I have a confession to make. It’s slightly embarrassing. I am the only one of my friends with this… problem. I, uh, well… I’ve never had a “real” job. There, I said it. Shocking, I know. I am not a real person, not out in the real world. I have been in academia my entire life** *. I started working in a lab at 17 (a virology lab, at that) and haven’t stopped since. I went to grad school to put life on pause, to take time to figure out what I wanted before having to step out of the lab microcosm and into the wide open world.
Academia is a shelter. It’s not the real world – not to me, anyway. I have no idea what an IRA is, I don’t have a real boss (not in the screw-up-and-get-fired sense), and the thought of putting in for vacation or personal days makes me laugh out loud. Actually, the thought of having days off makes me laugh out loud. In other words, I don’t have the “real world” skill set.
In academia, no one cares what you wear (except for me. I care), most PIs let you set your own hours (I know a post-doc who works from 4PM to 2AM. I don’t know why), and it’s next to impossible to mess up so badly as to be asked to leave. However, the fair amount of personal freedom (not at all labs, of course) has a price – academia is not representative of the rest of the world, nor does it adequately prepare one for the real world. It’s really not its job to do so. Academia is designed to breed academics. Those of us who want something different have to make our own way.
I am a little nervous that I will have no idea what to do with myself once out there, in the scary realm of real jobs, real bosses, and real structured environments with rules and possibly, dress codes (this may be a good thing. I don’t understand why so many researchers think that gym shoes can be worn outside of the gym. They can’t).
I am slowly making my way, peeking around the corner of my academic hiding spot. I have no idea where my way will lead me (apparently, six years of grad school was not enough time for me to plan ahead) but I know that I am ready to step out of the shelter.
*Ok, so that’s not entirely true – I worked at Blockbuster for two months when I was 16. Somehow, I don’t think that shooing 13 year old boys away from the “mature” section was a growing and learning experience for me, so I choose to disregard it.
I too am terrified by the prospect of having to finally engage in ‘real life’. Academia was meant to be my comfort blanket for ever. At some point in the last year or so it became something less comforting and more… spikey?
I have had some real jobs over the years, but I always viewed them as necessary evils rather than actual jobs. That was during my ’frustrated academic phase. Anyway. I feel your pain.
It’s true that most of us have never had a “real” job. I worked as a bell boy one summer. That was quite challenging compared to running PCRs, and even worse, I had to show up everyday by 6 am in a suit!
Yes, academia is more like “Neverland”, but it’s nice sometimes not to have to face the real world.
Good luck…
My experience is a little different. In one of the university labs I worked in, researchers cared deeply about the clothes they wore. Some wore trainers but they were Prada Sport ones. We had to conduct ourselves formally (more so than in another lab I worked at) and dress rather smartly because industry scientists (£££!) would drop by the lab quite often and we wanted to project a professional image… plus there was the all-important after-work drinks-at-the-bar to consider. Additionally, we had work safety regulations… lab work conducted outside of 8 am to 6 pm most tiresomely required a string of signatures and reconfiguring of swipe cards.
Other than that, your post is quite relevant to me. Now in the real world, some of these issues are more relaxed actually!
Jamie – Spikey. Yes. Our shelters have turned against us. I am glad to hear I am not the only one that went to grad school for protection.
Jeff – 6AM in a suit. That’s just mean. When I show up in lab at 6AM (which is nauseatingly often) I am not wearing a suit, to put it mildly. Yes, Neverland has its perks. Thank you for the good luck wishes.
Li Kim – Wow. That sounds way more like industry than academia. I am judging mostly by the choice of footwear, of course. I am willing to bet a round of drinks that no one in my lab could tell Reebok from Prada. Such a shame. I don’t know if I would be in such a huff to leave academia if we had well-dressed drinks after work!
I have heard that companies have relaxed dress codes in the last few years. What else has changed?
I’m finishing my degree soonish but have been working through university since 2000, so where do I stand?
The real fact is I’ve never worked in my degree’s area – biotechnology.
And I agree that academia is a shelter.
I was so worried about leaving the shelter of academia that I decided to go to law school after I finished my graduate work!
I used to work from 9pm to 6am for a whole year. I enjoyed working with nobody around. No one uses your washed flask beforehand or makes comment on the color of you product. But I changed back to normal timing for the sake of safety. In a chemistry lab you have to prevent working alone rather than to pursue so.
Good question, Ricardo. I suppose academia is academia. Working in it or studying in it are one and the same on some level, don’t you think? Shelter-wise, I mean.
Blaine – Wow, law school after grad school. Wow. Have you run out of degrees to pursue? That’s wonderfully impressive. What is your goal? Intellectual property law?
Andrew – How in the world did you keep that up for a year?? I have to admit that I don’t terribly mind working on the weekends. There is no one in my way and I don’t have to wait for equipment, but I can see how the isolation would be a danger in a chemistry lab.
very interesting topic!
thank you Anna,
why do you think “doing science” isn’t real job?
you have schedule (here you have a freedom to pick your own shift, but mostly it’s 9-5), you have boss and collegues, you make a product – publications, you have own ranking and collegues opinion about your product.
And after PhD and postdoc you have alot of possibilities in science or realize yourself in other field.
Don’t see reasons to be nervous
Alexey – I guess I don’t think of it as a real job because the demands are different and the rules are much less rigid. You can get away with a lot in academia that perhaps wouldn’t fly in a “real” corporate environment, such as rolling into work at 11AM. That may be the major difference. But then again, what do I know. I have never had a job outside of a lab!