How about a career in science?

[CharonY]

It is nothing really exceptional, except that it has come to the attention of a number of news outlets.

If you recall, recently there the Nobel price in chemistry was given to researchers involved in the development of GFP as a major tool in biochemistry and molecular biology. Interestingly the guy who first cloned it was left out. Instead of getting the Nobel he is a courtesy van driver. Why so? The article gives a nice spin on academic careers with a focus on Douglas Prasher, the guy who did the cloning.

 

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2009_02_13/caredit.a0900021

 

As I mentioned, these kind of things (though usually less spectacular) are commonplace in academic sciences. For the record, I am only a lowly postdoc and not a faculty member, so I do not have a good general insight into faculty matters. Except what faculty tells me, of course. Even so I have already seen a number of quite productive faculty members (equivalents to assistant professors) being forced to leave sciences after a bad streak with grants. Mind you, they were well in their 40s and their chances of getting a new tenure track were minuscule. Things are getting worse (at least in the US) for the moment as many universities have budget freezes due to financial problems.

I have also known quite a number of postdocs that had trouble scoring a faculty position and being trapped in a kind of career limbo. Being a bit too old for many industrial positions and further postdocs, but not being faculty either.

 

In the article this situation is compared to rock stars or professional sports. While I still think that the chances in sciences are still better than in either of the other careers, I would like to know what you think, based on your own experience in academic life.

How do undergrads and grads see it? How about postdocs or faculty? Is your experience different (or do you think it is different)? How so?

 

Edit: the situation is of course even more complicated for those that are from a different country as their work is additionally tied to a Visa of some sorts. Depending on the country the regulations can be quite crippling.

Edited February 12, 2009 by CharonY

[mrburns2012]

I worked with a faculty with assistant professor status during most of my undergrad, and I can tell you I noticed a lot of stress and frustration with grants and funding. It's unfortunate but with an economic downturn affecting all almost everything, it's not very surprising. Hopefully Obama and company can pull some tricks out of their sleeves.

[SH3RL0CK]

First, I am very happy with my education and with how my career has unfolded. However, with the costs of education increasing so very quickly (it far outpaces inflation), with the offshoring of jobs, and with the relative low importance society places on science; if I had to do it today I'd probably just opt to become an electrician instead.