From: primeaux@carlsberg.cs.utk.edu (David Primeaux)
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
Subject: Re: Bleak news from the academic job market
Date: 6 Nov 92 19:35:21 GMT
Organization: University of Tennessee, Knoxville - Department of Computer Science
Distribution: world
Reply-To: primeaux@carlsberg.cs.utk.edu (David Primeaux)
NNTP-Posting-Host: carlsberg.cs.utk.edu
Keywords: Momma, don't let your babies grow up to be scientists...

In article <1992Nov6.103301.3045@hellgate.utah.edu>, tolman%asylum.cs.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Kenneth Tolman) writes:
|> >I got a piece of mail from the computer science department of an Ivy
|> >League school the other day. The writer dropped a hint that there were
|> >400 applications for one Assistant Professor position. (Name of the
|> >school withheld to protect the sender.)
|> >
|> >At last count there are, perhaps, twenty or thirty open positions in
|> >the US and Canada at that level. Ergo, at least a 1000% oversupply.
|> >
|> >At this point, I would NOT advise anyone to get a Ph.D. in computer
|> >science, if they were doing it to work in academia. If you're planning
|> >to do it, I'd say make other plans. Unless you're a superstar, you
|> >probably don't have a chance.
|> 
|> This is not necessarily THAT bad... consider there must be at a minimum
|> 500 graduates from CS departments with PhD's every year.  Presumably
|> many of these will apply for an "Ivy League" position, so one would expect
|> a great number of applicants for that position.
|> 
|> I do not know where you found out 20-30 open positions, or what type of
|> positions these are.  You could ALWAYS get a job at a lower tier school,
|> if you are willing to shift into 2 year schools. 
|> 
|> I don't know why anyone would want to be in academia anyway... can't you
|> get research positions in industry, and wouldn't they pay more and have
|> less pressure?  When I worked in industry it was a much better atmosphere,
|> although it was not a research job.

Would that it were so simple!  I came back for the PhD (in CS, expected
January) because I love to teach.  I also really enjoy doing research.
Now, as I near the completion of my degree, I find  a triple bind:  there
do not seem to be as many academic positions available as when I started;
there do not seem to be as many industry positions available; and there are 
more CS PhD's being produced.  Competition seems to be very tough out there
and I, for one, didn't see "it" coming.  By "it" I mean a complex of factors
which I feel contribute to this situation, including:  the recession, the
resulting drop in the tax base in many states, and the end of the cold war.
I did expect an increase in PhD graduates, but I was also led to believe
that there would be an expanding job market.  'Seems 't'aint so.

So, any reasonable suggestions out there?  I don't think I'll be able
to pay off my student loans and feed my family flipping burgers -- but I'll
flip 'em if I have to.  How do I sell myself to prospective employers in this
type of market?  Remember, it's (in my opinion) too late to "go to a different
(read: "more prestigious" school), or to get additional publications accepted,
or to find an advisor who has better connections in industry or in academia.

-- david
primeaux@cs.utk.edu