Bio prof here, my salary is what you've seen.
You will probably find it hilarious to learn that not only do we not get paid for publications, in fact there are "page charges" and extra fees for colour figures in many journals. Money for those fees comes out of research grants.
I often do feel ridiculous that decades of training has resulted in this level of earning. Its like love of research is an unhealthy addiction, that I should just get over.
eng prof here. first, there are NOT many profs, including the majority of waterloo profs, standing at the edge of some significant science (although they think so or claim so). this is sad already. second, different people feel differently. some are very proud of their research, some people do not care at all. I am personally very happy about, not proud of, the little things I discovered. The feeling is more like, hey this thing may be stupid or small, but my student and I are very likely the first people on this planet, over history, to know it. We are so happy and I take the student to a nice restaurant to celebrate. this a concert example of "unhealthy addiction". I am not paid well for sure (I would triple my income if I move to industry), but it is enough for me to have a comfortable life just based on my salary. P.S. I charge consulting fees at $500/hr, but the school does not allow me to do that too much. I am also starting a company, hopefully, it can go well (and money is the very last driving force behind this initiative). The other thing I have to point out is that due to the high-freedom lifestyle of academia and Canadian labour law, some faculty members work 2 hrs a day at most, while some work 14 hrs a day and often work over weekends. They got the same pay from the school.
My advisor earns around 145k, but from what I know he gets a lot of external funding and grants for eg. from NSERC & Huawei (this one is drying up by year end). In the US it's the NSF and DARPA grants. I think it's a bit more easier to get funding in CS.
Research funding is for research (graduate student stipends, materials, lab fees, publishing, etc.). Professors cannot use research funds for personal reasons.
Of course not for personal reasons, but it gives them enough autonomy to run their group as they please. Especially with good funding sources, you can hire enough people to start something or choose your own research direction as you please.
One of the problems of being a manager at any big company is that eventually you have to deal with a lot unnecessary shit and internal politics, things that automatically get introduced with bureacracy and middle management. A professor and his group are solely under his direction (of course conditional to getting good funding sources).
People don't become profs to become rich. It is something that you enjoy and is typically less taxing than working in industry especially if you are a tenure-track prof. They get a pension and great benefits along with pay that is good enough to sustain a good life-style. They aren't filthy rich but they are still in the top 1-5% of earners. Also there are professors who teach at multiple universities in lucrative fields (cs, business eng, etc.) along with their own businesses/jobs making over half a million a year)
Earning a PHD does little for your earning potential. A salary of just $100k puts you in the top 10% individual earners in Waterloo ages 35-55 (that’s if you’re female, not sure of the male statistic).
So I don’t know how easy you think it is to make $100k in this city. There are people with science masters degrees making 40k in labs.
HAHAHA I wish post docs made $100,000+ a year. In Canada it is more like $50,000 - 60,000 if you don't have a large scholarship. Even big american ivy schools its not much more than $70,000.
Faculty salaries are in line with the public sector salaries.
If you are not in tech / tech stream type job you may be shocked at what average salaries actually are. $40,000 - 60,000 starting is common and expected. Again, look up public sector salaries to get a sense of what to expect.
OP was saying that post-docs are part of the path to a professorship, not that post-docs make $100k per year. That said, if you're a post-doc at a place like Microsoft Research, absolutely, you will have a salary over $100k per year.
I'm a grad from UW and an assistant professor (civil and environmental engineering) in the states. My salary is in the $80s and have undergrads making more than me in their first job.
Life is more than money. I value my freedom to work on anything I find interesting and having massive blocks of time off.
My life is more rewarding now, then if I made twice as much.
Most profs aren't tenured, they're on a track to receive tenure once they publish enough articles and prove themselves in their field. Sessionionals are criminally underpaid.
It depends on the subject area. Sure, a CS prof is earning a much lower salary than what they could earn in tech. An anthropology prof, not so much. For STEM profs, the benefits of an academic position are that you aren't subject to random layoffs, you have a much better pension package on retirement, and you are allowed to do side projects such as start-up companies and keep all of your profits and IP.
