
Ask HN: Has anyone gone from work to academia post mid 30's? - daxfohl
I&#x27;m 42 and meh.  I&#x27;ve run my own company, worked in a couple startups, and am employed by a big-4 now.  I see the people above me and blech:  I could get on a bigger stage &quot;architecting&quot; bigger projects but who cares.<p>I feel my heart is in academia.  I&#x27;ve felt that for years.  Has anyone made the jump this late in the game?
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WalterSear
I tried. I got my master's degree and ran screaming. It took me a few months
to to design and produce my thesis experiment, and a year and a half to
finagle the politics required to run it.

Small fishes fighting each other over scraps, and children who couldn't deal
with graduation.

Furthermore, you had better have all the money you will ever need already
stashed away.

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impendia
Apparently the job market is hot in computer science:

[https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/05/09/no-clear-
solu...](https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/05/09/no-clear-solution-
nationwide-shortage-computer-science-professors)

In any case, if you're thinking of enrolling in a Ph.D. program, I strongly
urge you to investigate the job market first. In math (my field), the job
market is difficult and becoming more so. Apparently it is more so in the
humanities and social sciences, less so in statistics.

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ccajas
Academia as in attending school, or going into teaching or research?

I am considering this to bolster my skills and career options, either for ECE
or full CS degree. I don't have the accomplishments you do. Instead I see
academia as one of several possible solutions to change a dead-end career.

However the million dollar question is how I can survive college full-time
when I also need a job to pay all of my bills. Financial aid options are not
as flexible as they were when going for your first Bachelor's degree. And then
there's the problem of time management in your 30's and beyond...

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farseer
Do you have a Phd? if not then its another 5-8 years of effort before you even
qualify to apply for any meaningful academic position.

And as others have mentioned on this thread, you better have savings to last
you a decade before considering such an endeavor.

~~~
mrfusion
It just seems so impractical. Our society really needs a way people can change
careers in middle age. It’s almost impossible right now without a ton of
sacrifice.

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CyberFonic
I too listened to my heart and after years of thinking about it, made the
jump.

I too worked as a contractor for many of the top consulting firms. In my late
40's I returned to academia to a do a PhD in software engineering. Graduated
last year and back on the consulting trail. The years doing the PhD were an
emotional roller coaster ride, but that is par for that course. I have no
regrets having had that "adventure". But for me continuing on as a Post-Doc or
doing more adjunct teaching are unappealing. Becoming a F/T academic is rather
difficult, lots of applicants for every position advertised and you need to
have an impressive list of papers, etc to be considered.

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noemit
What about academia appeals to you? You enjoy writing grant proposals? What
are you expecting?

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aecs99
I personally know two people who quit high paying industry jobs and moved to
reputable research grant universities (within US) as Assistant Professors in
their late 30s. This was about 8 years ago. Fast forward to the present, one
guy is a full professor while the other is still an associate professor. The
difference was that one used his expertise and experience to write and get
more grants, publish more papers, and is popular for his research (both inside
and outside the university). The other is known for his teaching (within the
university), took it slow and didn't publish as much.

I also know another guy who got his PhD, moved to academia (research lab and
all), quit and moved to gaming industry to code, worked for 5 years, and now
moved back to academia (once again, research lab and all). Then there is
another person who got his PhD, worked as a post-doc, worked as an Assistant
Professor, quit because he didn't enjoy it, and now is working next to me,
enjoying an industry position.

I think all of them are truly enjoying what they do. I guess the question for
you is what would you like the most?

There are several questions that you'd have to answer for yourself:

(1) Are you in for teaching? Or are you into research, i.e., having freedom in
what you work on? Keep in mind that if you join as a Assistant Prof. on a
tenure-track role, you'd still have to prove yourself in the long run. This
could mean working on some projects that you may/may not enjoy in the short
term.

(2) If you are in for the teaching, do you care about where you teach?
Community colleges or small universities are always looking for people to
teach (as a full time professor, or as a part time lecturer). Do you
differentiate between these as much over the love of teaching?

(3) You probably could try out guest lecturing to check if you truly enjoy
teaching. Or maybe teach just for a semester, if that is any appealing.

I personally have a PhD, wanted to be in academia for a long time but jumped
to industry for numerous personal reasons. This is my 5th year in industry and
I love what I work on. However, I still feel that my heart is in academia. To
get a reality check, I'll be guest-/co-lecturing several sessions of a course
at a public university this fall. I'm curious how things will turn out. Good
luck to you too!

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noddingham
The other comments about grant proposals and politics is true in a lot of
instances. For a different approach, look at a liberal arts college that has a
CS program: [https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2017/2/212444-liberal-arts-
ac...](https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2017/2/212444-liberal-arts-academia-
wants-you/fulltext)

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jason_slack
Well, I am headed back to school for an Economics degree. Not quite what you
are asking for but I do hope to teach afterwards as well as launch a startup
based upon some economic concepts I have been thinking about.

I have held a few academic jobs then went to corporate, then back to academia.
It wasn't a hard adjustment to go back. It was harder for me to go back to
corporate jobs after.

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dagw
For what it's worth my wife's uncle quite his job as a civil engineer at 50
and went to grad school to study social anthropology. Despite starting so late
he still managed to end up as an Associate Professor, the author of several
well regarded books and papers and was generally considered authority in his
niche.

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dagw
Although I'm not 'in' academia I do work 30% on a research project at a
University. I find it a rewarding balance between keeping up with what is
happening in research and getting to participate in that world without having
to completely give up my connections with industry.

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bubblethink
I would say early to mid 30s is quite common. You can do a post-doc or get a
research scientist position in the industry after your PhD, and work for
couple of years or so before you apply for academic positions. Something like
PhD->Watson/MSR->academic role is not uncommon.

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kreeWall
My dad has worked in banking and credit risk for 35 years and then quit, and
is now working on his PhD - he found a passion in teaching. He graduates with
it in August. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have - feel free to
email me (contact info in profile).

~~~
mrfusion
Is it weird being the old guy in classes? That’s honestly what I’d worry the
most about.

~~~
barry0079
I think it's only weird if you make it weird. I often spent time with the
older students on my course.

