>>13488262>To be more objective, the people bitching about the academia should speak of the downsides of the real jobs as well. OP here: true, there are downsides of any job. Imo, the downsides of academic jobs are much larger, as i stated previously.
>Academia is so attractive and competitive not without a reason.Academia's attractiveness is a byproduct of its competitive, and is not an inherent property due to the nature of the job. The reason it is competitive, is that there is a PhD glut, way too many PhD's are being graduated, much higher supply than what the market demands. For the grand majority of these PhD's, academia is the only thing they know, and they have not been informed, trained or prepared for jobs outside of it, which is why academic jobs become very competitive. These PhD's, having spent a decade of their prime youth getting a PhD and postdoc for minimum pay, now have higher needs/wants and realize they desperately need a real job, and for them being a professor is the only career they can imagine for themselves. It is a tragedy of misinformation.
I landed a tt position at an R1, so I understand how competitive it can get, and was myself completely absorbed in the process. However, when i examine it purely as a job, disregarding all the fancy pseudo-glamor and good boy status and taking into account career progression, compensation, ease of life etc., academia does not compete at all with industry (at least in my field, in the US).
