Double Blind

Via Richard, an article why a career in science is a horrible decision economically, and thus why more women don’t get into the field:

http://philip.greenspun.com/careers/women-in-science

There are some things about this article which are very true and some which are exaggerated. If you’re getting into science and are interested in money, you should really be looking for some sort of position in the private sector. The problem is that most of the well paying positions require a PhD, which tends to consume too much of your mature mental growth years (i.e. 20-30 years of age) which makes it very biologically expensive to obtain.

However, a lot of jobs at these companies (plenty of them around, e.g. Pfizer) “only” require masters degrees or a B.Sc with some experience, so it’s much easier to get in and work your way up and be paid much better than any job in academia could ever provide with a lot less risk.

Even if you don’t get a job in research and development, there are plenty of positions concerning the manufacturing of drugs and biologics that do not require PhD’s.

That said, the real money in the drug industry is in marketing and sales. Make no mistake – companies like Pfizer are in the marketing industry, they just so happen to sell drugs.

UPDATE, a few hours after posting this: Andrew Coyne’s site has another article as to the salaries offered at a university in New York state.

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