I started out as a physics major, but switched to computer science junior year, mostly out of consideration for career prospects. Of my 3 roommates who were also physics majors, all of them finished the degree and all now work in tech. I've said for a long time when I turn 60 I'm going back to physics.
I Regret Quitting Astrophysics
81–90 of 146 posts
Re: I Regret Quitting Astrophysics
#82> I can do astro as a hobby, but that simply doesn’t give you enough time to do something substantial enough.
I think a better decision, for people in similar circumstances, would be doing corporate data-science as a hobby (via contracting or freelancing) and keeping your full-time astronomy career.
Re: I Regret Quitting Astrophysics
#83The reasons for bad feeling including the loss of motivation may have nothing to do with what he thinks it is, either now or back when he quit academia.
If he's prone to seasonal affective disorder (SAD), he may be feeling down because of that and taking it out on his career choice.
If you are feeling bad about your career, family or life situation,
- just buy a SAD lamp such as the Philips Wake Up lamp
- use it religiously for a week
- after a week, assess the problem again - do you feel the same about it?
If you're prone to SAD, after a few days of using, your motivation will come back and the "rational" reasons which you felt very strongly about will lose all emotional charge.
Re: I Regret Quitting Astrophysics
#84I don't like posting acrimonious comments, but it is hard to find any sympathy for the author. The reasons are similar to the contempt held for people who decry the manipulation of public opinion, while our high-aptitude graduates decide to work for advertisement companies in the Bay Area in chase of the Almighty Dollar. It is sexy and high status, until more people consider the utility (or disutility) that these peo…
I agree with you but think you may be slightly conflating status and pay. They often go hand-in-hand, but there are many times they do not.
Capitalism generally pays for one’s contributions to the economy, not their contributions to society.
Re: I Regret Quitting Astrophysics
#85Let me just say to all those out there who have left academia and went into industry: academia would be happy to have you back! I went into "academia" (or close to it), doing software engineering for a telescope being built. Astronomers are a great little community out there, and they really need help writing code. A lot of them aren't familiar or have experience with best industry practices that could save them so m…
Agree with you - but I think the author of the article wants to get back in as a tenure-track professor rather than a programmer or data scientist on a scientific project. They would probably see coming back in as “staff” as an unacceptable loss of status and prestige in their field. (I think that status distinction is a terrible and stupid feature of academic research but it is very deeply-ingrained as folks are soc…
Coming back as staff really is a big loss in status and prestige. It's fun to lament the terrible and stupid feature of status distinction but it's very real in terms of socializing, how people see you, how you see yourself, the resources available to you, the freedom to do what you want, how much you get paid, etc.
Re: I Regret Quitting Astrophysics
#86I don't like posting acrimonious comments, but it is hard to find any sympathy for the author. The reasons are similar to the contempt held for people who decry the manipulation of public opinion, while our high-aptitude graduates decide to work for advertisement companies in the Bay Area in chase of the Almighty Dollar. It is sexy and high status, until more people consider the utility (or disutility) that these peo…
I agree with you but think you may be slightly conflating status and pay. They often go hand-in-hand, but there are many times they do not. Capitalism generally pays for one’s contributions to the economy, not their contributions to society.
In the USSR for example, scientists often where paid more than CEOs. The end result of that alternative to capitalism was not competitive.
Re: I Regret Quitting Astrophysics
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree with you but think you may be slightly conflating status and pay. They often go hand-in-hand, but there are many times they do not. Capitalism generally pays for one’s contributions to the economy, not their contributions to society.
In the USSR for example, scientists often where paid more than CEOs. The end result of that alternative to capitalism was not competitive.
I’m not trying to make an anti-capitalism case. I’m also not an economist but would venture to guess there’s more at play in the c failure of the USSR than pay structure.
However, I do think there is room for regulating areas where the incentives of the economy and society are misaligned. What’s best for the economy isn’t always what’s best for society and vice versa. When they are at odds, I would favor some guardrails.
Re: I Regret Quitting Astrophysics
#88If people are reading this article and perhaps considering a serious reassessment of their life, I strongly recommend doing an outreach to those many folks who have made such a move in both directions In particular, to a sample of those who made the move 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago and even longer. Time brings perspective...a 5 year view is different than a 10 year view than is different from a 20 year view. I did a bit flip at around 12 years.
Also there are lots of ways to maintain a connection with the academic worldview without being a full-time academic...adjunct, professional societies, journals, online communities, etc. You can eat the food without being a dishwasher.
Re: I Regret Quitting Astrophysics
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a PhD in math but I often dream about how nice it would be to get paid to write simulations for big shot mathematicians. Usually this work goes to undergrad/grad students. Maybe it’s just not worth paying for professional code.
It’s often hard to get money to fund anything else than PhD students or post docs.
I suspect it may also be hard to swallow the idea that a professional engineer's skills are needed when such a person costs more than the researcher's salary.
Re: I Regret Quitting Astrophysics
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
Very interesting, could you tell me where that is? At least in the US, tenure is a really big thing. But there are plenty of people who are paid employees at the university and aren't teaching, and I'd also consider that academia.
The US and Canada tend to "squeeze" non-tenure-track people out a few years after they receive their PhD. A huge number of postdoc fellowships[0] cut off at 12 months (NIH DP-1, various NSF postdocs) to 4-5 years (NIH K99, Simons Foundation BTI, Burroughs Wellcome Career/CASI Awards). You can, of course, hang on for longer by being paid from research grants. However, even that is tricky because the size of a "standar…
I suspect this is what a solution might look like if someone was designing a system to produce tenured professors and attached minimal value to other things.