Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Has the ‘great resignation’ hit academia?

nature.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 242 posts

Re: Has the ‘great resignation’ hit academia?

#221

Post by foldr »

cyrksoft wrote: post #217
foldr wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Number of papers published or number of citations isn't a measure of the value of someone's research. This over-reliance on metrics is a big part of what's going wrong with academia. A hundred years ago people published when they had something to say, and authors of journals had to literally beg people for submissions. >Soldiers, and defense in general, are part of the main things a government should provide So is ed…

> Number of papers published or number of citations isn't a measure of the value of someone's research. This over-reliance on metrics is a big part of what's going wrong with academia. A hundred years ago people published when they had something to say, and authors of journals had to literally beg people for submissions. It is the universal measure of how useful your research is. How do you measure it otherwise? Rese…

You can’t measure how useful someone’s research is. That’s what drives business school graduates nuts about academics :) Research isn’t a product, and researchers can’t be managed like assembly line workers.

The fact that almost all governments of developed countries subsidize their university sectors means that the burden of argument lies squarely on those who think that they should not. I understand that you’re one of those people. However, I disagree, and you’ve given no argument in support of that aspect of your position.

Re: Has the ‘great resignation’ hit academia?

#222

Post by dennis_jeeves1 »

muaytimbo wrote: post #16

I'm surprised it took them so long to get fed up, reaching the mid-career level. I realized doing my PhD that all of academia is a toxic house of cards built on cheap grad student labor, foreign student tuition and grant beggary, and the false promise to students of at least an interesting (if not particularly well-paid) career. If it took you until mid-career to realize this . . . you weren't observant and I don't r…

>If it took you until mid-career to realize this . . . you weren't observant and I don't really feel that sorry that you were asleep for so long.

Well the same can said of many devs who orgasmate on the next JS tool/framework.

Oh well, the whole premise of life seems to be built on some giant false promises. After life (truth=death is a dead end) , god ( truth=nobody around), meaning of life (truth=42), career( truth= sorry job), democracy( truth=refined oligarchy) lol, got to stop somewhere.

Re: Has the ‘great resignation’ hit academia?

#223

Post by upupandup »

culopatin wrote: post #200
upupandup wrote: post #102

For someone with decades experience in software industry, is it possible to take on part-time teaching positions in universities? Is it worth the balance? Seems kinda cool to teach students and come up with course materials.

You’ll find that many will want a PhD for you to teach an if else regardless of your experience and will pay you 20k for part time.

yeah this is a major blocker for me, not the money (Although it would help if they pay more) but the social credit required AND the competition.

all in all I am not fond of the academia industry and the hierarchy.

Re: Has the ‘great resignation’ hit academia?

#224

Post by blahblarblar »

AussieWog93 wrote: post #153
blahblarblar wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not that they weren’t paying attention. It’s more that academics egos can’t handle the loss to their identity of not being an academic anymore.

Not sure why you're being downvoted for this. When I was doing my PhD, I definitely noticed that the primary aim of research was not to produce something of benefit to mankind, but to produce esoteric silos for academics to protect their egos in. The politics were petty and vicious, and the number one rule there was to maintain the "face" of the people above you.

My comment maybe came off as a criticism for academics but I was speaking from experience with my own struggle disentangling my ego from academia. I still wanted to think of myself as a physicist and it handicapped my career progress and made me unhappy. Letting go of that was key.

Re: Has the ‘great resignation’ hit academia?

#225

Post by culopatin »

upupandup wrote: post #223
culopatin wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’ll find that many will want a PhD for you to teach an if else regardless of your experience and will pay you 20k for part time.

yeah this is a major blocker for me, not the money (Although it would help if they pay more) but the social credit required AND the competition. all in all I am not fond of the academia industry and the hierarchy.

Idk how much competition there is. I can’t imagine having a PhD and choosing to teach intro to programming for 40k full time unless I have nothing better to do.

Re: Has the ‘great resignation’ hit academia?

#227

Post by dc-programmer »

dagw wrote: post #215
dc-programmer wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are non-PE’s treated as first class citizens? Also is there room for developers to grow in an engineering firm. It sounds interesting in a concrete way (pun intended), but it seems similar to working for a research university in that you are viewed as more of a laborer as mentioned in a recent post

It's getting a lot better on all those fronts, but there is still work to be done. When I started we where much more seen as support and assistants that could occasionally be called on help out the Real Engineers on the Real Projects. When I left my last company, there was an actual Data Science department with its own projects, management structure and place in the org chart. I was a Senior Specialist Engineer in Da…

Really appreciate the detailed answer. Hope the new gig is working out

Re: Has the ‘great resignation’ hit academia?

#229

Post by pvaldes »

inglor_cz wrote: post #219
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #68

My niece left academia for Draper Labs, where she has had a very productive career. Done far more for society than she would have, at a school. Instead of struggling for grants for her basic and applied research, often finding herself unfunded for a term or year unexpectedly, she's funded liberally and makes quick progress on important issues. Never looked back. Something is broken in Academia.

Altos Labs, the billionaires' longevity moonshot, seems to be able to recruit from the academia very efficiently with three promises: good money, no unnecessary paperwork and the ability to choose your research topics freely, without a "publish or perish" sword of Damocles hanging over your head.

Yep, in most cases is as simple as that
Post reply on HN