Conversation

This question's gauche, but: given the prevalence of $400k++ comp packages for ~30-year-olds in Big Tech, why aren't there lots more "gentle[wo]man scholars"? i.e. people quitting to do non-remunerative creative projects I can think of some, but shouldn't there be thousands?

207

110

1,059

Patrick Mineault

@patrickmineault

Jan 28

I did this and I think one of the barriers is a lack of a framework to describe what one is doing. Independent scientist sounds like ~ crackpot. I've gotten a few editors come back to me about a lack of affiliation saying i must have an affiliation. Still managed to publish tho

Jordan Schneider

@jordanschnyc

Jan 28

there needs to be the equivalent of 'adjunct fellow' at a dc think tank for off the grid tech people

Andy Matuschak

@andy_matuschak

Jan 28

It's funny—this hasn't been a problem for me at all! But I think being able to say "helped build iOS at Apple; led R&D at Khan Academy" sort of checks the same boxes… I'd probably have a lot more trouble without that.

Ben Reinhardt

@Ben_Reinhardt

Jan 28

Also, I think what you're doing and your CV is particularly amenable to the "tools for thought" discipline. I suspect people still might give you funny looks if you started trying to do theoretical biology.

Replying to

and

Oh, definitely! The prior box-ticking needs to be congruent with the scholarship. If I'd worked as a PI at Genentech or something, though, I could maybe pull it off?

1:49 AM · Jan 28, 2022Twitter Web App

Replying to

and

Yes, but then to tie it back to the original prompt -- the people making $400k salaries at big tech are then fairly limited in their scholarship.

Elliott

@robot__dreams

Jan 28

How many of these people quit to work on open-source projects for fun? That seems like a viable (based on experience) and somewhat analogous (to indie scholar) option