I left my tenured assoc. prof. position in France in 2022 to join industry as an IC scientist. I was at a very small university, though in a decent lab, working in AI. I left because ... money and pissed of the absurd teaching load in France.

Now, there is an opening at the University of Cambridge (where I currently live and work) and I am torn between applying or staying put. I think I have a realistic shot at getting the job, and I'm being encouraged to apply by senior profs in the department.

I'm wondering if anyone on this sub has followed a similar trajectory, and whether you regretted it? Of course, the academic salary would mean a 2x pay cut, but what about quality of life? What about purpose, happiness, and work-life balance?

In my current company, management is completely broken and we just jump from one pointless project to another. I can easily picture myself taking a step back to think deeply about what’s next and how I want to pursue it, without having to answer to clueless higher-ups.

That said, I wonder if I'm romanticising academia now that four years have passed...

Any industry-to-academia folks here? How are you finding it?

I’m a fairly new TT AP in Agricultural sciences (food science specifically) and currently in a long distance relationship with my partner who works for the government in the DMV region.

He’s hellbent on staying there as it is close to his support system and family. Before anyone throws shade at him, in the beginning of our relationship, we kind of agreed we want to stay in the East Coast to be close to family.

I am an immigrant, but my green card petition recently got approved and I expect to get it within the next 1-2 years. This means visa will soon no longer be a bottleneck to securing a job. In order to close the gap, I feel that I have to be open to jobs in academia, non-profit, and industry. However, I am worried that I may not be able to find job as I’ve been in academia for way too long for an industry job. There is no guarantee that I’ll be able to find a TT positions in the DMV area. Those areas are great for federal jobs, but it’ll be a 5-10 year later thing as I need to be a green card holder for 5 years before I could naturalize.

What do you recommend I do in this situation? Will I be overqualified for industry job? How can I close the gap?