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[dr_know]

I'm in the category that was forced out, mingled with a lack of marketability that is 95% my fault, 5% poor advisement.  I chose a specialty that I didn't love because it was the more "practical" specialty.  I took jobs at teaching-focused (yeah right) colleges so I didn't really develop much research (largely due to time, but also due to lack of interest).  These "teaching-focused" joints were all open admissions.  My first appointment was at a school I knew little about but two of my mentors said would be a decent choice.  Wrong.  I should have known better at the second appointment, but I was swayed by a friend who worked there and changes the school supposedly was making.  The third and final place was just a disaster all around.  How do you get complaints on the third day of the semester?  Apparently by reading the syllabus to the students and cracking jokes to try to make them feel less afraid of said syllabus.  Frankly, the only places I've been successful is at the local CC and my old university, both places where I was an adjunct.  The combination of higher standards (even at a CC) and no political expectations probably explain that.  So rather than spend another five years trying to resurrect this mess, I'm bowing out.  However, I've finally recovered enough of my sense of humor, if not dignity, to return to the fora after many months of self pity.

[2much2do]

I left academia for many of the reasons listed here - I ended up working 2 other jobs to make enough money to afford to live in a house rather than a car, I was frustrated by the pace of change and the politics, and the excuses of students.  I got a great job in a non-profit, but at this point, I'm the grant writer, I'm responsible for the research implementation of multiple studies with a group of people who have never done research and don't want to do it, along with the full-time job I was hired to do.  The money's great, but the job has grown into an unmanageable 80 hour a week morass.  And there isn't any appetite within the organization to hire help or to improve the situation.  But, I've been able to save a nice nest egg, and I'm exploring going back to my old institution.  We'll see how it goes.  For now, I am not going to quit the job today.  But I've found that at even outside of academia, the pace of change will be slow, people will complain and make excuses rather than do their jobs, there are lots of politics - and I've learned that money doesn't make everything tolerable.

[slipstream]

I'm happy to find this thread. I'm in my fifth year on the TT, and for the first time ever, I'm considering leaving academia. I can relate to so many of the reasons for leaving expressed here. I like my current job and still feel fortunate to have it given the awful job market, but there are some aspects that I can't stand.

My main issue is feeling trapped. I have realized that I need to be at a SLAC. I care more about teaching than anything, and I'm quite good at it. I enjoy working on research (so I don't think I could be at a 4/4 school), but I will never sacrifice my students for it. That obviously makes life difficult at an R2 whose leaders are pushing us to be an R1. But because the job market is so terrible in my field, I fear that SLACs will prefer shiny new PhDs over someone who is about to get tenure. I applied for just one job this year, a perfect fit in terms of  department, specializations, and geography, and didn't get an interview. I just learned that the person who got it is ABD at a top 20 school, and who I advised informally this summer (he's a good kid, but damn, that hurt).

Combine that with the fact that my degree is from a middle-of-the-road program (I went back later in life and wasn't willing to move for a personal/family reasons), and our increasing desire to live in a real city again, and things suddenly aren't looking so rosy for me in higher ed. If I can't be at the type of school I want (and need) to be at, and my wife and I can't choose where we want to live, the other parts of academia that I enjoy are starting to feel less attractive.

And that's not even getting into my increasing dislike of the business of academia: the glacial pace of change (as some have mentioned here), difficult or indifferent colleagues, a system that incentivizes selfish behavior (like colleagues who can't bother to read graduate applications before they come to meetings because they are busy building their CVs), and the absolute sham that is undergraduate education at a research university. It makes my blood boil when colleagues tell me that what they're doing is good enough for our students while planning to send their kids to private schools.

So, thanks to all of you for sharing your stories (especially airball, whose posts I really enjoyed). It makes me feel a little less crazy. None of my colleagues have worked outside of academia -- I had a corporate career before getting my PhD -- and when the subject comes up, they act as if they would rather be boiled alive than think about leaving (even the ones who b*tch nonstop). My plan is to apply for SLAC jobs in the fall, and then reassess my situation then. At the moment, the idea of regaining some control over my future and where we can live sounds very good....

[gsawpenny]

I spent time in the dreaded private sector and hated it.  But then again, I love to teach.  I agree with all of the comments about the glacial pace of academic work, especially with publishing.  I am not in a STEM field so I focus my writing and publishing on the evil "popular" press.  The good news, I make extra money from it and my books still go on the dusty "faculty publications" shelf on display in my department.