Thread by @drpeterrohde

If you’re considering an academic career, here’s how it works: #AcademicTwitter #AcademicChatter

Through a highly competitive process you might be lucky enough to be accepted into a #PhD program where you earn something similar to the minimum wage.

In that time you’re expected to do world class research to boost the profile of your supervisor and university. There are regular assessments to ensure you’re on track in living up to these expectations.

You don’t enjoy the workplace protections or rights that the academics do though, since you’re not categorised as an employee and can far more easily be dumped. There’s a good chance your mental health will decline. #AcademicMentalHealth #PhDVoice

After 3-5 years you gain a PhD and have to start looking for postdoctoral positions. These typically give you a contract for a couple of years before you head off onto the next one.

You’re expected to gain international experience, so whatever you do don’t try and settle down or start a family during this period, which is indefinite. #PostdocVoice

After completing several postdocs you’re in a position to try and get a Faculty position. This is by far the most competitive part of your career, and the chances of success are slim.

In the likely scenario you don’t get a Faculty position, be prepared for more postdocs, which could carry on indefinitely. I’ve seen many brilliant researchers forever stuck in a cycle of postdocs.

With a Faculty position in hand you find you no longer have time to actually do research because you’re swamped with admin. To maintain your position and seek promotion you’re expected to bring in dollars, because that’s what really matters.

This means spending potentially several months of every year writing grant applications, which have a low chance of success and are to a significant extent based on luck. Most of that time is wasted.

The funding agencies increasingly expect commercial applications for your research, making you wonder why it’s not being done in the private sector?

The prospects of doing novel fundamental science or high-risk/high-return blue sky research aren’t great since they have limited potential for making a quick buck or creating IP.

It isn’t technically possible to fulfil all your academic KPIs if you only work designated work hours. You’re implicitly expected to spend enormous parts of your personal time keeping up.

It’s not uncommon for academics to do much of their research outside of office hours or on vacation since that’s the only distraction-free time they can get.

Congratulations 🎉, you are now an academic and realising how broken the system is start looking around for research positions in the private sector where there are neither grants nor admin to take all your time.

You realise you could have bypassed all the nonsense to begin with and are kicking yourself for choosing grants and admin in the first place.

But now that you’ve made it into the system, you’re reluctant to throw it away after investing so heavily into it. So you hold onto it for dear life, hoping things will change. They probably won’t. The sunk cost fallacy continues.

People will wish someone had’ve told them that this is what academia is really like and what they’ve spent their lives working towards. Now you’ve been told.

So you’re asking why I’m an academic then? Why on earth am I continuing with all of this? It’s primarily because I value my students and the single biggest reward is seeing them develop, succeed and graduate. To me, that makes it worthwhile and creates a sense of purpose.

If it were only for the admin I’d probably go work at a cafe.