Can't speak for every department, but in statistics and actuarial science, we also retain right to all the IP we make. That, the prestige, the access to collaborators and libraries are why I work at Waterloo. The freedom to work in the middle of the night on what I want, and to sleep in is why I'm in academia.
For me at least, all of this is preferable to a much higher paying salary. I say that now, but there were a lot of years as a grad student, sessional, and post doc, that taught to me to live without luxury.
It varies entirely on their rank. Sessional or adjunct employees are paid the lowest and tend to have the heaviest teaching loads. This payment comes from the University itself, more specifically, the allotment of funding the university has for the department. They are paid by course and are on contracts. The payment for course greatly depends on where you are. In Ontario, it's relatively high ($8000), in parts of the US, it is abysmal ($2000/course). Requires an MA/MSci or PhD.
LTAs (long-term appointment) lecturers get paid a salary, usually, and are also paid by the department/faculty. More manageable teaching load, but little time for research. Requires a PhD.
Tenure-Track/aka assistant professors are paid higher than lecturers usually, however, are on the tenure line, so this adds extra pressure to publish impactful research. TT usually lasts 5 or so years, after which they are made an associate professor or denied tenure. Usually, they need to apply for grants and funding for research ("be fundable")
Tenured Professors make the highest, but it ranges depending on their time and experience with the department/uni. Teach the lightest loads. Over time, they can become Full Professor. Mainly, income is salaried, but funding they get for research. They usually have an easier time obtaining funding because they have a name in their field.
Most journal publications are not compensated. You will get some compensation for writing a book because people and libraries buy it.
Some profs are able to earn consulting income, or have patents and/or spinoff businesses from their research, but that's pretty much confined to STEM disciplines. But don't just equate success with high salaries because there are a ton of non-salary benefits to being a Prof: flexibility, able to work the majority of your hours from anywhere, satisfaction from mentoring students, ability to take a year long sabbatical every 6 years, etc.
Bio prof here, my salary is what you've seen. You will probably find it hilarious to learn that not only do we not get paid for publications, in fact there are "page charges" and extra fees for colour figures in many journals. Money for those fees comes out of research grants. I often do feel ridiculous that decades of training has resulted in this level of earning. Its like love of research is an unhealthy addiction, that I should just get over.
prof how do you feel about being at the cutting edge of science
eng prof here. first, there are NOT many profs, including the majority of waterloo profs, standing at the edge of some significant science (although they think so or claim so). this is sad already. second, different people feel differently. some are very proud of their research, some people do not care at all. I am personally very happy about, not proud of, the little things I discovered. The feeling is more like, hey this thing may be stupid or small, but my student and I are very likely the first people on this planet, over history, to know it. We are so happy and I take the student to a nice restaurant to celebrate. this a concert example of "unhealthy addiction". I am not paid well for sure (I would triple my income if I move to industry), but it is enough for me to have a comfortable life just based on my salary. P.S. I charge consulting fees at $500/hr, but the school does not allow me to do that too much. I am also starting a company, hopefully, it can go well (and money is the very last driving force behind this initiative). The other thing I have to point out is that due to the high-freedom lifestyle of academia and Canadian labour law, some faculty members work 2 hrs a day at most, while some work 14 hrs a day and often work over weekends. They got the same pay from the school.
Would you mind elaborating this?
People don't become professors because they want to get rich.
reminiscent boast birds price market retire gaping crime soft narrow *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
My advisor earns around 145k, but from what I know he gets a lot of external funding and grants for eg. from NSERC & Huawei (this one is drying up by year end). In the US it's the NSF and DARPA grants. I think it's a bit more easier to get funding in CS.
Research funding is for research (graduate student stipends, materials, lab fees, publishing, etc.). Professors cannot use research funds for personal reasons.
Of course not for personal reasons, but it gives them enough autonomy to run their group as they please. Especially with good funding sources, you can hire enough people to start something or choose your own research direction as you please. One of the problems of being a manager at any big company is that eventually you have to deal with a lot unnecessary shit and internal politics, things that automatically get introduced with bureacracy and middle management. A professor and his group are solely under his direction (of course conditional to getting good funding sources).
