Janet has an interesting piece on her career change (from chemistry to philosophy) and this has prompted me to think a little about the path my career has taken since I began as an undergraduate twenty-one years ago (!).
- Get an undergraduate degree in zoology with a minor in biochemistry. By sophomore year be sure that you are going to obtain the PhD, work on mammalian evolution, and get a teaching job somewhere in Ireland.
- Begin a PhD project on the genetics of hybridization among deer species. Abandon it after six months because, let's face it, running gels is boring. Develop a project on morphometrics of mustelid carnivores that your thesis director doesn't really understand, but lets you do anyway. Spend large amounts of time with museum collections. Start to smell of moth balls. Publish papers.
- Finish the PhD in three and a half years, not before getting a postdoc in Arizona. Wonder where the hell Arizona is. Accept that you will be spending the next two years working on fish (whom you, being a true phylocentrist, see solely as a food source).
- After a year in the US, realize three things more or less simultaneously - (a) your postdoc has been cut to a year because of budget issues, (b) you like Arizona, and (c) you are about to get married to a girl from Michigan and thus will not be getting that teaching job somewhere in Ireland. Embrace the change.
- Teach undergraduates biology for the first time. Realize you hate teaching biology at the introductory level. Also realize that many students - even biology majors - know little about evolution and in many cases, actively deny its occurance. Decide that this is something work following up on.
- Begin a series of non-tenure jobs teaching science and culture. Develop a series of courses in the history of biology. Realize that teaching history of science is (a) fun and (b) a great way to teach science to sciencephobes. Begin to write book reviews and dictionary entries in your chosen area.
- Consider a graduate degree in HPS. Reject the idea because (a) it would involve GREs and suchlike, and (b) wise people tell you that there is absolutely no reason to go get another PhD. Rejoice at the money saved.
- Finally (in 2000) get a position at a place that allows you teach what you want, research what interests you (science & history) and generally provides a great environment for personal development as a teacher and academic.With the pressure of tenure off your back, begin to network and publish.
- Complete shift in career by realizing (1) you spend a lot of time teaching history & philosophy, (2) you rarely attend science meetings anymore, (3) your role models are historians, (4) you publish more outside the sciences than within, and (5) you accept all of this.
I usually end up telling students that there is no such thing as a terminal degree in that they never know where they will be in the future. Had someone told me in 1985 that I would end up doing what I'm doing, where I am doing it, I would have laughed.
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I find it really cute when earnest 20-year-olds tell me they know what they're going to be for the rest of their lives. I was like that when I was 20.
However, I also get tired of family members asking me, "What's the next Ph.D. going to be?" The rest of my learning is off-the-books, folks!
I wasn't at all like that when I was an undergrad. Didn't have a clue what I wanted to do next.
Wait... I'm still an undergrad... nooooo
Umm, counter-example here: I informed my parents that I was going to be a scientist when I was a preschooler. I stuck to it pretty solidly, too -- there were occasional brief flirtations with the idea of being a pilot or astronaut, but it was always biology that I returned to.
I don't know if I'll go through quite the shift you did, but I certainly am wise enough to realize I have no idea where I'm going. I'm really interested in biology and even more so on genetics. I was very interested in marine biology as a kid and I toyed with the idea of engineering. I even had a few years of programming and networking under my belt. And here I am as a Molecular Biology and Bioscience major, something that doesn't have any practical use outside of lab work and pre-med purposes. So long as it's fun, I'm going to ride with it. Gels aren't boring!
Is that going to happen to me, John? Am I going to abandon my youthful ambitions to change the world through responsible science writing? Perish the thought!
I certainly empathize with your long strange trip, when I finished my post doc I never considered I would end up working in IDT (interior design trailer, not intelligent design theory). I think it may be post docs at ASU.
I'm an earth scientist, and I have never met another earth scientist who had any clue that they would become an earth scientist prior to being smitten as an undergrad or even later. I was originally going to be a biologist, I thought a marine biologist, but no, historical geology taken for the hell of it changed my life completely. Now I'm a taphonomist, which I didn't even know existed until graduate school. Why I'm also a science educator is an even longer story with even more of the twists and turns of personal choices you describe which I could never have imagined but which I won't share because, well, maybe I'll write a memoir one day. It's always nice to hear someone else's story and know that we are all nomads at heart. Thanks.
But most of you people generally stay within the same sphere - philosophy of science, history of science etc.
Me, I changes spheres entirely.
First I started in business school, abandoning that I went to study economics. Waking up and facing reality, I dropped out, started studying programming/systems development (without having ever programmed before, unless you count making websites with HTML) at, found I liked it, continued on in the same field, and am now getting close to achieving a bachelors degree in computer science. After which I might continue on for the masters degree.
What am I going to work with? Have no clue.
And I am turning 31 on the 15th, so I guess I should try to figure it out soon. Or I could just continue drifting - so far it has been interesting.