<p>It is certainly true that being a nontenured prof is a big step down from having tenure.</p>
<p>But I still don't think it's that bad. The prestige of simply being a former prof, even if you never get tenure, can be extremely useful later in your career, especially if you end up going to consulting or some other high-brow profession. For example, I know one guy who was a former professor at Harvard , and wherever he goes, whatever he does, he is always known as the 'former Harvard professor'. Ironically, he even know teaches at MIT (but just at a visiting Prof level), and yet when he was interviewed by a certain major news publication that shall remain nameless, the interview didn't mention MIT at all, but made a point of mentioning that he was a former Harvard professor.</p>