I have a degree in cultural anthropology and graduated in the mid-aughts. I remember several conversations about working at a university with my advisor. He bas

I have a degree in cultural anthropology and graduated in the mid-aughts. I remember several conversations about working at a university with my advisor. He basically told me not to, or do so very sparingly in order to have some income when you run into lean times with your research money. Said he tries to keep people from getting pulled into the academia meat grinder. The politics, the intense competition for research grants, constantly fighting for tenure, the lack of support in their research - he didn't see it as a worthwhile pursuit compared to going after outside, private research money or working instead in the corporate world. I could tell he was pretty jaded, but out of the five professors in the department, only one encouraged me to stay at the university and pursue a career in academia. Considering where academia has gone since then, I'm pretty happy I took their advice.