It seems to me academia is a bit of a mixed bag. Mid level folks with funding seem to have no trouble moving around. The purely clinical folks…different story. Honestly don’t know how the new grads are making out. We had a run of them go for academics a few years back but the last couple years have all gone private. How are things for new grads from your perspective?
I think the majority of jobs now are employed academic or non-academic. I want to say vast majority.
Just some pure anecdote and opinion:
It really is a mixed bag and I try to remember that my first academic job experience seems uniquely bad, some places seem uniquely good (Mayo, UTSW pop out).
There seems to be this sentiment among the clinical folks that academics carries a risk of being essentially a less well paid non-academic clinical job. I have friends where this is definitely true; they are doing no research, carrying a non-academic load (15-20+ patients) and making academic money. I know 0 people that have stayed in jobs like this more than a couple years.
I don't hear a lot from people that are more experienced than me (5 years out), so not sure the experience for mid-career. The couple people I know had some mobility and seemed to do fine without funding. I dont really know anyone that is unhappy and
couldn't move for occupational reasons. I know one person that left academics after 10 years as a specialist and struggled a little with becoming a generalist. I became a generalist about 4 years speciality practice and had no issues.
I dont think funding matters if you are mainly clinical. I had a lot of funding and no one cared, even among early talks with other academic centers (because I was seeking clinical jobs). It all stays with the institution so it doesnt add value for them. I think when people say research really matters for a primarily clinical person, even in academics, they are kind of telling a white lie to themselves. This cant be universally true YMMV.
It's kind of like a large anecdote, but I know a lot of folks that left academics for non-academic employed positions. This is just the most common available job I think versus private practice. The reasons always seemed to be some version of "I feel under appreciated". All these folks seem very happy now. I am in this bucket and do not miss academics at all.
I know several new grads that were treated pretty terribly in "private" practice so I am not sure that is a safe haven.
I also know a few people that seemed pretty unhappy, searched, decided to stay and/or their current place remedied their concerns. Love to see that.
For clinical people, the key really is clinical leadership way more than the label of the job. If you report to someone that treats new grads like a commodity, you're gonna have a bad time independent of the type of practice IMO.
I wish it became culturally unacceptable in our field to treat people this way, but clearly few care.
