Need to relinquish all motivation and aspiration. Tell me the WORST things about being an academic

[CareersDontGetEuologies]

Five years, almost to the day, since my PhD viva, and today was my fiftieth or so (though I forced myself to lose count) postdoc interview failure. I've had a few pieces of casual work and one very short FTC and have LOVED it all, but with every failure causing me exponentially more distress: clearly, I need to accept my limits and stop applying, if only for the sake of my MH.

So tell me, what is TERRIBLE about being an academic? What do you HATE??

I’m another that has moved from academia to professional services and never looked back. Job security, less stress, better hours, and a mostly interesting role. I really love the mix of people I work with, with all sorts of interesting backgrounds leading to great conversations. I do some freelance science writing but to be honest as my time away from academia has passed I have less inclination to do this. I still keep up to date with my old field just out of interest, and find it more enjoyable without the pressure of it being my career.

I'm so glad this thread struck such a chord with so many. I'm returning only now because, only weeks after starting the thread, I was actually offered a job 😲 (is my PI on MN?!) albeit only on a fixed-term non-extendable 4 month contract. The team seems to somehow like my work and are encouraging me to apply for to the relevant research council (apologies for vagueness) for a fellowship grant.

I am feeling so conflicted. On the one hand, I love the actual research work - but everything which surrounds it that this thread has well dissected, not. And I find rejection harder to cope with each time I am rejected, and I don't know whether my MH can handle it. And I value my MH more than my career, I do.

Should I try? Shouldn't it?

How will you cope with four more months of insecurity and further rejections?

Based on my (not particularly positive experience) I wouldn't take it unless you've got no other choice. I've done very short contracts, but only when there has been a very logical reason: one time the next contract elsewhere was guaranteed but needed paperwork finishing, and another time when I needed 3 months somewhere to finish up some personal life stuff before moving. Both of those were really just charity from the PIs, with no expectation of results. You're just adding 4 months to the inevitable, so the only reason to take it is as an alternative to the dole, where you apply full time for anything and everything during the contract.

Think I agree with lekkerkroketje here. You do this 4 month contract and then what? If it links into some longer term plan (eg tiding you over until a longer contract you really want to do, an extra publication that will make the difference, giving you the space to decide what to do next) then go for it. But if it's just putting off the inevitable for 4 months maybe it's time to quit now.

4 months isn't long - are you going to end up with a half-written paper that you feel obliged to finish writing up afterwards unpaid just so it wasn't all for nothing? If you go for a fellowship, there's probably a good year until it would start - how are you going to fill that extra 8 months?

I think your head has realised it doesn't want to be doing this anymore, but your heart hasn't quite caught up with it - it's still hoping. I recognise this - I keep thinking I've given up on academia and am ready to walk away, but I just keep coming back. I should take my own advice...

From my vantage point, the good days of academia are over. We are a two-academic household actively discouraging our kids from getting PhDs. We no longer have any illusion that our jobs are secure. My uni has had huge redundancies several times past five years. Next year some new management consultant could decide our entire school needs to close. This is dangerous, because academia is a process of continued narrowing. When lifelong academics in their 50s lose jobs, it is hard for them to find places to go, even if they could uproot their families. Most unis would rather hire precarious 30 year olds on cheap, short term contracts. We are under increasing pressure to achieve for REF, for impact, for NSS, and yet there is less admin support to help us manage. At a recent meeting someone asked how we can keep going without admin support. The response was to recruit and teach more and you can have your admin support back. This is explicit to me: I know we must recruit 40 students on my postgrad course, or we will lose a precarious staff member and I will have 2x the workload. The expectations for me to do research and impact will not decrease if I have to increase my teaching. Now we don't even have an office. I have to do my work with my family in the background with my own dodgy wifi. The uni reminds me I am not commuting, they don't care that I selected the kids school to be near my office so we are commuting, double the trips each day.

There is some freedom, which is nice. I can go for a walk in the middle of the day. That is the only perk left. The rest is total shit. The students are consumers, the management is exploitive, and the tedium of doing it all from home is profound.

pensions. Used to be one of the positive aspects compared to the much higher salaries in the international market, now every year we need to protest to keep our right to a decent pension.