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Career choices
Richy
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I've got to make a career choice, I've got two very different options in front of me, and the one I pick will pretty much decide the rest of my life. Help/advise me!
Short version: Job A doesn't lead anywhere and pays peanuts, but gives me a shot at a career I really want. Job B is a good career and pays pretty well, but kills my chances at the career I really want.
Long version:
Job A is a one-year university research contract, but I'm confident I could renew it again and again for years to come. But it's not a career, it's just a low-position research contract with no possibilities of advancement. And the salary is laughable. The only good thing about it is that it gives me teaching experience and publications, two things I desperately need to get a university professor job, which is the job I really want. It does not guarantee me a professor job in any way, but it increases my chances of getting one. But I might keep doing this for years to come without getting that professor job.
Job B is a research/consulting career at a private company. It's a large international corporation, so the possibilities for future advancement are huge even if I just stay with them. The salary is pretty good. But there's no teaching and no publications, so it pretty much kills any chance I have of getting a university professor job.
I have no idea what to do. Clearly both jobs have advantages and downsides, but I don't see one as definitely better than the other one. I'm basically choosing a good career vs. a possibility of a better career. And as I said, once I've made that choice, there's no turning back. What would you guys do at my place, and (more importantly) why?
Short version: Job A doesn't lead anywhere and pays peanuts, but gives me a shot at a career I really want. Job B is a good career and pays pretty well, but kills my chances at the career I really want.
Long version:
Job A is a one-year university research contract, but I'm confident I could renew it again and again for years to come. But it's not a career, it's just a low-position research contract with no possibilities of advancement. And the salary is laughable. The only good thing about it is that it gives me teaching experience and publications, two things I desperately need to get a university professor job, which is the job I really want. It does not guarantee me a professor job in any way, but it increases my chances of getting one. But I might keep doing this for years to come without getting that professor job.
Job B is a research/consulting career at a private company. It's a large international corporation, so the possibilities for future advancement are huge even if I just stay with them. The salary is pretty good. But there's no teaching and no publications, so it pretty much kills any chance I have of getting a university professor job.
I have no idea what to do. Clearly both jobs have advantages and downsides, but I don't see one as definitely better than the other one. I'm basically choosing a good career vs. a possibility of a better career. And as I said, once I've made that choice, there's no turning back. What would you guys do at my place, and (more importantly) why?
Richy on
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Option B, the other career: could you or would you be happy just going with that career? I know you've been looking a long time and developing yourself for your teaching career, but would this other career be satisfying in its own right?
Also, you've not had much luck lately in your pursuit of your current goal--the teaching position. Have you taken a good look at why this might be? Is it just because of the season? Is it just because you don't have the (or enough) teaching experience/publications? Or, is it just that you're not as employable as you thought you were? I mean, is settling for the job that might give you a bit of a better chance at the teaching career going to be worth it and actually give you what you need to push you over the top and actually get a teaching position? It's really hard, mentally and emotionally, to be stuck doing shitty work for shitty pay in the hopes of it leading to possibly what you think you want to be doing at some far-off point in your life.
Would it be so horrible if you ended up in a career that you liked with growth potential as opposed to the career that you thought you were heading for?
I'm not sure why you say you can't go the private industry route if you try for academia first.
If you take A, you can still publish, and field interest from corporate research labs that do allow you to publish, and will pay you well. If you want to move, then that's available to you, and continuing to publish means that you can go back to academia later. If you take B, you lose that avenue of possibility as well.
It wouldn't be horrible at all. It would still be an R&D job, it would still offer me a lot of challenges and potential for advancement. What I'd be losing is a bit of freedom (what I have to research has to directly be relevant to the current contract we have) and of course tenure (no guaranteed jobs for life in the private sector) but I'd get a better salary (private sector jobs usually pay better). So yeah, I think I could be happy there.
But as you know, I'd be giving up on my dream job. But I would be giving it up for a good reality.
