Is the "academia is awful" meme only true for soft

Also, is the "most research is useless" meme true for sciences?

>>8062412
Most academic research is "useless" in that it lacks either a direct or immediate payout. This is not to say that it shouldn't be done as blue skies research is what generally leads to significant advances, but such advances are neither quick nor dramatic the majority of the time. This need for long term support makes such efforts a generally poor target for industrial support which is driven by short term gains (an exception is the pharmaceutical industry where the necessary testing and approval regiment is already a long term investment).

>>8062431
yeah but even pharma doesn't support academic research because the reality is academic research doesn't have the same stringent reproducibility requirements as industry
if you're doing science for a company your results need to happen every single time
if you're doing science for academia it only needs to kind of work once, and you can crank out a paper and be done with it
amgen complaining about this issue: "In 2012, Amgen researchers made headlines when they declared that they had been unable to reproduce the findings in 47 of 53 'landmark' cancer papers"
http://www.nature.com/news/biotech-giant-publishes-failures-to-confirm-high-profile-science-1.19269

>>8062402
I major in Cell Biology and Neuroscience at a respected east coast research University

Its not a meme IMO lad

>>8062536
I was speaking generally of blue skies research, which the pharmaceutical industry does support as it is necessary and not too significant of a risk when weighed against the investment necessary for any drug/product that even makes it to trial. Pharmaceuticals don't really support academic research for the simple reason that they don't control where the results appear and thus don't control outflow of information. In condensed matter, however, there is a lot of public-private partnerships and there is pretty much an open door between industry and academic researchers [just look at the people that work at IBMs QM research group and where they came from/where they wen].

File: 1413137328669.jpg (105KB, 494x349px) Image search: [Google]

105KB, 494x349px

>>8062402
No the dean, AKA your boss, only cares about what journals your papers land in, how many papers you have published, and how much money you bring in. Chances are you're going to be fucked for the first couple years until you get tenure and after that you could basically moon the dean and nothing would happen.

Overall all it's hell for the first five years.

>>8062609
>the first five years
Wat?

Normally you need to do 3 - 5 rounds as post doc, each contract 2 - 3 years long, before you get a chance for tenure. Tenure within 5 years is exceptional.

And while the dean cannot fire someone with tenure there are still many ways to force someone out.

>>8062402
Phd in physics here. I think about suicide everyday. More so than my research project.

Those that do well in their Phd like publish dozens of papers in high impact journals and secure 10 patents before they finish, have supportive and inspiring supervisors and coworkers.

>>8064210
>Phd in physics
Also here,
Why not move to another university or lab? I went to Japan, awesome experience.

Agree on the patents stuff, useful if you want to go to industry, and Linkedin can link to them.

>>8062546
>respected east coast research University
So your opinion is useless since it would require you to be from a normal university.

>>8064100
>15 years as post-doc

Kek. I've literally never heard that. I guess you're smarter than the dozen or so academics I've talked with

>>8064351
His point is valid. Yours is useless pleb.

>>8064230
>Why not move to another university or lab?

Completely lost the will, hope and ambition to do anything in life.

>inb4 see a therapist bro

Tried that. Sick of their "just be yourself" and "think positive thoughts" approach to therapy. I have learned to like and accept my fatalist and pessimist view of the world.

At this point I could literally take a job as a Janitor and be contempt with it. But I'll probably just jump off a building. Maybe I won't.

>>8064370
>Completely lost the will, hope and ambition to do anything in life.
Stand up! Scream into the wind: "Nil Carborundum!!"

Then apply for a research fellowship in Japan.

>>8062402
Can't chemists and biochemists play some music or some Youtube videos in the background to make their brainless work interesting?