If you're working on a really hot research topic, you can come back to industry with a much better resumé + probably pay check. I know for ML research if you wa

If you're working on a really hot research topic, you can come back to industry with a much better resumé + probably pay check. I know for ML research if you want to ever 'make it big' you basically need to do a phd at a top university. I would look into the specific field you're doing a research project and then see if that field looks promising ~3-5 years out. For instance, if Coinbase and Ethereum are huge in 3 years, I'd imagine they'd love to talk if you've done important foundational work on blockchain related tech. AWS also released their quantum ledger DB suggesting they're interested in blockchain-related ideas. It probably wouldn't make the most sense to just go back to being a web developer at randomTechcorp after this, but you could have potentially even more interesting opportunities.