></table>