Weigh your options (Score 2, Interesting)

I can only echo many of the comments made by others who have been in this position from either side (private sector first, then univ., or vice versa). The general consensus is as you'd expect, there are pros and cons, and it will depend on your specific situation.

I left college to go work for a small startup ISP in 1996. Three years later, after learning more than anyone ever could from years of classes, I left a thriving mid-sized ISP that I helped build, only to end up at a multi-billion dollar corporation whose idea of an ISP was to buy out four mid-sized ISPs and piece them together into a coherent, synergistic, profitable arm of the parent company. Of course, they tasked this overwhelming 500,000 user job to the sysadmins who weren't wise enough at the time to jump ship. Did I mention that they were a multi-billion dollar company? Did I mention that they paid worse than your typical privately funded University? "We'll give you stock options!" they said. Pfft.

Six months into the biggest thing since the titanic, I finally got fed up with the corporate america top-down decision making process, and started working at a well known, well respected University.. making over $20k more. Working as a career sysadmin in academia has many advantages (build beowulf clusters, work on self-motivated projects), but it takes a lot of effort to gain and keep respect from faculty and other scientists, especially those that know just enough about computing to be really dangerous. You will inevitably have to deal with the politics (you do no matter where you are), but if you learn the process, you can have it work to your advantage in many cases.

A little over two years later, and I'm working at another University doing more fun and interesting things. My job moves are primarily dictated by my wife's career, which is solidly rooted in computational biology and bioinformatics). I can say that I would prefer never to go back to the private sector (unless the culture changes), and I would be quite comfortable working in a University environment for many years to come. And the fact that I have time to do consulting on the side at my leisure makes up for any lack of salary associated with the University environment (I take job satisfaction over inflated salary any day).

My work is my life is my play. But that's just me.