You don’t typically hear too much about professors leaving their positions to take industry jobs though it is more common in the technical fields where more money can be a powerful lure. However, I suspect the changing academic environment may lead to more of these cases. I don’t agree with everything in this post, but it does cover some of the problems with the current academic environment and why many very intelligent people choose not to get involved with academia at all.
I suspect that google will not be the dream job he imagines since expectations are a bit different in most industry roles, but I do think it may offer some distinct advantages over the position he is leaving. I found his reasoning interesting, particularly since E is stubbornly sticking to the academic path for now. I wonder if someday he will come to similar conclusions and find a different kind of research position elsewhere.
Source: cs.unm.edu
