What I've found fairly remarkable over the past 10 years is the number of scientists who plan their college education very carefully, and then fail to plan their careers once they find a job. Some even appear to choose their jobs based upon factors that I wouldn't have even thought about. Or, more often, stay at their jobs for reasons that make little sense, especially when they are unhappy with their work. It may be that I am misunderstanding what they have told me, but I doubt it.

This web-page highlights a few thoughts that you may want to consider in planning for your career in science, and maybe even your life in general. A balance between work and home should be found, and the earlier the better. But that balance depends upon your beliefs, i.e. what you value. Never forget that most of your waking hours for the next 30+ years will be spent at work, so if you make your work something you love then the rest of your life will be much happier and much easier. And also never forget that you have several important jobs to do, and your work is just one of them.

Job Choice

When thinking of your professional career, and how it interacts and influences your life at home, what would make you choose one job over another?

* Job description (what you do - professor, researcher, PI, Co-PI, Co-I)

* Organizational infrastructure (computers, obs. facilities, quality of students, management support)

* Work environment

* Job location scenery (mountains, seashore, large city, small town)

* Recreational attractions (fishing, boating, hiking, theater, arts, food, theme parks (hopefully not!))

* Local infrastructure (public school system, crime rates, community events)

* Cost of living (economics)

* Opportunites for spouse (dual-career families)

* Nearness to family members

* Professional freedom (ability to pursue your own science agenda)

* Long-term employment possibilities (stable funding? hard to predict beyond 5 years)

* Working hours expected/needed per week (40, 60, 80?)

* Professional colleagues (who will you interact with?)

* Neighbors (friendly, suspiscious, nosy, none)

* Local weather (snow, thunderstorms, blue sky, cloudiness, cold, hot, warm)

* Prestige

* Family-friendly organization (ability to get time off during family crises)

* Sense of duty or obligation

Also ask yourself the following question: What would you do with your life if you were guaranteed financial independence (i.e., you did not have to work)? The answer to this question will tell you a lot about what is important to you. Would you still want to work? If so, where? What would be the ideal job? Most of us likely will never have our ideal job, and it certainly will be difficult to land the perfect job right after finishing your degree. But maybe you can get from here to there with some effort. Then the question becomes what will this perfect job cost you to make it happen?

Although I have my preferences for which of the above factors should influence your job choice, I am not convinced that any of them are necessarily bad. However, it is important that you know which factors have the greatest influence on your decision process. Don't make your decision based upon feelings or some general intuition. And don't fool yourself by thinking that it is only the job that matters!

It will take some work to understand what makes you choose one job over another, but it is worth the effort. Then you will have the ability to alter your job choice if something occurs that changes the relative importance of these various factors. An example is that you choose to live in Boston, with the main reason being you want to be close to your parents. If your parents retire to San Diego, your main reason for living in Boston has vanished. Time to reconsider.

Family

Believe it or not, most scientists do have families. They have spouses and children, just like other citizens of the US. Or if they aren't part of this type of family, then they have a family of friends and colleagues that they enjoy spending time with. For simplicity, I'm going to assume that you already have a spouse, but if you don't then just change the words to fit your particular type of family.

The big question about family issues is how much time you want to spend with your spouse and your children. It is easy to have a job that can consume most, if not all, of your time. And, in my opinion, there is no such thing as "quality time" as it refers to the time spent with your children or your spouse. If you believe that "quality time" is a valid concept, then it is time to read about raising children. After you have read all there is to know about how to raise a child, then visit with those who have done so successfully and have children who are happy, loving, and well-adjusted. I think you'll find that few of these families believed in, or used, the concept of "quality time". Don't base your decision entirely upon the theories of academics who may, or may not, have raised children themselves. If you go through this exercise, then at least you'll have made a decision and not just let the decision be made for you by society.

