Faculty To Grad Students: Go Work 80-Hour Weeks!

New submitter Ian Paul Freeley writes "Controversy has erupted after a departmental email from faculty to astrophysics graduate students was leaked. Key tips for success in grad school include: 'However, if you informally canvass the faculty (those people for whose jobs you came here to train), most will tell you that they worked 80-100 hours/week in graduate school. No one told us to work those hours, but we enjoyed what we were doing enough to want to do so...If you find yourself thinking about astronomy and wanting to work on your research most of your waking hours, then academic research may in fact be the best career choice for you.' Reactions from astronomy blogs has ranged from disappointment to concern for the mental health of the students. It also seems that such a culture, coupled with the poor job prospects for academics, is continuing to drive talent away from the field. This has been recognized as a problem for over 15 years in the astronomy community, but little seems to have changed. Any tips for those of us looking to instigate culture change and promote healthy work-life balance?"

Comments

Re:Take a tip from the MDs

[readin]

The difference is that the concern about doctor shifts wasn't concern for the doctor's work-life balance, it was concern for the safety of patients being treated by doctors who hadn't slept recently.

Re:truth sucks

[NeutronCowboy]

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but the amount of hours you work have little bearing on how successful you are.This is especially true in any area where you are reporting to a boss. If you run your own business, the time you spend on it is time you pay yourself, and time you spend advancing your own career. Anywhere else, a large chunk of success depends on the whims of management and the competence of the executive team.

I'll be happy to check back with you in a few years and see whether you think that that overtime was worth it.