Lecturing worth pursuing?

CareerCrises

Hi all,

Having a slight crisis at the moment centered around my career prospects. Although this may seem dramatic to some as I'm only 24, I'm feel a strong sense of despair due to my current lack of direction.

I studied social science in UCD and loved the course, graduated with a mid range 2:1 with a joint major in sociology and social policy and had planned to pursue a career in lecturing. I enjoy studying, learning new concepts, researching to back them up and enjoy communicating what I've learned to people whilst keeping them entertained and interested.

I found this thread very helpful (I can't post links, google "how to become a lecturer - boards.ie"

But then was shocked and completely turned off after reading this one; (again, no links allowed. Google "how much do lecturers get paid? - boards.ie")

Is this really what pursuing lecturing is like? Does anyone know if it's any better abroad? Are there people with Phds stacked to the ceilings at interviews?

Genuine thanks for any information.

gaiscioch

CareerCrises wrote: »

Hi all,

Having a slight crisis at the moment centered around my career prospects. Although this may seem dramatic to some as I'm only 24, I'm feel a strong sense of despair due to my current lack of direction.

I studied social science in UCD and loved the course, graduated with a mid range 2:1 with a joint major in sociology and social policy and had planned to pursue a career in lecturing. I enjoy studying, learning new concepts, researching to back them up and enjoy communicating what I've learned to people whilst keeping them entertained and interested.

I found this thread very helpful (I can't post links, google "how to become a lecturer - boards.ie"

But then was shocked and completely turned off after reading this one; (again, no links allowed. Google "how much do lecturers get paid? - boards.ie")

Is this really what pursuing lecturing is like? Does anyone know if it's any better abroad? Are there people with Phds stacked to the ceilings at interviews?

Genuine thanks for any information.

That's a good thread. Far too many people doing the post-doc merry-go-round. It's not nice meeting such despondency. There's a lot of bruised ego and sensitivity among those people, particularly when they realise they need a permanent job in order to get a mortgage and settle down. Very disheartening.

The years fly too, and there's usually (always?) more politics involved in appointment than there is producing a world-beating PhD. A very good friend is a permanent, tenured lecturer and he lost out on a promotion entirely because he was not bringing enough money into his university - he has, publication wise, passed the 100 mark which is extraordinary but that, despite the "publish or perish" mantra, was not as important as funding. The second reason was that his professor was not in the "in crowd" in the committee that was in charge of promotions. He lost out to a far less qualified person who had secured a large grant from an external fund and who had a "focal sa chúirt".

Lecturing would be a great job, but don't kid yourself about the number of people who walk away disillusioned from the doctorate/post doc process. The jobs genuinely are not there in most cases, and if they are there have been far too many PhD graduates in the past ten years or so who are now competing. If you went to the best uni in the world for the area you're interested in, you might have some chance. The last guy I know who was appointed a lecturer in his early 30s, had done his PhD in MIT which was No 1 in the world for his area.

ucdperson

For prospective university lecturers the situation ranges from middling to awful depending on the discipline involved and the ratio between the number of PhDs produced, the number of academic posts and whether there is any other credible employer of PhDs. So there may be a significant number of computer science PhDs, but IBM, Google etc might employ some of these.

As we speak English in Ireland, nowadays English fluent applicants can come from many countries, so it isn't easy for many people if they did not do a PhD in a top class place and get off to a good start.

Tom Dunne

I think it was me who started the original thread on how to become a lecturer, coming mainly from an Institute of Technology perspective, rather than an University perspective.

I can summarise in one line - I am (still) since the year 2000 looking for a lecturer position in Ireland, the fact that I am lecturing abroad for the past five years should tell you something.

Things still appear to be the same as when I wrote that thread - there are hours available, but nothing remotely capable of providing you with a wage that will pay the rent, in addition to no hope of permanency.

While in ITs you don't technically need a PhD to lecture, a Head of School told me recently that you essentially do, given the volume of candidates and the competition. Hence why I am pursuing mine.

However, I have accepted the fact that I may just be one of those PhD holders who ends up in industry rather than academia in Ireland.