GrrlScientist reports that Money magazine rated the top jobs in the country, and that college professor came in second. Grrl takes the interesting stance that, while she does desire the job greatly, there's no way that it should be ranked that high, based on the criteria named in the article.

Unraveling the paradox, she says,

Don't get me wrong; I wish to be a university biology professor because, despite everything, I still think it is the best job for me, but I never have engaged in that particular fantastical belief that being a college professor is a truly wonderful job for most people out there, all things being equal.

My own reaction was, "Sweet, someone in the world thinks it might make sense to someday want to rejoin academia." Then I clicked through to the article, and I found out that the number one job is Software Engineer.

The best part is that they gave it the same "ease of entry" rating as for a college professor. Let's see, on the one hand we have a job which requires a minimum of five years of post-bachelor education, a PhD thesis, multiple publications, teaching experience, possibly multiple years spent in a post doc position, and a grueling interview process. On the other, a bachelor's degree from any school whatsoever, with a few courses in C++ along the way, and the ability to solve trivial logic puzzles during interviews. Yeah, that's definitely comparable.

Post a comment