Leaving tenured academia for government or industry

[Anonymous]

I don't think you can get 30 hours a week and a salary anywhere near yours. I do think you can get 40-45, no teaching, and better work life boundaries in government. You will, of course, still have to deal with hours of emails and meetings and HR and so on, that's just part of white collar work these days. Not sure about overtime expectations as a contractor, depends on the firm and role.

[Anonymous]

Most of my tenured friends have plenty of time esp family flexibility. Between sabbaticals and fellowships one of my friends is off for 1.5 years, etc. she also designs her courses so repeats many, with some updates. Teaching takes less time than the admin duties (phd students, hiring committees etc).

. What you describe is not normal, you should be able to push back on both teaching new classes every single semester and the ta issues. I also think you’re over prepping. I taught a few uni classes while working full time with a toddler. I spent about 2 hrs preparing for each class (so 4hr week and this was not classes I had taught before ) plus an additional office hour. Grading midterms and final papers took time but I usual knocked if out over a weekend.

Btw my brother left academe (untenured) for industry. He works as much, makes more but has far less flexibility.

[Anonymous]

+1 to the patent examiner suggestion. I know another burned out academy who would up there and is v e r y happy with her work/life balance.

Don’t got to NSF or another big funding agency- same sh*T different place, minus the teaching but plus stupid bureaucracy.

Good luck, OP.

-an academic who got out after my post doc to have kids

[Anonymous]

Do you want to stick to research? If not, then why not try becoming a program director at NSF? You are on "loan" for the first couple of years. Your school does have to cough up a little of your salary from cost-share but they don't have to pay your entire salary. Your grants still go on and you can support your students and supervise your research remotely at (upto) 1/5 time. If the gig works out and there is a long-term slot, you can compete for it. In the meantime, you get to support some cool research, think about new directions and get a different perspective on your own research.

BTW, I am hard pressed to figure out why any school would change course assignments every year. I've been academia (as a tenured professor) and around academics and one can always teach the same course for 3 years. Yes, there is the added hassle of TA meetings, advisories, student emails but they go on autopilot after a while.

[Anonymous]

A government job will have lower stress OP, but possibly a lower salary and you will be expected to work 40 hours a week. Have you thought about patent examining?

My dh is super happy he switched to govt from academia, but he was a tenured teaching faculty member at a smaller college with absolutely no grading help. Days were spent teaching and dealing with students and nights were spent grading. He makes twice as much as a fed and works fewer hours, only 40-50 a week.

It sounds like you already make more than average fed, even with a PhD OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think you can get 30 hours a week and a salary anywhere near yours. I do think you can get 40-45, no teaching, and better work life boundaries in government. You will, of course, still have to deal with hours of emails and meetings and HR and so on, that's just part of white collar work these days. Not sure about overtime expectations as a contractor, depends on the firm and role.

This isn't true. I am back to FT now, but I earned about this much (more with stock grants) working PT. But, I have a lot of industry experience and unique expertise (PhD is an in-demand area). OP may have the latter, but she doesn't have the former.

There are some things that are weird about this story, but regardless OP clearly has an unrealistic view of how much less stressful other jobs are. OP, you should be able to find PT consulting work, but it could take you a little while to work your way back to your current salary unless you already understand the industries where your skills are in demand and have demonstrated experience driving value. From what you've written, you don't currently have that. You can also probably work the same amount you currently do and earn more in the private sector.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think you can get 30 hours a week and a salary anywhere near yours. I do think you can get 40-45, no teaching, and better work life boundaries in government. You will, of course, still have to deal with hours of emails and meetings and HR and so on, that's just part of white collar work these days. Not sure about overtime expectations as a contractor, depends on the firm and role.

This isn't true. I am back to FT now, but I earned about this much (more with stock grants) working PT. But, I have a lot of industry experience and unique expertise (PhD is an in-demand area). OP may have the latter, but she doesn't have the former.

There are some things that are weird about this story, but regardless OP clearly has an unrealistic view of how much less stressful other jobs are. OP, you should be able to find PT consulting work, but it could take you a little while to work your way back to your current salary unless you already understand the industries where your skills are in demand and have demonstrated experience driving value. From what you've written, you don't currently have that. You can also probably work the same amount you currently do and earn more in the private sector.

$160k part time job?? Was this a FinTech?

[Anonymous]

Look into patent agent positions at biglaw firms. You can start around 150k and go up to 200k+ working 40 hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don’t understand industry. I’m a science PhD in industry. It is a constant cycle of proposal writing to bring in contracts while executing current projects. It would not be downshifting at all.

Yeah there are really large variances in workload and expectations and duties in academic. Justifiably so. But "professor" tells you nothing about what someone's day or week or year looks like in terms of obligations or routine. Ask me how I know?