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Comment by scott_s | Hacker News Reader

Academics do not have large salaries. They have two primary things that make up for it: freedom in what they do, and the feeling of having a positive impact on their students specifically, and society in general. So, if we consider his entire compensation, think of it as salary + freedom + positive impact.

This essay is explaining why he thinks that the freedom and positive impact parts of his compensation are significantly less than he initially thought. When that's the case, the next obvious question is: is this worth it? He's answering no. All occupations have problems, but he may find another occupation where he feels all aspects of his compensation (not just monetary) are worth it.

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Tenure track professors get paid pretty well, adjuncts get paid like Scientology staff.

The example he used in that article was an adjunct making $15k and a professor making $60k.

If that $60k is actually his salary, that's not great. Now, if one of the other commenters is right and he's at UT Arlington, $60k is a perfectly liveable income here, but any professional job with more than a few years experience is going to surpass that. As a software engineer in the same metropolitan area with about 6 years experience, I make $66k/year. I'm not even that good, and I'm probably younger than him.

60K for an assistant professor in history sounds about right. Pretty much any assistant professor position in the humanities is going to have a starting salary at that level or less in a not highly ranked university.

Varies wildly depending on field even within an institution, and is still only for 9 months of the year (pay for the summer either with grants, consulting, or by teaching summer school classes [if there are any]).

While a historian (like the author) might not get paid summer salary, this is not generalizable.

My professors in the astronomy department at my university (a large state school) don't get paid over the summer either.

It very much depends on the department. For example, most NSF & State supported departments (like astronomy) draw a 9-month salary. Many if not most NIH funded positions, like those in medical schools or schools of public health, are 12-month positions. There are lots of those positions, they're just somewhat less visible.

Tenured academics also have long term job security and increasing amounts of paid free time as they get older, past the age that they would have a hard time holding a senior job in industry.

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