Thank you so much: Gmira Aboribo, Saheed Olaide Jimoh, Ngozi Anigbogu, Nicole Buzzetto-Hollywood, Chukwu Kenneth. Your comments are valuable.
Regards,
MO.
It depends on your life goals and what you enjoy doing. A career in academia is really stressful.
Hei Modestus - very good question!
To me discussion on the worth, challenges and "meaning" of academic careers seem to be a little bit anachronistic. Classical accounts like Max Weber´s "Science as a Vocation" (my apologies, I´m a sociologist and we always tend to mention one of our boring classics...) described "academics" as people who "answered the calling for science/truth etc".They were writing at times when academic careers were restricted to a small elite of wealthy white men who were economical independent and could "afford" to pursue an academic career. Today I´d say that science is just another profession that is (luckily) open to a more diverse group of people. In turn, economic or other external factors (work life balance, work hours etc.) become more important thus changing our calculation of the value of academic careers...
I think this is a very personal question and it varies by discipline and perhaps locale. For me personally, I find conducting research rather enjoyable and I love summers off as such I find a career in academia much more relaxing than when I worked long hours and a more frantic schedule in media communications.
Dear Prof. Alexander Ruser and Nicole Buzzetto-Hollywood, thank you so much for your valuable comments.
Hi Dr. Modestus,
Academic career is worth pursuing. One of the good reasons is that you have freedom over your time. Academics are free to choose how they spend their day. Aside from teaching obligations, they get to decide not only when they work but also what projects they work on each day and who they work with. Not being tied to the normal nine to five work hours allows academics to spend their time on the projects where they can add the most value. You can work from home or office, as long as you remain productive.
Regards,
KC.
You know the expression “do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”? It might as well be about academia. While in other jobs you might only get to work on something that truly interests you for a few hours of the workday, as an academic you can devote all your research time to pursuing your passions.
Academics also offer collaboration opportunities. The university environment promotes cross-disciplinary thinking and research and makes it easy to approach and collaborate with experts on just about any topic.
Academics also enjoy job security, financial security, as well as the academic freedom.
When you work in academia you have the freedom to determine your own research areas and lead a team to pursue them.
It is also worth mentioning that gaving good mentors can really ease many of the early career stressors.
Do whatever makes you happy. If you're interested in teaching and mentoring others whilst working in cutting edge research then yes. You do a role in academia because you have a passion for it in my opinion. Not necessarily to pay the bills because there is potential to earn as much if not more money working in the private sector.
I agree with Dr. Kenneth Chukwu.
With an academic career, unlimited opportunities abound.
But also supporting Nicole Buzzetto-Hollywood, proper mentoring and guidance is necessarily vital for career choice and advancement.
What you love might become what you once loved and lack of mentorship might lead to loss of interest.
This is an interesting questions with valuable contributions. Thanks to all that have provided comments. However, more contributions, in addition to the ones above, will be beneficial to upcoming and early career scientists I think.
Thank you so much: Gmira Aboribo, Saheed Olaide Jimoh, Ngozi Anigbogu, Nicole Buzzetto-Hollywood, Chukwu Kenneth. Your comments are valuable.
Regards,
MO.
Thank you so much Marwah Firas Abdullah Al-Rawe and Prof. Nirmala S.V.S.G
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