[pct-l] Jobs after the Trail - the academic path

[Jeffrey Olson]

There is a small population of persons who naturally do well in school, 
who have the motivation and ability to manipulate the system to get an 
advanced degree without going too much into debt, and create a life that 
in small part includes a job.

There's a larger population who go to school, earn a PhD and buy into 
the university lifestyle.  For the most part, those in the tenure track 
that like to hike that dream of hiking for five months at the end of one 
semester and beginning of another, are wannabes. Choices preclude...

The smaller population who naturally do well in school and create a life 
that uses university jobs can pretty much do what they want. The earlier 
a person realizes that an advanced degree provides opportunity to create 
a life not wedded to a job, the more fluid and exciting a life is possible.

For example, a person can go to a university on the quarter system 
(University of Washington) and have four months during the summer to 
hike.  Once you get to the ABD stage - all but dissertation - those four 
months can open up to five or six at least once - if you plan well.  You 
have to find a dissertation chair that protects you, who is a maverick 
(this is key) but respected.

For the 20 something contemplating an academic career that in reality is 
secondary to hiking/biking/climbing/traveling, make sure you get 
accepted into a Carnegie One institution.  The name of your doctoral 
institution will add a layer that will help you carve a career.

Rather than a tenure track job, of which there are fewer and fewer, find 
a teaching job that is year to year, or a research position that has a 
discernible end to a grant, and plop in a semester/five months off.

You've got to trust you have everything that a 
college/university/research group wants.  You have to get good at what 
you do without buying into a "career track" that has you wake up at 55 
really successful in a career, well-known, perhaps worldwide, but 
blubbery, a bad back, soft tummy, and a wishful looking back at to what 
you chose.

If teaching is your emphasis, work with your Chair or Dean and plan for 
a semester off to hike.  If it's research, make sure you hook up with 
the career type that is good at getting funded, and make sure you're 
good at what you do.  You can plan time off, although you'll be told by 
those who fear the loss of a job it's a career killer. You have to have 
the attitude, "so what!"  You've got to realize that persons good at 
what they do can always find a job.  And getting "good at what you do" 
is a function of self-discipline, which includes 
hiking/biking/climbing/traveling.

You've read the posts that say having hiked the PCT is positive in a job 
interview.  When you get to interviewing for teaching or research jobs, 
year to year, the chair or dean will feel a sense of loss and part of 
how s/he sees you is the younger self they never empowered.

Make it clear you want to advance your research and teaching.  Make sure 
you publish enough to maintain academic credibility, but not enough to 
demonstrate you've lost focus on what's important (hiking).  Only you 
can determine that.

Or, if you're absolutely not interested in publishing, find a college 
that is all about teaching.  There's little status in such a job - a 
community college or tribal college or online university. So what.  You 
can create a rich and texturous life that makes a difference in the 
lives of your students.

One impending reality is that if you teach online, you can do so from 
points on the PCT.  With satellite access, you can hike and teach.  
Think about it...  YOu could work four to six hours online a day, 
teaching four online courses, and hike and camp the rest.  A friend of 
mine now works as a temporary assistant lecturer (her was dean of a 
business school) for a state university in the southeast and is in 
SEattle hanging with his daughter for a couple months. With satellite 
internet access you can work from ANYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You have to create your life.  You have to envision a path that isn't 
defined by benchmarks others create.  What attracts academic employers 
in this day  is vision and the ability to be organized. Your job can't 
appear as secondary to your employer.  You have to convince your 
Dean/Chair that you are totally on top of your responsibilities, that 
this is your "CAREER" all while hiking the trail.

The other side of this that adds complexity is doing this with a mate, 
and if you want children, how to integrate them into your life's plan.

Yes!!!

Jeffrey Olson
Rapid City, SD