Reader submission: 'On (probably) leaving the profession'

By Probably Leaving

As the title suggests, I'm thinking of leaving academic philosophy. Probably not right now, I have a PhD dissertation to finish, and more importantly, another year of funding. That's exactly one year in case anyone was wondering. You may also have noticed that I'm posting this anonymously. That's because I do want to have a run at the job market this year, and maybe even next year if I can find a way to support myself in the interim. I'm worried that admitting in public that I'm thinking of leaving academic philosophy will significantly reduce my chances of my applications being taken seriously. I'll say a bit more about that below, but my main purpose in this post is to explain my decision to start looking for a career outside academia, and hopefully start a discussion about the reactions faculty and fellow grad students have to the mere mention of doing something else.

The Market

I'll start with the obvious reasons first. The job market sucks. And the most recent data I've seen (here, here, and here) suggest it's particularly bad for me as a man working on the philosophy of mathematics and logic, and with AOCs  in “core” areas. The state of the job market is compounded by a few other factors. Here are the most important.

1. I'm unwilling to take one year posts, and would only take two year posts under particular circumstances. I have a few reasons for this. Financially, moving hundreds or thousands of miles every summer, putting down deposits on apartments, utilities, etc.. are expensive propositions. I do realize that I would be making significantly more money, but if a good deal of that extra money is just going towards changing jobs every year or two it hardly seems worth it. Additionally, I'm an introvert, and I like to know the ins and outs of where I'm living. That means that it takes me the better part of a year to settle into a new town, and longer to settle into a new country. (I'm currently on country number four; enough is enough.) I'm also one of those rare academics who needs to be grounded by a group of friends outside the university, and it takes a while to make those connections.
2. Location matters. Climate, architecture, public transport/walkability, all make a significant difference to my happiness. This means I'm not going to take jobs in certain places. That said, I thinks it's best to err on the side of caution – I'd rather apply and make a final decision about a particular location once I get an interview. My particular preferences about these things aren't really relevant here, but I imagine most people have strong preferences about these things, though many probably differ quite a lot from mine.
3. The third, and most controversial reason I won't be hitting the job market full force is that I am unwilling to take “teaching” positions. By this I mean a 3/3 would be a stretch for me, even somewhere I really want to live. The reason for this is quite simply that I don't enjoy teaching. It's a burden for me. I don't hate teaching, I think it's really important, and I'm glad there are philosophers who love it, but I'm not them.
4. Finally, there's what we might call the one body problem. I'm single, which is a problem for two reasons (for me at least). These are related to (1.), but worth mentioning separately. The first is that it's already difficult to date as an academic philosopher (so say I), and figuring out what's going on in a new city, or worse a tiny college town, doesn't sound like something I want to do every year. Second, it means my support system is just me. I have family and friends scattered around the world, but that's different than having someone there with you when you're making big transitions. It also means there's no-one to help pay the bills between temporary gigs, help with moving expenses or share the basic cost of living. Now these are problems anyway, but the more you move around the bigger these issues become.

I've framed the discussion so far as things that will make finding an academic job I actually want extremely difficult, and they are, but much of what I've said can be generalized to staying in academia. There's are two more, unrelated reasons I want to leave academia, the stress, and skills.

It looks to me as though I won't really be able to relax until I'm tenured. When I'm on vacation I feel guilty about not working, there's always a deadline looming, and schedules change every four months. I realize that whatever I end up doing, I'll have deadlines, but tenure clocks, job applications, and grade submissions seem different (but maybe I'm wrong). It's the constant mild pressure that's the problem. But worst of all are the constant changes in schedule. I have a mood disorder, and a (possibly related) sleep disorder, and constant changes in schedule screw with me pretty good. It's not just the small ones either, they can be managed, but the large changes from (say) having to teach MWF at 10:00 to teaching Thursdays at 6pm, then having a month off that affect me the most.

Finally, it's occurred to me more and more recently that in choosing an academic career I'm only utilizing a subset of my talents. I write like an analytic philosopher and think like a logician. I've always been that way, though obviously I'm immensely better now. But I'm also a good organiser, a good manager, and have a good ear. It seems to me that, not only could the skills I've developed as a philosophers be put to good use elsewhere, but they could be combined with skill less useful in a philosophy department. That at least seems worth looking into.

Support and Reactions

At the beginning of this post I mentioned that I want to stay anonymous so as not to diminish my chances of getting an academic position that I really want. This shouldn't be an issue. Any academic job that I would take I would put my heart and soul into. Further more, given the state of the job market for everyone, it would be irrational for all but the richest candidates from the very best programs not to at least consider leaving. We want rational philosophy professors, right? The main difference is that I've taken that consideration much further than most. But what happens when I mention this to my peers and professors?

