> which some academic friends of mine claimed was not possible To be fair: "industry" is not one thing. There's a huge difference between being a software engi

> which some academic friends of mine claimed was not possible To be fair: "industry" is not one thing. There's a huge difference between being a software engineer at a non-R&D software company doing uninteresting consulting or project work and being a SWE in Google Brain/FAIR/etc. Hell, there's a huge difference between positions with the same job title in the same mega-corps. Most professors -- even in CS -- aren't able to get the types of industry jobs that keep the academic door open. It's really only a few subfields where those industry jobs are available. So, as a general role, saying that it's difficult to move between the two is fairly accurate. > since they demand outrageous things yet the pay is laughable. The process is prohibitive before the packet even reaches the committee. Writing three or four essays, asking for three letters of recommendation, and committing to a full on-site interview loop for a job that comes with at least a half million dollar pay cut.