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You know, its been almost 8 years since I had to seriously think about my career and then it was only 'shall I move to Birmingham or Glasgow?'. Since then it has been lab tech and then PhD.
Now I seem to have several options and I have no idea which ones to even begin investigating. Truth is, I was considering this post a few days ago but simply haven't had the time to sit and write it and that was before today's big dilemma came up.
Ok, here is the situation.
As many already know, I am downgrading my PhD to an MPhil on the grounds that due to various problems with the data (one of which was we spent best part of a year and a half trying to get a doomed technique to work which formed a central part of the lab work and also spent a good portion of the time chasing a phantom piece of data which looked promising but ultimately proved to be worthless) there isn't quite enough to justify a PhD in terms of volume. I have reams and reams of useless data (various trials of the doomed technique, various experiments which look like they may prove something but don't quite) but all the useful stuff has been done in the last couple of years and doesn't quite fill out the thesis.
As many of you also know, I have been supplementing the fact that I ran out of funding by doing casual teaching hours at a local college and, at the same time, working towards a Certificate in Further Education. I also dabble in writing but have yet to manage to get paid for it, mainly because I haven't really be chasing that side of things at the moment. I helped edit a volume of short stories last year (my entry didn't quite make the final cut - I could have worked on it a bit more and got it in but didn't have the time before the deadline due to other committments - and got a dedication from one of the writers for it (woo!). This year I am managing an anthology and submitting to it, this time with no PhD work to get in the way.
So there are several career threads laid out in front of me. I could go back into research science, though not as a post doc. Pros there are that I have the skills and have honed them for years. Cons are that it would not necessarily be at a level where I would feel comfortable. Plus the funding is usually so bad that even a well paid position as a research assistant is not well paid at all. Another con is that full time may not be the best thing for me at the moment. Someone needs to stay at home with Eddie at least some of the time during the day otherwise it is not fair on him and lab work rarely allows much working from home...
I could go into teaching. Almost ideal, especially if I stay as a VT and therefore only work a few hours a week. Trouble there is that VT is not stable by any stretch of the imagination. You miss a lesson you don't get paid. Holidays happen, you don't get paid. If the vice principal decides that they need to cut the budget then the departments have to get rid of all their VTs and give their hours to full or part timers. They often have to rehire them once the full timers throw a strop about too many hours but you still get kicked off and messed around a lot. Part time is a possibility, though, but that depends on there being a position available. Ok, the fact that Sarah is earning enough to keep both of us is a nice little safety net but it is also nice to have my own money and I do have debts to pay off which Sarah cannot cover.
One other advantage of the above is that I could spend the time I used to spend writing PhD stuff and doing PhD work in general on writing and maybe try to make some money off it for a change. Possibly pie in the sky, but then again if the anthology kicks off I'll already be one foot in the door...
Ok, the above was my position a few days ago. My feeling then was that I would probably spend the summer poor (no pay, no benefits as I don't get any if I sign on), work on the writing and lesson preps and hope like hell that at least one of the lessons I taught last year needs me to be back in september so I can start getting paid again. If not, look for a McJob.
However, today I decided to spend a few hours browsing websites of other colleges - looking in thier vacancies section, specifically for part time teaching courses. I sent off an on spec e-mail to the college 2 minutes walk away from the house asking if they had any vacancies (they had no page for them on the website anywhere) but otherwise found that all of them I looked at were listing 'no vacancies' like some off season beach resort B&B. However, in the UCE webpage I found a position entitled 'Research assistant' in their health department. Full time, 3 years contract. Not clear what the project is but seems to involve liaising with different departments and seeing how well a particular programme is working - possibly lots of stats, graphs and powerpoint slides given that the description specifically asks for MS Office experience. I tick all the boxes in the 'desired requirements' section of the job description and I've arranged to speak informally to the manager tomorrow about it.
To be honest, this job intrigues me on so many levels. Its research, in a health and education sector. Involves talking to patients, academics and clinicians, which to be honest was a fair chunk of my PhD work - certainly the clinical trial bit. It pays very well for a research assistant post and promises good training and the potential for further degrees as part of that training. It will be ideal if they allow me to work from home and that is one of the things I am going to ask tomorrow. If it isn't possible at least some of the time to work from home I will not apply. If it is, I may go for it... though to be honest I am not at all sure what to do...
