I did not begin working in academia until my late 30s. One of the biggest surprises/disappointments has been the extent to which universities decouple job responsibilities from job titles/wages. It is highly exploitative https://twitter.com/cath_fletcher/status/1199649852562513920

It’s bad enough that to get promoted we have to demonstrate that we have been systematically working above our current grade for multiple years – a fact that astonishes non-academics. But it’s especially appalling when roles and grades are systematically & purposefully mismatched

For a bunch of supposedly clever people, we have managed to create an incredibly stupid employment and promotions system. Or to have one imposed on us.

And of course it’s almost impossible to fight/resist the system at individual level. E.g. if I don’t play the journal publication game, my career will suffer badly, or come to a very abrupt end. Academia is a wonderful case study of how systems overwhelm sense #ucu