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Sarah Maithel

Into the unknown? One geologist’s venture into a whole new world of industry

I started writing this post while traveling back from a conference in Chicago. At the time, most people were still shaking hands without a second thought. I remember sitting at the coffee shop during my layover in Denver, waiting in a long line at Chick-fil-A, and getting free snacks and drinks on planes full of people (though I did have an empty row on one flight)… That was March 4th, but it feels like the distant past. I had no idea that my whole world (and, in fact, the whole world) was about to change in ways that I could have never imagined. I’m so thankful that I was able to attend this conference; if it had been scheduled just a week or two later, it would have been canceled due to the current coronavirus pandemic. Around the world, many people – including researchers like myself – are facing a future of uncertainty in our employment and other areas of life. So it’s from this context that I’m writing, and am further convicted of how important it is to explore diverse career options as a scientist.



In my previous blog posts, I’ve shared experiences from my graduate education and insights that I learned from those experiences. This post will discuss my thoughts on a situation that feels very much in progress; however, the blog is titled, Letters to my grad-student self, and I definitely wish I started thinking about these issues earlier in my graduate program. So today’s post will explore a topic that is, unfortunately, not emphasized enough in higher education:


Broadening your career options as a PhD scientist.


Accordingly, this post could be titled: Give yourself options.


I recently returned from the Pittcon lab science conference and expo, which was held in Chicago this year. A professor told me about the conference when I expressed an interest in learning about careers in scientific instrumentation. While geology is not typically known as a lab-based profession, I ended up getting quite a bit of experience with laboratory methods in grad school, and they really grew on me. But first, we need to go further back.


Since I started graduate school, it has been my plan to become a professor. Beginning with my undergraduate experiences in facilitating labs and tutoring, I remained passionate about teaching and eager to serve in this capacity at the college level. As my PhD program progressed, I found myself increasingly enjoying the research/lab work components; still, higher education provided an ideal fit. I’d get to teach, do research, travel to the field and conferences, and have job security. Sounds great, right? This goal was the primary motivation for me to pursue a PhD. And when I started my program, I subconsciously assumed that such a career would be open and waiting for me at graduation. I know that I was not the only new grad student who thought this way.


Turns out, real life is more complicated than my initial expectations (as is a recurring theme throughout this blog).


Several years into grad school, I remember sitting around with some of my classmates who were nearing graduation, and hearing them lament over how hard it was to find teaching jobs. Some of them did not get full-time positions right away, and had to teach as adjuncts for a time. And others – years later – still do not have the professorships that they have sought for so long. While these observations were discouraging to me, I pushed ahead, trusting that something would work out. Having pursued the academic track for so long, I didn’t know anything else, and could not envision other viable career options for someone with my background and goals.


As my own graduation neared, the prospect of a full-time teaching job looked equally bleak. I’m very thankful to have had funding for a post-doctoral fellowship at my same university, but knew that even if the funding was extended, it would eventually end; a post doc is not a long-term position. With uncertainty over whether a full-time faculty position would be available when I needed it, I had to start thinking about what else I could do.


The trajectory for most graduates in this position is to take adjunct teaching jobs. Any teaching – even as an adjunct – puts experience on your CV, and allows you to build a relationship with a university so that they’re more likely to hire you when a full-time spot opens up. Still, it is hard to live off of adjunct work alone; even teaching several classes would yield a relatively low income, and such an arrangement commonly does not include benefits or office space. Furthermore, like with any teaching job, the instructor ends up putting in much more time than he/she is formally paid for. So you, as the teacher, can do all of this after grad school with the hope of a full-time position, but it is still not guaranteed that such a position will become available (at least, not for a long time).


