Need to decide between staying in academia or jumping to industry, perspectives appreciated
For context I'm in an R1 university in the US. Right now I'm a full time technical teaching staff and have been for the last few years. I really enjoy the classes I teach and working with the students is a highlight every quarter, however my position is kind of odd and I'm not the instructor of record for any of the classes that I teach. I don't really mind about titles in general. I teach 3 classes per year but they involve very intensive work with sessions running all day every weekday (TAs cover some of the sessions but still). To be honest I already do a lot of overtime just to run the classes right now because I enjoy the topics. My department would like me to transition into a new role, NTT teaching professor which would involve 6 courses per year + service, with a 20% salary increase. We discussed about it a year ago and back then I got told that staying where I was was OK. A year later now the new position is open, but it is not a promotion and they asked me to apply. When I asked explicitly, I got told now they are not keeping my old position. When I told them it was too much work they were very dismissive. It is unclear if the search is competitve or not. They expect me to start planning ahead for new courses and got emails about it while the application/interview process is ongoing, so that'd make it seem like they are assuming that I'd stay. However it is a full search and they will bring additional candidates for test lectures, etc. All communications say things like "if you get the position". After the first interview it seems like they will have to delay the hiring a few months so I'd have to start teaching the additional classes without being the instructor of record or additional payment for them. These are classes that I'd need to create from scratch.
By the way I was on an H1B visa so if my old position is gone, originally I'd have basically no option but to stay no matter what. But, surprise! My GC just got accepted a few weeks ago and now I can work anywhere. I had successful interviews within a few weeks and now I have an offer from industry that would pay way more (60% more, better benefits, remote days). I work in a very technical field so I'm sure if I leave it will be extremely hard to run the course for a while, so the overall behavior of the Dept. is very confusing to me. Also it seems like they just want me to focus on these new MS program that looks like a cash cow. I'd rather be in academia in general, but I'm not trying to be a PI. My field is niche so these kinds of NTTs positions are extremely rare. I think if I stay I'd be very overworked and also have colleagues that don't appreciate the work that I do. The attitude of th dept. seems very unreasonable and messy. Is that the case? Not sure what to do so would appreciate perspectives.
Posted Aug 14, 2026, 10:08 PM UTC