Thread by @ep_qc

I turned 40 a few days ago. Here's some stuff I learned so far.

Inspired by / reflecting Paul's thread below.
#actwitter #phdchat @ProfessorIsIn

https://twitter.com/ProfPaulRalph/status/1517266129479159809

1) The academic world in which your PhD advisors lived is gone: academic jobs are no longer abundant and well payed. Their intuitions about what you should do to be successful are likely unreliable.

2A) The moral injury involved in an academic career is real (100% agree w @ProfPaulRalph). The consumerist model of education, the instrumentalization of knowledge, etc. (all borne out of economic uncertainty for young adults) have undermined our ability to educate.

2B) The inflation of standards for what success means, the declining success rates for prestigious grants, have made research cut-throat and less satisfying.

3) Almost 3 years in, I am still confused by software engineering research. Lots of it is R&D, most of it seems to be about displaying cool data / builds, very little seems cumulative.

4) Ralph's razor: ‘Never attribute to ignorance what can be explained by self-interest.’

Oh boy have I suffered from this. I was so naïve and idealistic. The self-interest, couched in niceties, conflict avoidance, and gaslighting are endemic. Plus...

"the fights are so bitter because the stakes are so low." Academics now fight over crumbs, which pits them AGAINST one-another rather than gets them pulling in the same direction.
We can't and don't truly celebrate success, because we often feel it has been at our expense.