I'll start with what is apparently most controversial. I don't like teaching. I have two grad student friends who believe me when I say that, and they're also thinking of leaving the profession (one likes teaching, the other doesn't). This is usually couched in in language like “you've not done it enough”, “you'll learn to like it”, “everybody hates grading papers”, and so on. And they might be right. I might learn to like teaching, but should I choose to do something because I might enjoy it in 5 or 10 years? Maybe, but either way, the problem is that many academics who know me very well don't believe my judgments about my own preferences. Remember that the point is just that I don't want a job that's mostly teaching, not that I refuse to teach.

The problem is similar in the more general discussion of leaving philosophy, or taking certain positions. It's, thankfully, more subtle in these cases. People at least pretend to understand when I say I won't move to Georgia (the US State), or want to look into alternative careers, but their actions betray them. It's not their fault, faculty, for the most part, can't imagine doing anything else. The larger problem here is that, as much as we talk/blog about alternative careers, there's an underlying prejudice that most philosophers have yet to shake: wanting to do something else means that you're not as committed to philosophy as you should be. That's just plain wrong.

What all of this leads to is a lack of substantive support for those of us thinking of leaving philosophy. (My supervisor, to his great credit, has been trying very hard, and has been quite helpful.)

I'd like to end with a few positive comments. First, I love philosophy, especially reading and writing it. Second, I've been very negative in this post, but I don't think it's all bad. A lot of progress is being made toward helping philosophy PhDs find alternative careers, it's just that we still have a ways to go.

Many thanks to Marcus for giving me a platform!

Comments

[Perplexed]

To the poster,
I am little perplexed. It does not sound like you are facing dilemma. You seem to know your choices: get a job at a research institution OR leave professional philosophy. These choices fit your values (including your lack of interest in teaching). All that is fine. I see no reason to fret. I guess it can be somewhat stressful that others - your peers - do not understand your situation.

[Probably Leaving]

Maybe I could have been more clear. That's basically where I'm at. Some of my reasons for writing this are to talk about some of these things more openly, and maybe help people on both sides understand and/or feel a bit better.

Part of the problem, and I'm not nearly the first to mention it, is the way the system is set up.

[Perplexed]

Leaving ...
What do you mean by "the way the system is set up"?
I think your thinking about your situation is quite sensible. The pity is when people do not have a clear sense of their values, and then they flounder around in a PhD programme too long, often never finishing.

[Probably Leaving]

Thanks, I agree.

RE: "the system" - the expectation that we move around and/or adjunct while on the market; that people coming out of top ten institutions are primarily researchers and the rest of us teachers. I know I'm generalizing, and realize that some of this is inevitable, but that doesn't mean it's not unfortunate.

[Perplexed]

Hi Probably,
Indeed, I do not think it is reasonable to expect a research job - a job at a top 50 program even - unless you went to a top 25 program. And most of these jobs are going to go to those who went to top 15 programs. That is the reality.
I have been at a teaching college for years now. I enjoy the work, but I truly enjoy teaching. Yes I hate grading, and yes I do not like disciplining students, etc. But I find it exciting sharing our discipline with college age students. That is a very nice population to work with. But these are my values.

[Pendaran]

I got my PhD in June 2014 with three papers published, 2 top 20. I now have 10 papers published, 6 top 20. I'm not saying I'm amazing. I'm not. What I'm saying is that THIS was not enough to get a job, not even a 1 year job. That's how bad it's gotten out there, especially for my demographic group apparently. I'm just relying on all the recent data coming out.

I know young philosophers with mind blowing publication records, MIND BLOWING!!!, and prestige too, who can't get jobs.

This is anecdotal evidence. There is better data available which matches quite well with my experiences. Anyway in sum, I'd say leaving the profession is probably the right move.

[Amanda]

I agree with perplexed. You seem to have a good game plan: try to get a research job in a desirable location, and be ready to leave academia if that doesn't happen. (and accept the odds of leaving are thereby high). Yes, it sucks that so many in philosophy do not understand your preferences and treat leaving the academy as some type of failing. I wish the professional norms were different, but alas, they are not. Just like anything else in life, do what is best not what will make you popular. I think things will work out for you.

As for many people not seeing persons from non-top schools as researchers, yes, that also sucks. Again, I do not see that unfortunate reality changing. Don't let it mess with you.

[Probably Leaving]

Thanks for the support, readers!

Pendaran, that's some of the worst anecdotal evidence I've heard in a while. Crazy. Good luck.