When industry isn’t all sunshine and RSUs so you return to academia

[u/WorldFamousAstronaut]

[u/Outrageous_Display97]

I just want to live in Seattle and bring home 4K/month so I can do more than eat and pay rent.

[u/nyan-the-nwah → u/Outrageous_Display97]

Keep an eye on UW Jobs - UAW4121 is awesome and there's a loooot of funding coming in since everything with the Baker lab.

[u/Outrageous_Display97 → u/nyan-the-nwah]

I’m in UAW4121 and have been a researcher for 8 years. I’m 51 and am still looking forwards to making enough that I don’t need a roommate. Academia can pay enough, I think I may just have to find a position that my strengths are desired enough that they’ll pay 81,000 a year.

[u/nyan-the-nwah → u/Outrageous_Display97]

They're out there, varies obviously by department and experience. My lab manager (younger than me lol) makes more than that, 4 years at UW with a bachelor's. I haven't hit 70 yet but am fortunate to share expenses with my husband, and the annual raises will get me there next year if I don't wind up negotiating more in the meantime.... that being said, I certainly have been looking for other gigs all the while haha

[u/WorldFamousAstronaut → u/Outrageous_Display97]

That sounds doable - wish you luck!

[u/Doxatek]

I would rather be in academia I think. But I don't want my salary to get cut by 2/3 :(

[u/WorldFamousAstronaut → u/Doxatek]

Maybe the solution is to first get rich, then go back?

[u/Doxatek → u/WorldFamousAstronaut]

Haha idk. The industry salary for me definitely isn't get rich level, the university one is just so bad haha

[u/kamakazzhi]

I work at a tools/lab equipment company that is small enough that almost everyone in the company has to interact with customers to some extent. I absolutely hate the commercial/marketing/sales stuff. I just want to do and think about science. I know the grass is always greener and my pay is way better in industry but damn one day I dream of a job where I can just do science.

[u/WorldFamousAstronaut → u/kamakazzhi]

And here I am doing „just science“ wondering about branching into the commercial/marketing/sales stuff … in the end the unsatisfying truth of the modern scientific enterprise maybe that we all end up stuck with one compromise or another

[u/kamakazzhi → u/WorldFamousAstronaut]

I just find it incredibly boring, and I am introverted so I really hate sales and trying to prove something to potential customers. I also hate how sales people borderline lie to scientists/oversell capabilities just to make a sale.

[u/Searching_Knowledge → u/WorldFamousAstronaut]

To be honest, the modern workforce is a compromise. Many of my friends outside of science make way better money but feel no personal satisfaction about what they do. They’re not helping anyone do anything but make money, there’s no pursuit of knowledge, and always a bunch of egos to contend with, and they feel unhappy about it. And like us, there’s a lot of competition and field-specific BS they have to answer to. For all the shit we put up with, at least I like what I do more than some of my non-science friends. I just wish there was better compensation for all the effort and education that goes into it

[u/the_mullet_fondler]

Has this happened to anyone else? A couple former people from my group have done it, and I'm considering the same. I'm understimulated and overworked.

[u/kamakazzhi → u/the_mullet_fondler]

Understimulated and overworked is a great way to put it. I just want to do and think about science.

[u/beachesandgenes → u/kamakazzhi]

This is how I felt at my last job. Was in QC at a big biotech company. Everything became so automatic and I ended up being overworked because my managers noticed I could finish twice the assays every other co-worker could in a given day. It didn't help that when I tried to do something actually stimulating that would benefit the department one of the managers would stonewall me from getting anything done. Too much politics and red tape.

[u/hbailey311 → u/beachesandgenes]

wow. this is exactly what i’m going through right now. i got started in a research background: left for money and now I’m bored. i have adequate things to but it doesn’t involve thought. i finish my tasks faster than most.

[u/WorldFamousAstronaut → u/the_mullet_fondler]

I’ve come across a few cases of ex-FAANG to scientific developer, but for obvious reasons it seems to be the exception to the rule.

[u/dyslexda → u/the_mullet_fondler]

I went from industry to a job at St. Jude. Night and day difference, for the better (assuming you can stomach Tennessee). Of course, they aren't "traditional" academia, which is partly what makes it the best of all worlds. I'd suggest looking for some of the "halfway" institutions, like The Broad Institute, that seem to have industry pay/support but academic scientific investigation.

[u/mtnsbeyondmtns → u/the_mullet_fondler]

I worked in industry for 5 years and went back for my PhD in a newish (to me) field. Synthetic chemistry to enzyme engineering. Just wrapped up and I’m so happy I made the switch. Yes, the money thing fucking sucks but the intellectual freedom is enough of a tradeoff for me.

[u/Boneraventura]

I went from industry back to academia as a post-doc. Mostly because my industry job was dull as hell. I was a scientist but did flow 80-90% of the time. I was the flow guy. No amount of after hours work would convince my manager to let me do something else. They hired me for a position that was supposed to be hybrid computational and wet lab and I never did anything computational. I couldn’t continue any longer. Some people wanna clock in and clock out, but it wasn’t for me.

[u/Skensis]

I'd just gamble with another industry company, lack of career growth and substantially less pay makes it so that I'd never consider an academic gig.

[u/Hucklepuck_uk]

Won't somebody think of the shareholders