4%-er overall, though saddened to see I'm only a 27%-er of Gen-X white males with advanced degrees. Looks like I'll have to start selling a little bit more of my soul to keep up with these folks.
Lets see.... 27%, but if I adjunct for 20 hrs a week, Im up to 20%. I'm a PhD in his early middle ages, so yea, that's pretty bad. But Im in fly-over land in academia, so I did to myself I suppose.
If you are feeling bad about yourself, just compare yourself to me.
Thanks, NMH. That will save me from having to watch the Jerry Springer Show ever again.
Every time I see these curves, I feel an urge to fit a Boltzmann distribution and solve for the temperature of the economy. I've been able to resist that, so far, but I won't be able to hold out forever.
"I'm a chemical engineer of the same age as Gene. His credentials are amazing; 44 patents, and a doctorate from U Wisconsin-Madison which is a top school for chemical engineering, and I assume also for organic chemistry. Perhaps he does have some psychological issues which makes holding a job problematic, but before H1Bs, NAFTA, WTO, PNTR, etc., Gene would have had a decent income assured until and through retirement, and at least better than $10/hr at a bookstore! What does this say to young people aspiring to be chemists or other STEM workers?"
What it says is..... be a music major. You'll get better pay and benefits in the city orchestra.
It is a gut wrenching story!! I am an organic chemist of similar and the way things have been for some time, I could have been I or be any of us. It just simply does not help to quit on your job after 9/11 and in retrospect was a bad decision. Absence of family support can take a heavy toll on one's life and your PO box address is not comfort either! Sooner or later people can figure it out. As i have opined (and also NMH) elsewhere an academic job as bench chemist/postdoctoral fellowship (second stint after cutdown by pharma) is not a bad thing especially if you had a roof over your head.
looks like Blogger doesn't work with anonymous comments from Chrome browsers at the moment - works in Microsoft Edge, or from Chrome with a Blogger account - sorry! CJ 3/21/20
4%-er overall, though saddened to see I'm only a 27%-er of Gen-X white males with advanced degrees. Looks like I'll have to start selling a little bit more of my soul to keep up with these folks.
ReplyDeleteLets see.... 27%, but if I adjunct for 20 hrs a week, Im up to 20%. I'm a PhD in his early middle ages, so yea, that's pretty bad. But Im in fly-over land in academia, so I did to myself I suppose.
ReplyDeleteIf you are feeling bad about yourself, just compare yourself to me.
Thanks, NMH. That will save me from having to watch the Jerry Springer Show ever again.
DeleteEvery time I see these curves, I feel an urge to fit a Boltzmann distribution and solve for the temperature of the economy. I've been able to resist that, so far, but I won't be able to hold out forever.
Enjoy your great job while you still have it.... :)
DeleteTough road for this organic chemist profiled in the NY Times today: http://nyti.ms/1TUsVlo
ReplyDeleteGreat comment from that article:
Delete"I'm a chemical engineer of the same age as Gene. His credentials are amazing; 44 patents, and a doctorate from U Wisconsin-Madison which is a top school for chemical engineering, and I assume also for organic chemistry. Perhaps he does have some psychological issues which makes holding a job problematic, but before H1Bs, NAFTA, WTO, PNTR, etc., Gene would have had a decent income assured until and through retirement, and at least better than $10/hr at a bookstore! What does this say to young people aspiring to be chemists or other STEM workers?"
What it says is..... be a music major. You'll get better pay and benefits in the city orchestra.
Dang! Why did I quit that music school? 8th grade....
DeleteIt is a gut wrenching story!! I am an organic chemist of similar and the way things have been for some time, I could have been I or be any of us. It just simply does not help to quit on your job after 9/11 and in retrospect was a bad decision. Absence of family support can take a heavy toll on one's life and your PO box address is not comfort either! Sooner or later people can figure it out. As i have opined (and also NMH) elsewhere an academic job as bench chemist/postdoctoral fellowship (second stint after cutdown by pharma) is not a bad thing especially if you had a roof over your head.
ReplyDelete86% for Gen-X white males, though it goes up to 62% if I count myself as a millenial (1980 DOB). I'm not sure which number makes me sadder.
ReplyDelete