Although I agree that working weekends is common in academia, I believe that academia has more freedom in how to organise your time.
Are there any other jobs where someone can take a month off at a time to travel to conferences, meet with international colleagues, and go on long visits to other institutions? Compare this with any tech or high powered job that has much more sensitive deadlines.
The only real deadlines for academia are: PhD graduation (4-6 years), postdoc fellowship ends (2-4 years), and tenure (5-8 years).
Between those selection cutoffs you are absolutely free to structure your life however you want.
If it doesn’t work out, oh well, you go into industry and collect double pay.
Are there any other jobs where someone can take a month off at a time to travel to conferences, meet with international colleagues, and go on long visits to other institutions? Compare this with any tech or high powered job that has much more sensitive deadlines.
The only real deadlines for academia are: PhD graduation (4-6 years), postdoc fellowship ends (2-4 years), and tenure (5-8 years).
Between those selection cutoffs you are absolutely free to structure your life however you want.
If it doesn’t work out, oh well, you go into industry and collect double pay.