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Scientists Aging Faster Than Other Workers

nytimes.com

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Re: Scientists Aging Faster Than Other Workers

#21

Post by sandworm101 »

tnecniv wrote: post #20
laxatives wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a massive brain drain to look forward to in the next couple decades, especially in the US. Pretty much none of my best peers went in to a PhD program for many of the reasons you described. One of my roommates got his PhD in optical physics and is essentially living the life of a monk. Its so much easier to cash out for a pretty basic engineering role and get a lifetime (hopefully) of easy, stable income. Many…

Why is CGI heading to Canada? I know its common for TV to film up there for tax / government arts funding reasons. Is it a similar situation or something else?

CGI, like the rest of the film/tv industry, will go where the money is best. There is nothing in film/tv production that cannot be loaded into a truck and shipped elsewhere overnight ... people included. Work is moving to canada for the tax credits but you'd be surprised at how many "canadian" productions are actually filmed overseas. TheBorgias was canadian. Versailles, filmed in france with brit actors, is supported by the canadian government and RBC (my bank) no doubt for some tax advantage. Even the first season of the Doctor Who reboot in 2005 was a joint production with the CBC. Check the credits. No matter where it is filmed, canada supports it.

Re: Scientists Aging Faster Than Other Workers

#22

Post by tnecniv »

Cyph0n wrote: post #9
maverick_iceman wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's your field? In most hard science fields it's impossible to get a professorship if you take a break from academia. (Unless you were somewhere like Microsoft Research / IBM Research, which are basically parts of academia.)

Electrical engineering. It happens, especially if you worked in R&D and continued to publish over the years. One of the professors currently teaching me spent 5 years at a startup and came back to his alma mater as an assistant professor. He's an expert on botnets and quite active, so that might be an exception haha!

During my undergrad I definitely had a handful of professors that came from stints at corporate research labs.

Re: Scientists Aging Faster Than Other Workers

#23

Post by majormajor »

sandworm101 wrote: post #21
tnecniv wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is CGI heading to Canada? I know its common for TV to film up there for tax / government arts funding reasons. Is it a similar situation or something else?

CGI, like the rest of the film/tv industry, will go where the money is best. There is nothing in film/tv production that cannot be loaded into a truck and shipped elsewhere overnight ... people included. Work is moving to canada for the tax credits but you'd be surprised at how many "canadian" productions are actually filmed overseas. TheBorgias was canadian. Versailles, filmed in france with brit actors, is supporte…

> There is nothing in film/tv production that cannot be loaded into a truck and shipped elsewhere overnight ... people included.

Once you include people, how many other industries would be any different? Mining, tourism, oil drilling seem tied to a set location, but assembling something? Tech or not, seems you could just ship the people and parts anywhere.

Re: Scientists Aging Faster Than Other Workers

#24

Post by sandworm101 »

majormajor wrote: post #23
sandworm101 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CGI, like the rest of the film/tv industry, will go where the money is best. There is nothing in film/tv production that cannot be loaded into a truck and shipped elsewhere overnight ... people included. Work is moving to canada for the tax credits but you'd be surprised at how many "canadian" productions are actually filmed overseas. TheBorgias was canadian. Versailles, filmed in france with brit actors, is supporte…

> There is nothing in film/tv production that cannot be loaded into a truck and shipped elsewhere overnight ... people included. Once you include people, how many other industries would be any different? Mining, tourism, oil drilling seem tied to a set location, but assembling something? Tech or not, seems you could just ship the people and parts anywhere.

All reasource extraction. Tourism. Financial services (tied to jurisdiction). Much of the defense industry. Health care. Live entertainment. Hospitality (hotels). Transport. Infrastructure construction and maintenance. Environmental services. Real estate. Space launch. Government. .... not everything fits into trucks.

Re: Scientists Aging Faster Than Other Workers

#25

Post by tnecniv »

School-Cotton wrote: post #8
arcanus wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't let me totally discourage you! Far from it, just be sure to have realistic expectations. I absolutely loved my PhD work and I'm happy I did it. But I'm also happy I was careful to consider how this degree might help my employment down the line. Which it did. I've got an absolutely amazing research position that is well supported in the research arm of a BigCo now. I wouldn't expect that the pay is optimal versu…

You directly contradict your sibling post, which claims coming back is nearly impossible. Do you have many examples of people who have done this?

This is probably one of those things that varies a lot based on what your field is and how close to academia you stay while in industry. It's going to be a lot harder to come back to doing experimental physics if you spent 5 years as a software engineer.

Re: Scientists Aging Faster Than Other Workers

#26

Post by danieltillett »

School-Cotton wrote: post #8
arcanus wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't let me totally discourage you! Far from it, just be sure to have realistic expectations. I absolutely loved my PhD work and I'm happy I did it. But I'm also happy I was careful to consider how this degree might help my employment down the line. Which it did. I've got an absolutely amazing research position that is well supported in the research arm of a BigCo now. I wouldn't expect that the pay is optimal versu…

You directly contradict your sibling post, which claims coming back is nearly impossible. Do you have many examples of people who have done this?

I did it. I went straight from my PhD to industry (actually my own startup) and then 5 years later I went into academia and tenure. I left academia in 2012 back to industry. This is the biological sciences (Molecular Biology / Microbiology).

I should say I am the only person I have ever met in the biological sciences that has done this so it must be relatively rare.

Re: Scientists Aging Faster Than Other Workers

#27

Post by eastWestMath »

maverick_iceman wrote: post #6
Cyph0n wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The more I think about it, the more I come to the realization that academia isn't really a great place to be. Thankfully I'm at the start of my PhD and don't have a MS (I can drop out with the MS), so I'm not exactly stuck for the long run. The thing is, I'd really like the option to "retire" as a college professor after a decade or so in industry. Having a PhD in hand from early on in my career will make that much,…

What's your field? In most hard science fields it's impossible to get a professorship if you take a break from academia. (Unless you were somewhere like Microsoft Research / IBM Research, which are basically parts of academia.)

That is, of course, a very silly cultural thing they'd be better off without. My supervisor spent a decade in industry before returning to academia, and he's a pure mathematician/logician.

Re: Scientists Aging Faster Than Other Workers

#28

Post by eastWestMath »

tnecniv wrote: post #25
School-Cotton wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You directly contradict your sibling post, which claims coming back is nearly impossible. Do you have many examples of people who have done this?

This is probably one of those things that varies a lot based on what your field is and how close to academia you stay while in industry. It's going to be a lot harder to come back to doing experimental physics if you spent 5 years as a software engineer.

Right but someone who has a realistic chance at being hired as a professor won't be working as a commodity software engineer, they'll be in some sort of specialist/research role. Any of the job offers I've seriously considered leaving were to be a computer scientist.

Re: Scientists Aging Faster Than Other Workers

#30

Post by Ultimatt »

Cyph0n wrote: post #3
arcanus wrote: post #2

It's harder than ever for young researchers to get initial grants. The pay is seriously lagging industry. In many cases, the resources at your disposal are substantially larger in industry as well. Meanwhile, universities are increasingly run by administrators. Faculty have more service requirements and less autonomy than in the past. Overhead expenses are higher than ever, as well. Furthermore! Tenured faculty are h…

The more I think about it, the more I come to the realization that academia isn't really a great place to be. Thankfully I'm at the start of my PhD and don't have a MS (I can drop out with the MS), so I'm not exactly stuck for the long run. The thing is, I'd really like the option to "retire" as a college professor after a decade or so in industry. Having a PhD in hand from early on in my career will make that much,…

You have a very low chance of getting to prof status in academia after a decade away post PhD. Only your academic contributions are considered.
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