There's a lot of competition for professor jobs. A good university can get a hundred applications from all over the world for a single open position. One of the big things playing against me right now is lack of experience. It's normal given that I just graduated - in fact, I'd say that I have more experience than an average new grad - but I still don't compare to someone who's been around for a few years. So on that point Job A will be helpful. But like I said, helping is not the same as guaranteeing.
And as for any other job, contacts also count for something, and I've got none.
Also, I wouldn't say it's shitty work. The project itself is very interesting, the atmosphere is pretty relaxed, and I'm totally free in my schedule. But yeah, the pay is shitty and the job itself won't lead to a career or anything.
It sounds like, so far as your dream job is concerned, things are progressing as they should be. You should have to take a silly job like that for peanuts as you build your experience. At least, that's the vibe I get from the random knowledge I've got of the field/situation, and what I've heard from others in similar situations (and advice like Lewisham's).
If you're certain of your dream and that you absolutely want and need to see this dream to fruition (as opposed to your dream to open a Baconator-serving Strip Club
But, if you could live with yourself adjusting your dreams and accepting a good reality (and really aren't in the mood for more years of drudgery waiting for your chance at your dream job), I would go with B.
I think, though, that I'm in a more practical place right now personally, and I also don't really have a dream like yours that I've had to face giving up on... so at least you know where I'm coming from with my advice. (Which has really just been more questions than answers, I think. Sorry man. :P)
Or I could suck it up and keep trying for the dream job.
EDIT: I mean, I'm still young (28), I'm well used to living on a student budget, and I don't have a wife or kids that depend on me. This really is the best time to go for a low-paying dead-end job to build experience, if I can stand the thought of putting my life on hold for a few more years.
I suppose... but were I you, I'd still go with B, I think. I would if I were me. :P
Alternatively go with A, try it for a few years, get annoyed, and end up in B anyway.
(I'm being extra cynical. A lot of my family are academics. You either love it enough to not care that you're vastly underpaid, badly respected and treated badly, or you go into the private sector and have a nice house, family, holidays, etc.)
I just don't think that we should tell him to take A because B will always be there when "B" won't really always be there.
I think I say this though, because right now everyone around me (recent college grads) are struggling to find ANY decent jobs, and it's scaring the crap out of me when I graduate next semester.
Option B sounds like a great oportunity, and it doesn't sound like it would be a horrible job you would hate either.
Take the time now to pay off some of those student loans and start putting away some money in the RRSP. If you want to revisit the academy later on in life, it will still be there. You could always do guest lecturer or sessional stuff too, which would give you teaching time and still give you all the benefits of the private sector job.
Only you can say for sure, but I'm with the group saying that there will always be good option Bs around. Especially since you have a phD. I wouldn't worry about that part of it unless there is something very specific about this job that interests you.
If you REALLY want the teaching job, I'd stick with it for now.
took out her barrettes and her hair spilled out like rootbeer
I've also talked to a prof I like who was in my doctoral committee, and he also says that getting a prof job can easily take from 1 to 3 years, so I shouldn't give up right away and I should use this time to build a stronger resume. So that's still more points for A.
Though if the pay isn't really all that different, I would definitely do A for the publications/experience.
Being a tenure-track research professor is hard. However, if you really want to do it, you should.
You are pretty correct that having a non-professorial "real job" will suck up your brain. You can't realistically do both, and I wouldn't try.
If you really want to be a professor, then take the postdoc and work your ass off. Publish. Make lots of connections with people with whom you will eventually apply for jobs. Getting hired is just as much about your network as your resume. If you aren't willing to give 100% to this for at least a year, it's probably not worth it. That means that many other concerns in your life - like having a life, are going to have to be Priority 2 for a while.
Better than fourth.
Since they told you that much information, were you able to find out any more information about why you ranked where you did?
Still, it seems to me--from what I'm hearing--that that's the path you're going to have to trek to your dream job here.
The ranking was a vote by all the profs in the School of Engineering. So I got less votes than #1 & 2, but more than #4. As for why people voted the way they did, I have no idea. I thought I made a pretty good interview. But I guess they preferred the other guys, they had more compatible interests, and all that.
Yeah I've got to get used to this, I'm expecting much more rejections before I finally get a job.