Some personal news that some of you may find surprising (spoiler alert: I quit my job).

Why I Am Leaving Academia - by Emily Herring
https://wellreadherring.blogspot.com/2021/02/why-i-am-leaving-academia.html?m=1

I will add a few extra thoughts in this thread later but for now I would just like to say thank you for all your kind words. I am glad this resonates! And also, I feel fucking great!

OK so a few things! I initially wrote this blog post as something I could point people towards if they had questions about my decision to leave. I anticipated there would be questions and that I would find it tedious to have the same conversation over and over again.

There are already many depressing accounts of how bad academia is. I didn't want to add another one to the pile. I just wanted to explain myself because I knew my decision would come across as sudden and perhaps strange. Not many people resign from postdocs.

I did not want to make anyone who is currently in academia or who is thinking about going into academia feel bad. I think some people can make it work for them and I admire them for it. It is just not for me.

The blog post was going to be very dry at first. A kind of brief statement. But when I started writing it, personal things started pouring out. It became important to me to be very honest and open about everything. It felt good to write it like that.

And I am glad I wrote it that way. The response has been unbelievable. I clearly struck a chord. I am glad this has resonated with so many people. I am incredibly moved by those who have told me this blog post has helped them in some way.

It took me a while to feel comfortable with my decision because for some reason, as grad students we are implicitly taught that any trajectory that takes us outside of academia is a kind of failure.

Something that really helped me is that I share my life with people who do not work in academia. Some academics don't know any non-academics and I think it is really hard for them to imagine a world outside the university

I am also very lucky because I know some of the coolest people in academia who have supported me through all of this. I am very proud of my friends and lucky to know them.

Thank you everyone for your incredibly kind words of encouragement today. Thank you to all of those who helped me voice my doubts this past year. I really appreciate it