This!! I have some version of a "selling your soul" / "corporate work culture is pretty great" post on deck for future months. The very few people who drive me crazy in the corporate world are those who act most like academics!
I keep telling people that the WORST person I've met in my job at a mega-bank would be in like the top 20% of personable folks at Northeast Liberal Arts College.
Oof. As a person who has been desperately clinging to her tenured position and all of the malarky that comes with it while also juggling a chronic illness, this piece hit me in the feels. For me, it was illness that helped me see that tenure isn't as protective as we like to think it is, nor is a strong record of dedicated service. Thank you for sharing your insights. Industry is looking better and better.
Oof back at you, Amy. I'm sorry to hear that this resonates but I'm glad you are finding solidarity and hope as you navigate your own decisions and process! I'm rooting for you.
My expertise and 'soft skills' are consistently so much more appreciated by my clients than they ever were by my institution or students. I know now that I have *skills* which I couldn't see as skills when I was in the academy.
Hi. Illinois Weslyan seems like it was a bad place to work, for many reasons. With pay, it looks like your final salary there was less than our starting TT salary at GVSU.
...AND (as you know) the pay is often relative to the local cost of living, and is subject to pressures of inversion. I started in 2009, so my 50K starting salary then and its relative growth from that base, and the starting salary of folks entering the institution now, would look similar. But that inversion is also what causes some of that strain. Further, given what I see in other Leaving Academia spaces, I think the broader themes of pay and workload challenges are unfortunately pervasive.
We've had a couple of market adjustments also, so some of us got substantial increases to make up for lower starting base salaries. Some white collar people in the business sector get screwed over bigtime, such as when Jack Welch started rank and yank and the 10% auto fire at GE, which Amazon and others use a variation of. I expect that employment terms in the business vary widely, just like in academia.
I'd add:
1. Being a professor was often more boring than my current office job. Especially grading papers and meetings.
2. People in "the real world" are neither evil nor corporate drones. On average, they're saner and kinder than academics.
This!! I have some version of a "selling your soul" / "corporate work culture is pretty great" post on deck for future months. The very few people who drive me crazy in the corporate world are those who act most like academics!
I keep telling people that the WORST person I've met in my job at a mega-bank would be in like the top 20% of personable folks at Northeast Liberal Arts College.
Oof. As a person who has been desperately clinging to her tenured position and all of the malarky that comes with it while also juggling a chronic illness, this piece hit me in the feels. For me, it was illness that helped me see that tenure isn't as protective as we like to think it is, nor is a strong record of dedicated service. Thank you for sharing your insights. Industry is looking better and better.
Oof back at you, Amy. I'm sorry to hear that this resonates but I'm glad you are finding solidarity and hope as you navigate your own decisions and process! I'm rooting for you.
My expertise and 'soft skills' are consistently so much more appreciated by my clients than they ever were by my institution or students. I know now that I have *skills* which I couldn't see as skills when I was in the academy.
Yes!! 🖤
Hi. Illinois Weslyan seems like it was a bad place to work, for many reasons. With pay, it looks like your final salary there was less than our starting TT salary at GVSU.
Hey George! So, yes, ultimately it was...
...AND (as you know) the pay is often relative to the local cost of living, and is subject to pressures of inversion. I started in 2009, so my 50K starting salary then and its relative growth from that base, and the starting salary of folks entering the institution now, would look similar. But that inversion is also what causes some of that strain. Further, given what I see in other Leaving Academia spaces, I think the broader themes of pay and workload challenges are unfortunately pervasive.
We've had a couple of market adjustments also, so some of us got substantial increases to make up for lower starting base salaries. Some white collar people in the business sector get screwed over bigtime, such as when Jack Welch started rank and yank and the 10% auto fire at GE, which Amazon and others use a variation of. I expect that employment terms in the business vary widely, just like in academia.