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It would help if you could tell us about your specific positions in academia, those which informed these observations.
by everybodyknows 3y ago
It would help if you could tell us about your specific positions in academia, those which informed these observations.
- ke88y 3y agoPhD student and faculty (quite briefly). Serving on grant panels also informed this view, but looking back, I think I was already getting disgusted by the culture of academia around my second year of grad school. My immediate family spent/spends much more time in academia than I, including the person I live with who has built their career in academia. My own experience of academia was actually quite positive -- I enjoyed my PhD years, was well-supported, received many tenure-track offers from elite institutions immediately out of my PhD, and I left on better than good terms with coworkers and former colleagues. My assessment isn't a result of personal bitterness or a failure to "win the game", if that's what you're getting at. Quite the opposite, in fact -- doing extremely well in the early career game afforded me the personal confidence to leave the track to which I had previously committed. (FWIW, the fact that I'll retire many decades earlier than I would've otherwise was not immaterial to my decision making)