Anyone got any thoughts on any or all of this?
Now I seem to have several options and I have no idea which ones to even begin investigating. Truth is, I was considering this post a few days ago but simply haven't had the time to sit and write it and that was before today's big dilemma came up.
Ok, here is the situation.
As many already know, I am downgrading my PhD to an MPhil on the grounds that due to various problems with the data (one of which was we spent best part of a year and a half trying to get a doomed technique to work which formed a central part of the lab work and also spent a good portion of the time chasing a phantom piece of data which looked promising but ultimately proved to be worthless) there isn't quite enough to justify a PhD in terms of volume. I have reams and reams of useless data (various trials of the doomed technique, various experiments which look like they may prove something but don't quite) but all the useful stuff has been done in the last couple of years and doesn't quite fill out the thesis.
As many of you also know, I have been supplementing the fact that I ran out of funding by doing casual teaching hours at a local college and, at the same time, working towards a Certificate in Further Education. I also dabble in writing but have yet to manage to get paid for it, mainly because I haven't really be chasing that side of things at the moment. I helped edit a volume of short stories last year (my entry didn't quite make the final cut - I could have worked on it a bit more and got it in but didn't have the time before the deadline due to other committments - and got a dedication from one of the writers for it (woo!). This year I am managing an anthology and submitting to it, this time with no PhD work to get in the way.
So there are several career threads laid out in front of me. I could go back into research science, though not as a post doc. Pros there are that I have the skills and have honed them for years. Cons are that it would not necessarily be at a level where I would feel comfortable. Plus the funding is usually so bad that even a well paid position as a research assistant is not well paid at all. Another con is that full time may not be the best thing for me at the moment. Someone needs to stay at home with Eddie at least some of the time during the day otherwise it is not fair on him and lab work rarely allows much working from home...
I could go into teaching. Almost ideal, especially if I stay as a VT and therefore only work a few hours a week. Trouble there is that VT is not stable by any stretch of the imagination. You miss a lesson you don't get paid. Holidays happen, you don't get paid. If the vice principal decides that they need to cut the budget then the departments have to get rid of all their VTs and give their hours to full or part timers. They often have to rehire them once the full timers throw a strop about too many hours but you still get kicked off and messed around a lot. Part time is a possibility, though, but that depends on there being a position available. Ok, the fact that Sarah is earning enough to keep both of us is a nice little safety net but it is also nice to have my own money and I do have debts to pay off which Sarah cannot cover.
One other advantage of the above is that I could spend the time I used to spend writing PhD stuff and doing PhD work in general on writing and maybe try to make some money off it for a change. Possibly pie in the sky, but then again if the anthology kicks off I'll already be one foot in the door...
Ok, the above was my position a few days ago. My feeling then was that I would probably spend the summer poor (no pay, no benefits as I don't get any if I sign on), work on the writing and lesson preps and hope like hell that at least one of the lessons I taught last year needs me to be back in september so I can start getting paid again. If not, look for a McJob.
However, today I decided to spend a few hours browsing websites of other colleges - looking in thier vacancies section, specifically for part time teaching courses. I sent off an on spec e-mail to the college 2 minutes walk away from the house asking if they had any vacancies (they had no page for them on the website anywhere) but otherwise found that all of them I looked at were listing 'no vacancies' like some off season beach resort B&B. However, in the UCE webpage I found a position entitled 'Research assistant' in their health department. Full time, 3 years contract. Not clear what the project is but seems to involve liaising with different departments and seeing how well a particular programme is working - possibly lots of stats, graphs and powerpoint slides given that the description specifically asks for MS Office experience. I tick all the boxes in the 'desired requirements' section of the job description and I've arranged to speak informally to the manager tomorrow about it.
To be honest, this job intrigues me on so many levels. Its research, in a health and education sector. Involves talking to patients, academics and clinicians, which to be honest was a fair chunk of my PhD work - certainly the clinical trial bit. It pays very well for a research assistant post and promises good training and the potential for further degrees as part of that training. It will be ideal if they allow me to work from home and that is one of the things I am going to ask tomorrow. If it isn't possible at least some of the time to work from home I will not apply. If it is, I may go for it... though to be honest I am not at all sure what to do...
Anyone got any thoughts on any or all of this?