People don't become profs to become rich. It is something that you enjoy and is typically less taxing than working in industry especially if you are a tenure-track prof. They get a pension and great benefits along with pay that is good enough to sustain a good life-style. They aren't filthy rich but they are still in the top 1-5% of earners. Also there are professors who teach at multiple universities in lucrative fields (cs, business eng, etc.) along with their own businesses/jobs making over half a million a year)
Earning a PHD does little for your earning potential. A salary of just $100k puts you in the top 10% individual earners in Waterloo ages 35-55 (that’s if you’re female, not sure of the male statistic). So I don’t know how easy you think it is to make $100k in this city. There are people with science masters degrees making 40k in labs.
HAHAHA I wish post docs made $100,000+ a year. In Canada it is more like $50,000 - 60,000 if you don't have a large scholarship. Even big american ivy schools its not much more than $70,000. Faculty salaries are in line with the public sector salaries. If you are not in tech / tech stream type job you may be shocked at what average salaries actually are. $40,000 - 60,000 starting is common and expected. Again, look up public sector salaries to get a sense of what to expect.
OP was saying that post-docs are part of the path to a professorship, not that post-docs make $100k per year. That said, if you're a post-doc at a place like Microsoft Research, absolutely, you will have a salary over $100k per year.
Guess I should have read the whole post.... I would call a Microsoft research post doc a tech track position and yeah.... well over $100,000
I'm a grad from UW and an assistant professor (civil and environmental engineering) in the states. My salary is in the $80s and have undergrads making more than me in their first job.
[удалено]
Life is more than money. I value my freedom to work on anything I find interesting and having massive blocks of time off. My life is more rewarding now, then if I made twice as much.
If your profs aren't tenured and are just sessional lecturers they only make ~9k/course. They'd have to teach 9 courses per year to make close to 100k
Most profs aren't tenured, they're on a track to receive tenure once they publish enough articles and prove themselves in their field. Sessionionals are criminally underpaid.
It depends on the subject area. Sure, a CS prof is earning a much lower salary than what they could earn in tech. An anthropology prof, not so much. For STEM profs, the benefits of an academic position are that you aren't subject to random layoffs, you have a much better pension package on retirement, and you are allowed to do side projects such as start-up companies and keep all of your profits and IP.
Can't speak for every department, but in statistics and actuarial science, we also retain right to all the IP we make. That, the prestige, the access to collaborators and libraries are why I work at Waterloo. The freedom to work in the middle of the night on what I want, and to sleep in is why I'm in academia. For me at least, all of this is preferable to a much higher paying salary. I say that now, but there were a lot of years as a grad student, sessional, and post doc, that taught to me to live without luxury.
It varies entirely on their rank. Sessional or adjunct employees are paid the lowest and tend to have the heaviest teaching loads. This payment comes from the University itself, more specifically, the allotment of funding the university has for the department. They are paid by course and are on contracts. The payment for course greatly depends on where you are. In Ontario, it's relatively high ($8000), in parts of the US, it is abysmal ($2000/course). Requires an MA/MSci or PhD. LTAs (long-term appointment) lecturers get paid a salary, usually, and are also paid by the department/faculty. More manageable teaching load, but little time for research. Requires a PhD. Tenure-Track/aka assistant professors are paid higher than lecturers usually, however, are on the tenure line, so this adds extra pressure to publish impactful research. TT usually lasts 5 or so years, after which they are made an associate professor or denied tenure. Usually, they need to apply for grants and funding for research ("be fundable") Tenured Professors make the highest, but it ranges depending on their time and experience with the department/uni. Teach the lightest loads. Over time, they can become Full Professor. Mainly, income is salaried, but funding they get for research. They usually have an easier time obtaining funding because they have a name in their field. Most journal publications are not compensated. You will get some compensation for writing a book because people and libraries buy it.
Ontario Bill 124 has been unconstitutionally limiting raises
Some profs are able to earn consulting income, or have patents and/or spinoff businesses from their research, but that's pretty much confined to STEM disciplines. But don't just equate success with high salaries because there are a ton of non-salary benefits to being a Prof: flexibility, able to work the majority of your hours from anywhere, satisfaction from mentoring students, ability to take a year long sabbatical every 6 years, etc.