Alte has absolutely nailed this one. Start at the bottom, and work up. As she sayz
This is kind of what I meant. It’s the mistake most people make. They try to get the job they want, rather than looking for a path to the job they want and doing whatever they have to to get there. It’s not like being a low-paid code monkey was my dream job, but I did it for nearly four years before landing my dream job. I hated every minute of it, but I just did it anyway.
I don’t understand why other people don’t just do the same. Who cares if you don’t want to work in extraction? That’s where the jobs are, so go there. You can do research from the industry and make a name for yourself in academic circles that way, and then you can transfer back to academia. It’s a heck of a lot easier than trying to get that aging professor blocking your path to retire early, after you’ve spent 15 years putting his name on your work.
People don’t think these things through.
I would add that the bottom varies. If you are in medicine, the bottom is your MB. If you are in nursing, you bottom is your RN/BNurs. You then do the grunt jobs to get onto a good training scheme — in the Commonwealth this is not automatic — and when you then have your fellowship you can then choose to remain in a big town or go to the boonies.
Unless you are an academic, which means you will lose money relatively (I am. It is a disease. Avoid it) go to the boonies. The money is better, housing is cheaper, and it is generally easier to find a sensible bunch of friends. You can move back when it comes to high school — or choose not to, as you can then afford to have only one parent working.
(I do not know about the US, but it takes two very good salaries to support a mortgage in a any big city in NZ, Australia and the Commonwealth)
Again, the peak is slippery. If you get that metropolitan academic high status job you will be underpaid for what you do (The university pays poorly) and you will be pressured. Many people choose to jump ship and head for the places that will pay — which are generally not pleasant — once their kids are grown.
It is a job, not a career. Even if you are in the professions. Only rich countries can afford the delusion of careerism, and none of us are that rich.
I am. It is a disease. Avoid it.
Actually I was trying to quote you. What I mean to say is I am eager to catch that disease. Incredibly so. It is just so expensive to catch when you have no money of your own. And making sure you go into a field that isn’t over supplied.
You probably already have the research disease.
If you have, get a PhD, get into a good research group and do grunt work for your post doc, and then get a tenure track job somewhere where universities are expanding. Which is not the USA. Australia and Canada have just filled up. The best places at the moment are in the ASEAN countries.
Thanks. That sounds like a good plan. I see the Job listings and there seems to be a lot from Asia, including South Korea.
The South Korea listings are just what stuck in my head. North East Asia is in such population decline that I imagine that should be filling up pretty severely.