> Western culture really doesn't allow us to just show up for the 15-20 hours we really work and get paid the same salary as the 40 we say we do.
There are exceptions. As an academic, I have that freedom. If I don't feel like working, I have no pressure to stay at my office. On the other hand, I often work during the evenings, weekends and vacation. I wonder how I would adjust if I had to switch to a regular job.
As someone who recently shifted from an academic, paper writing position to a bigCo job,
"Don't."
That's really all I can say. No matter how good you think it is, it will break your spirit, and if doing meaningful work at a reasonable pace is what's important for you, you (probably, there are always exceptions) won't get it in the corporate world.
EDIT: (I realize this is a very delayed response, but I've been mulling over this very issue for a few days now and it's something rather painfully close to home for me.)
Thanks for your input. Actually, I've been considering making this shift, at least temporarily. I'd like to do something different for a while. But it probably won't happen anyway.
This echoes a lot of the sentiment that I had when I moved, and frankly I regret it. I can't obviously know that all of our variables are the same, but for me, I lost the ability to work in a place that had a friendly work environment, with nearly full control over how and what I worked on, the ability to publish, AND work on a full stack, in exchange for a doubled paycheck and losing all of the above, this was simply not worth it and I spend most days here counting down until I've "paid my dues" and can go back into an area I feel more passionate about without burning any bridges.
There are exceptions. As an academic, I have that freedom. If I don't feel like working, I have no pressure to stay at my office. On the other hand, I often work during the evenings, weekends and vacation. I wonder how I would adjust if I had to switch to a regular job.