Hello. I'm a computer science researcher working for a large multinational company in Silicon Valley. While I enjoy working with my colleagues and I feel treated with respect, the "publish or perish" pressures are real, with requirements to produce a certain number of patent disclosures and academic papers per year in order to satisfactorily pass our performance reviews. At times it can be difficult reaching these goals due to unknowns in the research process and matters beyond my control (such as paper rejections).
I'm considering making a career change. I enjoy computer science research and I want to contribute to science, but due to the publish-or-perish pressures of industry and academia I would prefer to pursue research as a side activity rather than as a job. My dream is to work on topics related to my intellectual interests, such as programming languages and operating systems. However, pursuing research as a side hobby instead of as a job means I need to come up with another way of making a living, one that provides enough time for me to pursue my research on the side. I considered becoming a non-tenure track lecturer at a California State University campus, but I discovered that the pay is based on how many courses one teaches per semester, and there is no guarantee of the university offering its lecturers a full-time teaching load (4 classes per semester), which runs the risk of dealing with very low income in a very high cost of living area. Another idea that I'm considering is starting my own software business. It won't be a VC-funded startup; rather, it would be either a consultancy or it will offer software. However, I have been struggling to come up with business ideas.
I'm curious to hear about other people's opinions. I'm an active Hacker News reader but I'm posting on a throwaway account to preserve my anonymity.
I'm considering making a career change. I enjoy computer science research and I want to contribute to science, but due to the publish-or-perish pressures of industry and academia I would prefer to pursue research as a side activity rather than as a job. My dream is to work on topics related to my intellectual interests, such as programming languages and operating systems. However, pursuing research as a side hobby instead of as a job means I need to come up with another way of making a living, one that provides enough time for me to pursue my research on the side. I considered becoming a non-tenure track lecturer at a California State University campus, but I discovered that the pay is based on how many courses one teaches per semester, and there is no guarantee of the university offering its lecturers a full-time teaching load (4 classes per semester), which runs the risk of dealing with very low income in a very high cost of living area. Another idea that I'm considering is starting my own software business. It won't be a VC-funded startup; rather, it would be either a consultancy or it will offer software. However, I have been struggling to come up with business ideas.
I'm curious to hear about other people's opinions. I'm an active Hacker News reader but I'm posting on a throwaway account to preserve my anonymity.