First thing: I begin to type out this post, and "Mad World" by Gary Jules starts playing on the radio. Cosmic coincidences can kiss my ass. :P
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Anyway I have what is basically a tenure track job now and (as I just posted about...) I feel similarly dissatisfied about a lot of stuff. The academic/career rat race has no finish line: once you pass one post there's always another, and another, always somebody ahead of you. Feelings of (relative) inadequacy stalk everyone (save for the occasional egomanic/narcissist and we sure don't need more of those.)
If you enjoy your field to the point of obsession that's all well and good and competitiveness is a great motivating factor to help double down at those critical junctures. But it's not worth long-term "discontent and stress" and other sacrifices that may make the rest of your life miserable.
Thanks for replying--I was actually hoping you would, since it was your post that got me thinking about things enough to write them down.
I'm glad that I'm not the only one feeling this way, and thanks for your advice. My career is definitely something that's been on my mind recently, and probably will be for a while. I guess I could say that I feel a bit guilty for feeling what I do, which I know is illogical.
Oh well. We should set up a support group for academics. :P If you're ever in Buffalo, I'll buy you a beer. (On the other hand, if you're attending MFF this year, I'll actually be there....)
Well, I need to get a couple more teaching gigs in, but it's difficult when I already have a full time job. ;)
And personally, I'm fine with working at a 4 year college. I think, at least. I don't necessarily need grad students, since I can do field schools and whatnot in the summer and use undergrads. Grad students tend to work on their own projects in anthropology.
LOL, and yes, later September. If I send you anything via email, it's just because I don't get much free time to work on things. So, as free time comes up, I tend to shoot things out, realizing that other people may not get back to me for a few weeks. :P
I mostly enjoy the 4-year college deal... With my current one, I'm actually based at the primarily undergrad campus, which is fine. My undergrads are performing better than many master's level students and are building impressive CVs. It's exciting. Then, the research expectations are lower. I need publish but not the 3+ articles (maybe more) per year and win at least one huge external grant to keep my job with tenure time - just 1 or 2 articles per year in "decent" journals will do it. No grant expectation, though it's encouraged. So, best of all worlds.
If you can swing some teaching, it'll boost your CV big time. Heck, even an online course will help. That's what you most will need for competitive quals for a faculty job at a teaching institution / 4 year. :D
I must say that as the old bear in the room reading the posts of 3 extremely smart furs at the same point in their lives, it has given me reason to pause (paws?) and contemplate that point in my life. What was I thinking about my career back in 2000? I was still at the point when I could have gone down a few paths. I could have bounced around different regions learning the subtleties different river systems, I could stay in one place and become the expert in that particular basin, or I could try to climb the ladder and go for a management position in Denver or Washington. I tried for the first strategy but it was largely dependent on who was hiring. I found out that openings were few and far between. I could have gone the management route, but then I found out how mind-numbingly boring it was. The system doesn't allow you to be both scientist and manager. There are some in the agency that do pure research, but they are the folks like you with PhDs. So by default I have become the local expert. It's kind of cool thing when
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Anyway I have what is basically a tenure track job now and (as I just posted about...) I feel similarly dissatisfied about a lot of stuff. The academic/career rat race has no finish line: once you pass one post there's always another, and another, always somebody ahead of you. Feelings of (relative) inadequacy stalk everyone (save for the occasional egomanic/narcissist and we sure don't need more of those.)
If you enjoy your field to the point of obsession that's all well and good and competitiveness is a great motivating factor to help double down at those critical junctures. But it's not worth long-term "discontent and stress" and other sacrifices that may make the rest of your life miserable.
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I'm glad that I'm not the only one feeling this way, and thanks for your advice. My career is definitely something that's been on my mind recently, and probably will be for a while. I guess I could say that I feel a bit guilty for feeling what I do, which I know is illogical.
Oh well. We should set up a support group for academics. :P If you're ever in Buffalo, I'll buy you a beer. (On the other hand, if you're attending MFF this year, I'll actually be there....)
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And personally, I'm fine with working at a 4 year college. I think, at least. I don't necessarily need grad students, since I can do field schools and whatnot in the summer and use undergrads. Grad students tend to work on their own projects in anthropology.
LOL, and yes, later September. If I send you anything via email, it's just because I don't get much free time to work on things. So, as free time comes up, I tend to shoot things out, realizing that other people may not get back to me for a few weeks. :P
Reply
If you can swing some teaching, it'll boost your CV big time. Heck, even an online course will help. That's what you most will need for competitive quals for a faculty job at a teaching institution / 4 year. :D
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Your last line is why I stay in academia. I could make a lot more elsewhere, but that'd risk losing a lot of the fun and freedom. ^^
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