Let’s say I complete my PhD in machine learning with 3 first author papers in NIPS/ICML/etc. This is widely considered to be the minimum requirement for graduation in the US. Would I have any chance at research scientist positions in industry labs, or would the only doors open to me be glorified software engineering positions? My understanding is that scientist positions are reserved only for the best and that a minimally productive PhD does not put me in a good position for these jobs. Do any of you have any perspective on this? Thanks in advance