Beware survivorship bias in advice on science careers
During my PhD we had an off-site week, with science, drinking and sailing. At such a conference you think you will be in science for ever. You will travel, give talks, receive applause and solve the worlds problems together with you science buddies, who are all just a bit smarter than the rest of the world.<p>One afternoon we were with 100 PhD students in one room, a Prof. addressed us and told us: &quot;You are here with 100 scientists, only 1 of you will make it to become a Professor. The rest will find jobs elsewhere or get stuck eternally as a postdoc.&quot;<p>It woke me up, I&#x27;m not a hard worker, I&#x27;m not that 1%. I started to think about alternatives soon afterwards. This was 20 years ago and I never regretted it. There is an elegance in science, traveling and trying to become a Rock Star of science [0]. But there is also &quot;publish or perish&quot;, a high percentage of time spend traveling (away from family) and a work-long-hours honor system.<p>I&#x27;m in industry now, it can really be seen as selling out by some scientists, but it&#x27;s much less stressful if you ask me. And I&#x27;m lucky I found a company where I am still quite free to do science (although I now develop software most of the time and haven&#x27;t seen a biolab since covid...)<p>[0]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.discovermagazine.com&#x2F;the-sciences&#x2F;rock-stars-of-science" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.discovermagazine.com&#x2F;the-sciences&#x2F;rock-stars-of-...</a>