Half a decade -- that went quickly...

It's now five years since I left academia. Which is weird, as time went by extremely quickly. And, somehow I still feel part-academic. Not only in that I approach many issues the way I would have done when working as a researcher, but also because I am still in touch with many academics on social media; mostly from the time I first started out on twitter, and with colleagues (often from other universities) working in the same field as me.

One issue that always is at the forefront of my mind is that I have no regrets. Life outside the ivory tower is maybe a bit less certain, but it feels a lot more sensible: No periods of binge-marking essays twice a year, or being dependent on anonymous student feedback. No trying to apply for promotion when management constantly pushes the goalposts around. No pointless teaching/research assessments. No wasting time on writing grant applications with an 80+% failure rate. And a lot fewer emails. Up to the point that I sometimes wonder if my email is broken.

In short, I'm happy to be where I am. It was an interesting time working in academia, and sometimes I miss it, but overall I'm glad I left when I did.