A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
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This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.
My advice for anyone in a similar situation is to go for a job in a different field.
Tell them that you reached the goals you had set for yourself in your previous field (PhD, published peer reviewed works etc). Tell them that you feel it is time for you to explore other fields and that you have an affinity with the one you're applying in. Then tell them the most important thing you learned during your previous endeavors: you have the capacity to learn and adapt
I'm following this dude from now on. Who knows when he burps out another wisdom nugget from his mouth.
Edit: I'm following this dude/gal/person/dragon/alien/chair from now on. Who knows when he/she/they/it burps out another wise nugget from his/her/their/its mouth.
Still learning to be all inclusive. It'll take me a while.
This absolutely happens in real life. Guy I worked with was at a large telecom company that liquidated in the 2000s. Dude was high up and had a beach house.. you know, rich people stuff.
After the 2000s recession he had major trouble getting hired because he earned too much before and potential employers would think he would leave if they gave him a lower offer.
He ended up working for me building hydroponic farms for about a year making shit pay.
I have a friend with a PhD in linguistics, worked for years in the SF tech world in i18n, not quite a PM, not an engineer, not a CX person but somewhere between the three. He got laid off and found it impossible to get another role, I think in large part because he's super over qualified by education and years of experience, but in such a niche skill set that doesn't really fit into traditional tech company roles. He ended up taking a job at the airport doing plane loading and such!
Let me introduce you gentleman to Doug Prasher.
https://www.science.org/content/article/man-who-wasnt-there
He was years ahead of the field in molecular biology but was parking cars when his work won a Nobel Prize...for other people.
Me, looking for technical writing jobs after writing a highly fucking technical dissertation: I have a PhD but I'm pretty burned out on being a try-hard so I'm just looking for a straightforward 9-to-5.
Them: We're worried you'll be bored.
Me: Anyone would get bored doing this, at least I'll be good at it.
Them: No.
But you DO have a PhD. Claiming it is somehow not valid is a criticism of the establishment that awarded it to you. You're just suffering from impostor syndrome, that's all.
Also, no employer will consider someone fresh out of education, even someone with a PhD, to have vast quantitites of useful real-world experience, so even declaring a PhD won't see you land your first job with the expectations that you'll ace every bit of it from day one.
It's good that you realise you know nothing. That is both accurate and useful. But don't take it too far. What your PhD proves is that you have an ability to learn, understand and communicate, and THAT is what employers are looking for.
Man I've often been confused at jobs too but the difference is that I've kept pushing through until I either figure it out or they fire me. So that's my advice in this hypothetical, fake it till you make it.
Hrm, ngl this username probably helps? 😜
Say you spent it working in McDonald’s. They won’t bother checking.
Same goes for ToysRUs or Radio Shack— the absence of findable evidence would work for you here
unrealistic, everyone knows mcdonalds only hires other people, never yourself.