C4: How to get out of your own way
Introduction
Activities
Case study quotes
My main advice is to think big: there are no limits to what a PhD can prepare you to do, and what matters most is that you are doing work you find fulfilling and that meets your practical needs, not whether or not your advisors approve or your school sees you as a “success.” Let go of the value of martyrdom; you don’t need to take a soul-sucking, barely-minimum-wage-paying contingent teaching job just so you can say you work in academia. Shaking off the chains of the academia-or-bust mentality is critical, and it can be a slow and painful process. It is worth it in the end, and it allows you to think about how to explain your background, skills, and interests to a variety of different audiences. Alisa Harrison, Beyond the Professoriate career stories
Realize that people in academia have a warped and limited view of what constitutes “success.” Academia has been described as a cult, and when you leave a cult, you have to shake off its values and judgments. Only in academia is working four adjunct jobs for less than 10K a year “success” while working a non-academic job that provides personal satisfaction or a living wage “failure.” A profession that exploits people’s fear to staff its positions is not one to which you owe loyalty. Sarah Kendzior, From PhD to Life case study.
I wish I’d known that you don’t have to slog on in a job you know isn’t a good fit; that leaving academia is not a failure; and that I had loads of things to offer an employer other than my knowledge…….. The most important thing I learnt though is this: nobody cares about your career as much as you do. Nobody. Don't put your career in someone else's hands, and remember that it is okay to put your own interests first. Vitae researcher career stories – Lorna Dargan.
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