[TriLUG] Not Linux: Anyone else feeling the pain?

[William Sutton]

And even if you are, sometimes the money dries up.  I had a Computer 
Science professor who described his academic career somewhat as follows:

As an undergrad, he could never quite make up his mind what major he 
wanted, so he bounced around.  Eventually he realised that if he took a 
few more mathematics courses, he could graduate with a BS in math, so he 
did.  He proceeded from there into topology, and eventually became a 
professor in topology.

During the course of his tenure, a graduate student investigated a 
particular question, found that it couldn't be proven, and published it 
for his masters.  The same student then researched it from the opposite 
direction for his doctoral degree and proved that it couldn't be 
disproven, either.

At this point, my professor said, money for topology started to become 
scarce.  Coincidentally, he was approached by the university about 
becoming a CompSci prof.  Seeing the writing on the wall, he said, "I 
believe I'm interested in computers..."

William Sutton


On Tue, 25 Nov 2008, Cristóbal Palmer wrote:

> On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 2:52 PM, Dave Sorenson <dave at logicalgeek.com> wrote:
>> Ah but you were  a Grad student... the actual professor did not do 1/4
>> the work.. that's why they have grad students.
>>
>> ;-)
>>
>
> Depending on circumstances, you may only have an easier time of things
> if you've already got tenure. If you're on the tenure track, you can
> get ridden hard: "Why didn't you apply for this grant? Why haven't you
> published in $PRESTIGE_JOURNAL? Why are you advising fewer Ph.D.
> students than Sally over here? Why haven't you created a new course
> for us on $TOPIC_DUJOUR? ..."
>
> Believe me, there can be plenty of pressure in academia. Both of my
> parents have terminal degrees, and one had a couple of assistant
> professor positions... it can be rough.
>
> Clearly this totally depends on the discipline, department head,
> committee, etc. etc. etc. Some faculty gigs are pretty rosy, sure, but
> not all.
>
> Cheers,
> -- 
> Cristóbal M. Palmer
> "Small acts of humanity amid the chaos of inhumanity provide hope. But
> small acts are insufficient."
>    -- Paul Rusesabagina
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