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While it is true that nobody forces you to work for low pay - there is definitely misleading advertising at play. Most young people that pick science do not un
by glofish 7y ago
While it is true that nobody forces you to work for low pay - there is definitely misleading advertising at play.
Most young people that pick science do not understand the "real" rules of science, and what it takes to "succeed". Being a good, reliable, hard-working scientists will not ensure your success.
Whereas in many if not most jobs, being good at the job itself usually suffices.
- knzhou 7y agoI know what the rules are. In fact the community seems to be extremely transparent about it -- there are sites that keep track of all job offers out there for you, along with historical statistics. The struggle for jobs is the result of the government funding structure, plus supply and demand. It's not perfect, but it's infinitely preferably to the older system, where you could reliably do science only if you had great personal wealth, or were favored by somebody who did.
- glofish 7y agoFirst and foremost, we are talking in general, about young scientists. Do you think they all know what they sign up for? I for one, having seen many hundreds of them, I don't think so. Then I will say, job offers are not relevant here. Who gets the job offer? What do they have to actually do in that job? Where are they going to be in 10 years? What kind of life, job security, job conditions, career advancement prospects do you have over the long term? For most scientists, these are the most nebulous concepts ever. You may think you know what the job is - maybe, I wouldn't know. What I do know that most people do not understand that a PI (principal investigator) at a University does nothing even remotely similar to what a postdoc (who wants to be a PI does)/ The churn and exploitation is very common.