4 ms·

Academia is like that if you choose your field of research well.

• michaelochurch 14y ago
  Academia is not like that. You don't have much immediate job risk, because jobs have defined lengths of time (2-year postdocs, 6-year tenure race, indefinite tenure) but the career risk is intolerable. Academia has a terrible job market; it has sold out a generation and a half and I don't see it being able to unwind that. Academia has almost no financial upside but a lot of downside.
  • rgbrgb 14y ago
    I've had a lot of CS professors that consult in industry for huge payouts (particularly in more applied fields like biometrics and graphics) and I know there are applied math people doing the same. It looks incredibly hard to get a tenured academic job, but I think once you're there in an applied field, your title can be very lucrative.
    • trhtrsh 14y ago
      That's the same as saying post-IPO/acquisition founders are well-positioned for future life. It's not an answer the question of "is it worth taking the risk of putting in a decade of effort?"