John Beckett writes:
 
>> Terms: This is a full-time professional exempt position
>>with an annual salary of $45,000.  Position is dependent
>>upon State of WA funding.
 
>And some of you guys call Education something _other_ than
>the "realworld"?  Sound to me like "all of the bang, not
>much of the buck."
 
There are plenty of people (a great many with Ph.D.s') who work in
university environments for half this amount -- and with no guarantee of a
salary next year. Go to any academic department (astronomy, biochemistry,
physics, biology, etc.) and talk to the "lowly" postdocs. It doesn't
matter much where the university is located or its prestige.
 
Nonetheless, these people are working on ideas such mechanisms of cellular
differentiation, the underlying causes of cancer cell growth, whether or
not the universe is fundamentally closed by the presence of dark matter,
or the conservation of the earth's remaining  biodiversity. Important
ideas and important work, and generally performed with a level of
commitment that generally can't be matched in an industrial environment,
but at salary levels that allow you only to drive a ten year old car and
live in relatively poor neighborhoods.
 
Perspective is important.
 
Wirt Atmar