| > A tenured professor is still a highly respected position I don't think this is true outside of the (tiny) academic bubble. Being a tenured professor at a well-ranked R1 has some prestige within a limited community. However, most tenured faculty -- even Full Professors -- are not at R1s. Consider the following 5 facts about non-R1 faculty: 1. Compensation. At most institutions -- even in CS -- salaries max out at $100K. It's not uncommon for a CS professor with 30 years of experience to make less than a high school mathematics teacher, especially if the former is at a private university and the latter is at a public school in a state with a strong pension system. It's extremely common for CS professors to make less than new grads at FAANG. 2. External Opportunities. A non-R1 professor will have a difficult time trying to be a consultant, expert witness, etc. Also, raising grant money is basically impossible. 3. Job Autonomy. At most institutions -- even in CS -- the average faculty member spends most of their time teaching. They are, for the most part, treated as replaceable cogs. 4. Job Security. Tenure doesn't mean what it used to mean, and it never meant "perfect job security". During COVID, many universities laid off tenured faculty. 5. Even WITHIN academia, faculty at R2 or LACs are taken less seriously. Outside of academia, faculty are essentially viewed as "teachers" (and that view, again, isn't exactly inaccurate outside of R1). On the whole, in the vast majority of cases, being a professor is lower status than being a software engineer. You don't get paid well, you spend 40 hours a week teaching, and then folks WITH PHDs who know how the business works claim that you have undue privilege because you don't someone find another 40 hours a week to do world-changing research for which you are not compensated and for which you will not reap any reward. |