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comment by mechanosm
mechanosm  ·  3665 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: A Career in Science Will Cost You Your Firstborn

I'm not sure that even 8% make it to tenure-track; that sounds high to me (1 in 13). I survived to run my own research lab, spent a decade driving myself to unhappiness, then left in the middle of the worst economic climate in 80 years. Although unemployed, I was still happier not having to wrangle grants, graduate students, and grumpy administrators.





ButterflyEffect  ·  3664 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Mind if I ask what you ended up doing after leaving and unemployment? Industry or a total shift in career or something else?

kingmudsy  ·  3664 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    Corrections: The original article had a suggestion that only 8% of postdocs get a tenure track position. It should have read that 8% of people who enter a PhD program achieve a tenure track position.

Not sure if you saw, but the author did make some corrections, which seem to make sense with what you're saying,

Cumol  ·  3664 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I think that many people think that they will "not be one of those". That they would be the exception. But this is reality...

I love doing research. I love academia. I want to teach. And I know that academia is the right place to me (also because the alternatives are not interesting). But I am not willing to play that stupid game of impact factors and stressful competition. So what do I do?