Dandy, I agree with you that personal capability is everything and the tenure rate is low among schools. I think I didn't make myself clear enough with regards to getting fired. I thought scholarly career depends on how smart you are and how devoted you will be in the long run, and there is always lower-tier schools you can teach at--just lower compensation as well. However, working in the industry can be affected by the macro environment (if massive layoff happens when you are middle age, you are screwed) and it is more of a team work environment as opposed to individual (or a co-author or two), experience-accumulated career buildup, which translates to a safer situation when hitting middle age. I guess it would be more appropriate to point out that job security probability in academia is relatively higher than in industry, then of course, we all know that classical risk profile higher rewards so long as you are willing to take more risks, yeah? |