Toward the end of my grad program, I remember having some conversations with classmates, in which they’d affirm that this approach is, “just what you have to do.” One friend suggested that I could take adjunct positions on top of other full-time jobs; even on top of teaching high school. Having done some teaching during my graduate program, I can attest to the amount of preparation outside of class time, especially if it’s your first time teaching a specific course. So as I was considering these options, I found myself asking: is this really the best we can do? After a four-year bachelor’s degree, plus seven (in my case) years of grad school, plus a post doc, we are expected to hold multiple jobs – being over worked and under paid – for an additional x-number of years? We all make sacrifices to achieve long-term goals, but something seemed very wrong about this.


So despite my desire to teach and do research, I began to feel a bit disillusioned about the future. Then, through a Facebook ad, I discovered an organization called Cheeky Scientist, whose goal is to equip PhDs for careers in industry. Their tagline is, “remember your value as a PhD,” and their posts encourage grad students and post docs that they do have viable career options outside of academia. They talk about transferable skills: skills we acquire during the research process that can “transfer” to industry (see videos here and here).


We don’t learn any of this in academia, but hearing these things gave me hope. Perhaps I do have options.


So, fast forward to now. I attended the Pittcon conference to make connections and learn about careers in the laboratory instrumentation industry. Because of my [unplanned] adventures in developing sandstone disaggregation methods, the instrumentation world really grew on me; I was excited at the prospect of figuring out how to use these tools to solve research problems. Up through the first couple days of the conference, however, I remained unsure of exactly how relevant it would be for me. And yet, I continued to have this underlying feeling that I needed to be there, even if I did not recognize its importance at the moment. I knew that I didn’t want to look back and ask, “what if?”


I can imagine that networking is an introvert’s nightmare. Fortunately for me, I’m generally not afraid of talking to people, but I still have more to learn regarding effective strategies for expanding a professional network. And walking into a room with the express purpose of making professional contacts is still daunting. This was how I felt upon entering the exhibit hall on day three of the conference – but I knew that it was the reason I came.


Long story short: the day and a half I spent talking to people in the expo made this trip worthwhile. It was so encouraging to hear positive feedback and optimism from industry professionals, and to meet people who were – in different ways – like me. I don’t know if/how any of these connections will lead to jobs, but I’m excited to keep talking to people and learning – and think it’s so cool that many were open to continuing the conversation and sharing their insight and experience with me.


 

The prospect of exploring industry careers feels, to a longtime academic researcher, like going Into the Unknown. It’s like jumping into the ocean… Off the Titanic. You know you’re on a sinking ship, and you should probably get off, but you have no idea what will happen to you if you leave the boat. In fact, from your vantage point of apparent safety, you can’t see anything outside the boat except darkness and void space. Little do you realize that another ship is there, beyond your sight; you just need to take a step of faith and get into a lifeboat.


However, taking this step is scary. Despite seeing the need for PhDs like myself to consider industry careers, and feeling hopeful about opportunities, it has been hard to escape this underlying sense that I’m going to the “dark side.” That I may be giving up my long-term goals and dreams. As Elsa says in Frozen 2, "I've had my adventure; I don't need something new. I'm afraid of what I'm risking if I follow you..." And even if I thought that I might become a professor someday, I’m not satisfied with merely taking an industry job, “out of necessity.” I want to be excited about my work, and to see a meaningful impact on people.


As I have learned more about industry careers in recent weeks, I’ve been encouraged to find that some positions – such as application scientist and technical sales specialist – actually involve a lot of teaching. You teach scientists and sales reps how to use certain equipment for different purposes. You may have to troubleshoot and develop methodologies. You have opportunities to travel and promote your equipment at scientific meetings. Even as I type this, I can’t help but see that this is exactly what I’ve been trained for. And I didn’t even know it.


My future career path may look different from the one that first motivated me to pursue graduate education, but I don’t regret my PhD. Grad school made me a researcher. An innovator. A troubleshooter. And, a teacher, who enables others to understand how things work, why they’re important, and how they apply to their lives. So whether in my current post doc, in academia, or in industry, I’m excited to use my graduate school training – and my transferable skills – to solve problems and communicate solutions wherever I go. Maybe the "unknown" is not so unknown, after all.


 

Disney fans: did you catch the references in the title?

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