Let me share a brief story that highlights this work/home potential conflict. I was at a symposium in which all the attendees were about to receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. These scientists were from both universities and the federal government. All were the best in their fields. The symposium was intended to stimulate discussion on what is good and bad about pursuing a career in research in the US. There was a lot of griping about research grants, and having to hunt for money, but nothing really exciting happened until a female assistant professor stood up to speak. She said that when she first started her job and met her neighbors, they were all impressed and told her how much they admired her. She had a great job at a well-respected institution, was doing important work, and had a nice husband and young child. Over the next few years, as she worked 70 hour weeks and was under constant stress over funding and teaching and public service activities, she began to wish she had the life of her neighbors. They were able to see their children more often, to know their husbands better, and to have more fun. She was questioning the career path she had chosen, and it wasn't looking very good. She ended by saying that she wasn't sure if she would make it to tenure, and even if she did, she suspected that she would be burned out by then. After she finished speaking, a number of others, both male and female, stood up and expressed similar concerns about trying to balance family and work and finding out that it just wasn't possible.

I also have a friend who has made it according to society. This friend earns a very healthy salary, has an expensive home in the suburbs, and has a lovely family. However, he is on the road 4-5 days a week and some years is in the office for perhaps 30-40 days total. With such a schedule, he must miss a lot of the regular weekday activities of his family, from soccer games and piano practices to helping with homework and all the other similar seemingly small things that occur in their lives. I am not sure if this life style was chosen or if it just occurred as the job evolved. It is very easy to get caught up in your job, and one must be careful to always think about where the job is taking you and the demands it places upon you. My friend has great support from his family and so this choice is working for them, but I also know that I could not work that hard without disasterous consequences.

What all this means is that you have decisions to make. These decisions influence what type of job you want, and where you want to work. The key is that you make these decisions, and not let the winds of life blow you around. There will be some of that anyways, the least you can do is minimize how much your life goes off course. You won't regret making these decisions, since then the blame is yours if your life doesn't turn out the way you want it. But, then again, maybe that is why many people avoid making these decisions. They would rather blame "fate" than take responsibility. I don't believe in fate.

Things to consider about how your job influences your family:

* How much free time do you want or need?

* Where and when do you get your best ideas? At work? At play? Mowing the grass?

* How much time do you want to spend with your family? Your friends?

* When do you like to take vacations?

* How do you divide chores at home?

* What do you do to relax?

* What is best for your children? How do you support them best (money vs. time)?

* How much do you want to be involved in your children's lives?

* How often do you want/need to visit other relatives? How will this be different in 10 years?

* What family responsibilities do you have? How are they influenced by your work schedule?

Career Management

When you have a full-time job within some organization, it is very important to learn how to advance in the ranks and the costs for advancement. Some organizations have well-defined career paths, with specific deadlines for each step along the path. If this is true of your organization, then get a copy of these path definitions and study carefully what you need to do and when it needs be completed. Then talk with your manager to see if the documentation agrees with reality. Other organizations have little formal guidance available in print. Talk to your manager and fellow scientists about advancement opportunities. These guidelines can change over time, so be aware! Study those people who have done well, or are advancing rapidly, and find out what they have done. Then you will be learning the unwritten rules of how advancement works.

Unfortunately, nothing is free. If you advance in your career, you will be expected to assume more responsibility and be more independent. This is inescapable. The key is that before you accept added responsibilities, you need to find out if you want them for the price they/you are willing to pay. Many of these responsibilities will not deal directly with science issues, but will instead deal with people issues. Some questions to consider are:

* How much responsibility do you want, and how much can you handle?

* How good are your people skills?

* Do you like doing managerial type of work?

* How much of your time will it take to do work that is not science?

* Will tackling added responsibilities make you anxious and less productive?

* Is managing people fun?

* Are you good at working on budgets and making hiring decisions?

* Can you write job descriptions?

* Are you willing to decide upon and defend employee ratings that influence raises and promotions?

* Do you want to be a Principal Investigator on proposals to external agencies?

* Do you want to do science, or to manage science being done?

These are all questions that you need to ask yourself before the time arrives for making a decision. Thankfully, there are a number of ways to explore these areas before you have to make a decision. Volunteer to be on committees involving promotion actions, hiring decisions, computer resources, or team activities. Find out what you like and dislike about these activities, and watch those who are above you on the career ladder. How do they spend their time at work? Often there may be parallel career ladders, one for scientists, one for managers, and one for developers. There may even be others that I haven't discovered. Which path is most appropriate for you, and which path is the one that is most fun?

