Life after Science

Penny asks - How to get a life?

After a decade of academia re-entering (or entering) the real world of dollars, jobs, and mortgages seems harder than the feat of earning all those degrees.

Perhaps the crowd that went to a 2 year college or even those that took a McJob straight out of high school are better off than us academics. They have been earning a wage for the past decade where as those that chose to challenge grad school have been paying tuition for 10 years on a stipend that barely covers the rent in a shared accommodation. Sure, Sure in the end university graduates make more money per year with higher salary and more job security. But how after all those years locked up in the ivory tower do you gain the confidence, know how, and connections, to march down the stairs and over the hill that has sheltered you from the rest of society.

For those who bravely jump into the shark invested waters of investment banking or some other daring entrepreneurial game, I say Kudos and I must mention that it was not their academic training that bolstered that just do it spirit! These brave folks would have done well with or without University. In my humble opinion it is their personality or their preciously existing relationships / connections that encouraged their effort to succeed in the business world.

All parents want their children to be happy and lead successful lives. Of course the measure of successful and happy are determined by the individuals in the situation, but all parents want the best for their child whatever that might be for them as individuals. For the rare few that happen to share their fathers or Mothers passion for the industry they have made their mark in, the path is clear, follow father or mothers footsteps. Utilizing the connections that have taken a lifetime to make and get ahead quickly with respect and encouragement. Alas each generation is different from the previous, making it a rare and special moment that the career of the senior is a good fit for junior.

So what does that leave for those with a passion for information and a dwindling drive to be among the few who know the secrets of mitochondria or chloroplasts? Science of course, research in academia to be specific. Well it seems a perfect fit, but there are too many researchers and not enough stable well paying positions. In fact scientist get paid far less than roofers or brick layers or secretaries. There is little job security for those employed in a academic lab. Research staff salary is dependent on federal grant money for which the principle investigator (the professor that runs the lab) has to apply for every 2 or so years. The competition for the shrinking pot of money is stiff making it tough to guarantee salaries for more than a few years at a time. Coupled with the lifestyle of working 12-14 hour shifts potentially 7 days a week (experiments take the time they take there is no changing that) and the exposure to carcinogens, neurotoxins, and cranky people who have not seen the light of day in weeks – academic research seems to be a poor choice of career for anyone.

But what then do you do with your head full of knowledge and enormous vocabulary of scientific jargon? You have learned (often the hard way) to be humble and cautious with your words, choices, and planning decisions but at the same time you have been taught to be swift with your sword of critique, finding fatal errors and design flaws in everything around you and even within yourself.

How do you get into the business world when you do not speak their language, understand their culture or what makes the faceless suit people tick?

I can however spot an academic in any crowd, the tattered non-trendy clothing (purchased half a decade ago intended as conference wear but always ends up in the lab resulting in a bit of acid erosion on the cuff), their hair is often simply un-kept, makeup is scantily applied if at all, chapped lips and hands and the real clincher is the pale skin for working long hours in florescent lighting.

Unfortunately we still look more like them then not – change is our case a slow and arduous. Why is it that when you know what you definitely do not want that you still don’t know what you do definitely want?

I read a great novel this week that had an unexpected passage which I think is amazingly insightful.

One day, after almost a semester of equations, calculations, and structural studies, she announced that she was going to leave the university.

“But you’ve never said anything to me about it!” I said.

“I was even afraid of talking to myself, but this morning I went to see my hairdresser. She worked day and night so that her daughter could finish her sociology degree. The daughter finally graduated and, after knocking on many doors, found work as a secretary at the cement works. Yet even today, my hairdresser said very proudly: ‘My daughter’s got a degree.’ Most of my parents’ friends and most of my parents’ children also have degrees. This doesn’t mean they have found the work they wanted. Not at all; they went to university because someone, at a time when universities seemed important, said that in order to rise in the world, you had to have a degree. And thus the world was deprived of some excellent gardeners, bakers, antique dealers, sculptors and writers.”

Pages 27, 28 The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho

To be fair, the woman in the story discovered after much trial that she had some mystical enchantments, and eventually ended up hiding from the world that she so bravely chose to enter. I know everyone has their struggles and there are no free rides.

I simply wanted to share my newly found opinion that societal pressures to get a life through hard work in academia are not the best way, the right way and certainly not the easy way to find happiness or success.

Each degree costs a lot of money, time and spirit. I am not sure that more is better, and I am not convinced that any are necessary. Undergraduate was an adventure to adulthood but Grad school was more of a journey to nowhere.