This is a very fair view of the scene, and it all rings true. But do remember that it is written by a professor.
Speaking as someone who has been seduced into academia on multiple occasions by my friends who are professors: They are hopeless optimists. This is not their fault. Indeed, it is a precondition for their existence: just as you would not be surprised to find that most of the creatures sitting on top of a high crag have wings and can fly, you should not be surprised that most professors, and especially most tenured professors, are completely besotted with their lifestyle and can barely conceive of anything else. Darwin has seen to this. The academic environment is all about selection pressure.
For example, this essay is by a particularly self-aware and wry professor, so he's able to joke that "getting a PhD costs you a house". But self-critics don't last long if they go for the jugular, so he doesn't point out that, if you wish to continue doing research after your PhD, it's going to cost you another house, and another: Postdocs pay better than graduate fellowships, but still only half what industry pays, if that, and even less if you calculate the hourly rate. And then to go any further you will need to start writing grants, and administering students, none of which is exactly research. Then you probably won't get to keep your job writing grants because it's hard to get the grants, and hard to get tenure... [1]
So, take this fellow's advice to heart, but be sure to also have a beer with a real cynic before spending fifteen years in pursuit of academic nirvana.
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[1] I never studied CS, so maybe the grass is greener over there and CS is some kind of abundant academic paradise where grants flow like water. But I kind of doubt it.
One of the things I miss about academia is the ability to do whatever the hell I wanted too outside of work. This allowed me take on some fairly lucrative consulting jobs during the course of my PhD. Although I haven't looked too hard, it seems to me that once you get into industry it is very difficult to work on anything on the side without having to worry about things like IP restrictions. I think in California it is illegal for companies to try and restrict you from doing extra work outside contract hours, but from what I gather it is hard to find companies anywhere else that will agree to such a thing (well at least here in the UK). Actually it is one of my pet theories that this law is a significant contributing factor to the number of companies started in Silicon Valley. I'd be interested in hearing about any experiences people have had in avoiding such restrictions on after hours work, especially in the UK.
Good points - always good to get multiple views. It's worth pointing out that at least in CS, you can keep doing research after getting a PhD by joining industry labs, which shouldn't cost you as many houses.
Re: your footnote, the exact comparison would depend on what field you're looking over from, but no, grants don't flow like water in CS.
In fact, there's been some discussion lately that CS reviewers are overly critical of each others' articles and grant proposals, compared to other fields. For example, in a recent editor's note[1], Moshe Vardi coined the term "Hypercriticality" to describe the harshness of CS reviews. There's a great quote from Ed Lazowska, who called it "Circling the wagons and shooting inwards".
But said professor is currently on a break from research, working at Google. He has expressed a desire to "just write some code" and "deal with real problems".
Speaking as someone who has been seduced into academia on multiple occasions by my friends who are professors: They are hopeless optimists. This is not their fault. Indeed, it is a precondition for their existence: just as you would not be surprised to find that most of the creatures sitting on top of a high crag have wings and can fly, you should not be surprised that most professors, and especially most tenured professors, are completely besotted with their lifestyle and can barely conceive of anything else. Darwin has seen to this. The academic environment is all about selection pressure.
For example, this essay is by a particularly self-aware and wry professor, so he's able to joke that "getting a PhD costs you a house". But self-critics don't last long if they go for the jugular, so he doesn't point out that, if you wish to continue doing research after your PhD, it's going to cost you another house, and another: Postdocs pay better than graduate fellowships, but still only half what industry pays, if that, and even less if you calculate the hourly rate. And then to go any further you will need to start writing grants, and administering students, none of which is exactly research. Then you probably won't get to keep your job writing grants because it's hard to get the grants, and hard to get tenure... [1]
So, take this fellow's advice to heart, but be sure to also have a beer with a real cynic before spending fifteen years in pursuit of academic nirvana.
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[1] I never studied CS, so maybe the grass is greener over there and CS is some kind of abundant academic paradise where grants flow like water. But I kind of doubt it.