Find a Mentor

Especially when joining a new organization, it is useful to find an older scientist (or manager) to be a mentor. Generally, there is no formal agreement for this (and even if there is you probably need to find an "unofficial" mentor), but it is not incredibly difficult to make happen. Most people will enjoy finding someone who is interested in what they have done, and in how the organization works. However, the choice of the mentor is of the utmost importance. Pick someone who has admirable qualities and has a career that you would most like to replicate. The match doesn't have to be perfect, since you can learn from people's faults as much as from their positive qualities. You also need to be able to get along with this person. If your personalities clash, find someone else.

Your mentor can teach you a lot about the history of the organization, any poorly written rules it may have, and how to get ahead. Most scientists are not strongly motivated by money, but we also don't complain when we get more of it. However, it is not fun being passed up for promotion when your colleagues are moving up the career ladder. A mentor can teach you how to move up the ladder, by showing you when to stay quiet and when to advocate your case for promotion. Your mentor may even be willing to help you develop a package that will make your promotion more likely. He/she can point our your weaknesses and strengths and make your career more balanced.

Collaborations

If there ever was a good reason to stay in touch with your friends from graduate school, collaboration is the reason. The necessity for collaboration in scientific proposals appears to be increasing, as funding organizations are looking for proposals that build upon the strengths of many. In addition, interdisciplinary work is being highlighted more and more. To survive and thrive, you will need to develop collaborations with scientists at organizations other than your own. People that you met during graduate school often can develop into long-lasting, productive collaborators. This is because you had a chance to know them and to develop trust, a key ingredient in a collaboration. You may also want to work with professors from your doctoral committee who have similar interests.

Unfortunately, choosing your adviser for developing a collaborative relationship immediately after getting your PhD is not a good idea. This is often viewed, correctly or not, as still being dependent upon your adviser for ideas or support. You must prove your independence, and this is accomplished by going off on your own and surviving without your adviser's help.

Management

The one item that is most important to realize about management is that it is not there to help advance your career. It is there to advance the agenda of the organization, which may or may not include your own career advancement. In general, my impression is that finding a manager who is always aware of where you are on the career ladder is rare. Typically, the responsibility for your career advancement rests upon your own shoulders. Don't expect management to one day come up to you and say that you are ready for a promotion. Most organizations do not work this way, since managers are few and far between and are busy putting our various fires on a daily basis. You must learn the advancement system, and ask for a promotion when you believe you have met the minimum qualifications set by the organization. Then be prepared to write your own documentation for the promotion, and don't be surprised or upset if the organization takes several months to make a determination. Promotion actions are a slow process, and this slowness is built into the system.

Parting Comments

The crucial thought to take away from all this is that YOU are in control of your future in science. It is not your manager, or fate, or your colleagues. You are in control of what happens, or doesn't happen. You may abdicate your control, but it is always there and waiting if you want it. Unfortunately, if you lose control and fail to reassert it before many years go by, you may wake up and find out that you have very few options to pursue. In fact, you may have no options left.

You can either make decisions, based upon your best knowledge of what options are available, or let the winds of life blow you where they may. I believe that being in control and making your own decisions is the best way to run your life and your career. The two obviously interact, and you are being a better spouse and parent if you understand the relationship between family and career and make choices based upon the balance that works best for you. If you are unhappy at work, you will be unhappy at home. Everyone has bad days at work, but if work is always difficult or depressing, then you will take it home with you.

Determine what type of career is best for you. Then determine the responsibilities associated with this career and how these work responsibilities balance with your family responsibilities. If the balance doesn't work, you may want to consider a different career. Once you've found a job in the career path of interest, work with your manager to find out how to advance and your options for advancement. These will change with time and will also change as you advance through the ranks. At each step, you must reassess the balance between career and family. Your family responsibilities also will likely change with time, and it is easier if you see these changes before they arrive. Be prepared.

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David Stensrud, 10/18/99

These opinions are my own and do not reflect those of my organization. Thanks to Todd Crawford and David Schultz for their additions/comments that added more flavor to this discussion.