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You can't flee from "Office politics", it is everywhere in life. In fact, I consider it a talent for a person to be able to judge someone's merits fairly if the

You can't flee from "Office politics", it is everywhere in life. In fact, I consider it a talent for a person to be able to judge someone's merits fairly if they dislike them. Academia seems to be very extreme on this though, because a lot of professor and admin jobs are "islands with a king" where merit is much harder to define than in a department of a company for example.

captainmuon 5y ago
I don't know. I make a point of refusing to do office politics and being purposely fact-oriented, honest and "naive". It probably blocks some career possibilities but enables me to get things done where others can't, and I like to think also gain my colleagues' trust. I found inside a given university job, lets say a PhD or postdoc, it is easy to just do your thing and ignore politics. There is almost no consequences for anything, as opposed to in industy. The kicker is only when you switch jobs. You need to have connections, and goodwill. So, once you have a permanent position and are the king of the island, you can basically do whatever you want. You only have to play politics with the university leadership and funding agencies, but otherwise you can just do your thing. Of course, for the less priviliged people under you, this feels like politicking.
Ataraxiaist 5y ago
In a non-academic setting though I have not seen the extremely brilliant person get anything other than the promotions they deserve. The problem I have seen is that a huge percent of the average thinks they are that brilliant person when they simply are not. I know I surely am not. Academia though is a completely different animal. The whole system is completely broken beyond repair. Like trying to keep a 1992 Ford Taurus on the road in 2022. We are just setting money on fire to drive a piece of shit instead of investing in a new car.

captainmuon 5y ago

I don't know. I make a point of refusing to do office politics and being purposely fact-oriented, honest and "naive". It probably blocks some career possibilities but enables me to get things done where others can't, and I like to think also gain my colleagues' trust. I found inside a given university job, lets say a PhD or postdoc, it is easy to just do your thing and ignore politics. There is almost no consequences for anything, as opposed to in industy. The kicker is only when you switch jobs. You need to have connections, and goodwill. So, once you have a permanent position and are the king of the island, you can basically do whatever you want. You only have to play politics with the university leadership and funding agencies, but otherwise you can just do your thing. Of course, for the less priviliged people under you, this feels like politicking.

Ataraxiaist 5y ago

In a non-academic setting though I have not seen the extremely brilliant person get anything other than the promotions they deserve. The problem I have seen is that a huge percent of the average thinks they are that brilliant person when they simply are not. I know I surely am not. Academia though is a completely different animal. The whole system is completely broken beyond repair. Like trying to keep a 1992 Ford Taurus on the road in 2022. We are just setting money on fire to drive a piece of shit instead of investing in a new car.