alt Hacker NewsWith the exception of poor pay, I experienced all of those things while working as a software dev for a major company. And with the exception of irrelevant papers, a friend of mine went through all of those at a startup she joined after her PhD.
I am doing a postdoc now - the pay sucks (still good compared to non-tech salaries) but I like what I do, I can choose my own tools, and I'm not longer contractually obligated to put my name in papers I don't like.
The instability of the postdoc life sucks if and when you want to have a family, but it can also be very rewarding.
> With the exception of poor pay, I experienced all of those things while working as a software dev for a major company.
Same here. I've worked at grindy startups that made me want to leave the profession altogether—everything from gaslighting by small shop CEOs to firing threats, and even firing a colleague just to show "who's in charge."
But switching companies is always an option, as is switching domains. I did that multiple times without much trouble.
> The instability of the postdoc life sucks if and when you want to have a family.
I thought stability was one of the reasons people choose academia. By stability, I mean a supervisor or program that guarantees a steady influx of cash for a certain period of time.
Yeah, but it comes down to what gives you fulfillment. For me, I need challenging work with a reward in pay that matches the effort and academia doesn't seem to fit that curve.