I've been hanging around in higher ed for around a decade. I recently got interviewed for an assistant prof position. Didn't get it, and the feedback I got as to why I didn't get it was frankly bizzare. The job itself would have been a really nasty one too. Kill you with teaching and expect a proper research output too. Glad I didn't get it. Don't get me wrong, if the university system decides that either they want me to do a nice job without all the performance management crap they usually force people to do (actually slightly likely in the near term in my case), or they decide that they need me more than I need them (long term possibility) then I'll be happy to have them. Otherwise, I might do a little bit of teaching to keep library access and go and do proper paid contract work instead for a while.

The higher ed system looks in quite serious trouble to me right now and I do think is heading towards a transformative crisis in the medium term.