I would assume the need for childcare means he has to work. So did he just like…not work? I have a remote job and there is no way I could also spend large amounts of time with my son during the day like this.
Academic here, I can do whatever the hell I want 95% of the time, only problem is that if it doesn’t add up to a shitload of work eventually I’ll be screwed. But taking a week off without telling anyone is just business as usual.
That’s cool! I would assume there are tradeoffs in other areas, nothing is perfect. But that sounds nice.
Yeah, there are absolutely tradeoffs. The distinction between work and free time becomes very vague. You might achieve nothing for days in the office trying to work, just to have an eureka moment in the middle of the night later on. So taking time outside the office is easy, but sometimes you wouldn’t manage to stop working even if you wanted to.
Most people feel very personally attached to their work, so if they don’t feel like they perform well (which is a rare feeling) it’ll often feel like a personal failure. This often leads to people overworking and all kinds of negative spirals. A lot of people long for a more structured job.
That said I personally love it - the flexibility is by far the biggest reason why I want to stay in academia. It’s not for everyone, but it is an incredible deal if you can manage to maintain some sort of work/life balance.
A lot of people long for a more structured job.
That’s some grass-is-greener shit if I ever heard it.
If you have an unstructured schedule, you can structure it. If you have a schedule structured for you, any change you want to make is a hassle and can be rejected by your manager.
I personally see it the same way, but for some people the pressure to schedule themselves translates to massive overworking and stress. Academia is also a bit random - sometimes you stumble upon something by luck, other times your findings suck for no fault of your own. If you worked a lot just to find yourself in the latter category it’s very easy to fall down a mental hole, working long days and weekends for months and months in order to save what’s left of your research agenda/professional life.
Academics are not necessarily famous for being the best acrobats of the work/life balance.
Kinda implies he was choosing not to spend time with his daughter lol
"Best day of my life! Daddy finally noticed me!’
