What are careers like in astronomy?
In the field of “traditional” astronomy, most people expect to end up working as professors at colleges or universities. Since the number of astronomers has gone up while the number of faculty positions has gone down, it’s not a sure bet that a young person will find a stable job. Most are spending years in multiple post-doctoral positions or can only find “soft-money” non-tenure-track jobs (this is what I have: it means my job is never secure, and I have to spend most of my time writing proposals to NASA or the National Science Foundation to bring in enough funding to pay my salary). Nevertheless, there are still a few jobs here and there scattered around the world, and with hard work and luck and a willingness to travel, a motivated young person can succeed in that traditional path. Because the “traditional” path is becoming less practical, many young astronomers are looking into alternative careers. Since astronomers are strongly skilled in computing programming and internet skills,
