Career options

My current contract ends in just under five months. I am giving academia a red-hot go. This would usually mean that now is the time I look for another post-doc position, one in another country. Given the current global pandemic, this trajectory is somewhat problematic. This post serves as my exploration into some of the options available to an early career researcher.

University/Academia

1. Post-doc
   I can try for another position as a post-doc. Given the current pandemic, travel abroad is particularly tricky - I do not want to get stuck overseas unable to return in an emergency. This means I am looking at more local positions, something usually advised against but hard to fault in the current situation. The pandemic has provided a double edged sword in terms of position availability: international researchers are unable to fill the positions, but there have also been massive funding cuts meaning fewer positions available to fill.
2. DECRA
   Though it is very early in my career (two years post PhD), I could apply for a DECRA. Support from my current supervisor and his group would be essential for any hope of being awarded one. This option would give me two years of essentially independent research. I have a few ideas for projects, and it seems worth a go writing an application in case I were to succeed.
3. Technical position
   A technical support role at a university would be great. There is a relative certainty in the position, a chance to help researchers and students, and obtaining expertise in a variety of useful techniques is hardly a waste of time. These appear to be very luck based, as a good technician is kept for a long time, and someone with other career aspirations would have to find another position (during a pandemic) to free up their role. So, I’ll keep my ears open in case one pops up, but not bet the house one that happening.
4. Teaching focused position
   There are more and more teaching focused positions being advertised. I really enjoy teaching: passing down knowledge and skills is fulfilling, and as Feynman said teaching is the key to understanding. Academia provides a wonderful and unique opportunity to both teach others, and be a life-long learner - but not just learning what others have to pass on, expanding the frontiers of human knowledge! A teaching focused position would be a good intermediary position to allow me to stay in academia, hone my teaching-chops, and return to more research down the road. These seem to be more available than post-doc positions, but the competition is fierce.

Consulting

1. An established company
   There are many established consultancy firms. Most are focused on accounting, risk mitigation, business management strategies (Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Continuous Integration, 5S, Scrum. All the buzzwords). I have struggled to find science-focused consulting companies. I think this is due to the science side of businesses being handled in-house, with R&D teams. However, I think there is a real opportunity to provide science-backed consultancy to smaller businesses. I’m just not sure where to look to find that work, which leads me to my second option:
2. Start my own firm
   The good aspect of working for an established company is just that: it’s established. Starting my own consulting company would allow me to really use my skills and expertise, provide huge job satisfaction (at least once I can select the consulting jobs I want). With that said, it would also be a slow-burn to establish, promote, and ultimately turn into a profitable business. This means that starting my own consulting company is a good mid-to-long term goal, but not an immediate career option if I want to keep paying the bills. With this, and that proverb¹ in mind, I have started one: Pivotal Scientific Consulting.

Start-ups

The start-up space seems to have taken off over the last decade.² Start-up research companies have also boomed. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has put a bit of a dampener on new start-ups, and both boot-strapped and seeded ones are on a relative hiring-freeze during lockdown. However, there are some really good opportunities out there, particularly in start-ups that match my ethics as well as my enjoyment of problem-solving. For now, this is on my “wait and see” list, post lockdown.

Industry

1. Large scientific company
   There are several really big scientific companies. I enjoy the intersection of research, science, and technology. Scientific instruments are the pinnacle of this amalgam. The progress made in bringing cutting-edge scientific advances to the daily laboratory is inspiring. For example, the history of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance is fascinating. From the earliest instrument in 1956 (36 MHz!) through to cheap benchtop instruments available for teaching labs (80 MHz). All of this to say, I would enjoy working to implement or improve the technologies used by scientists. It looks like the few companies that have R&D departments for this purpose are mostly situated outside of Australia. The USA, Japan, and Germany are big on instrumentation R&D. The presence of those same companies in Australia looks to be technical support and sales. So, for my situation, this option is put on hold until international travel resumes.
2. Staff scientist for a smaller company
   I worked for a year and a half as the only validation chemist at a liquid goods manufacturer. The job entailed overseeing Quality Assurance of the liquids (everything up until it goes into a bottle), and scoping and implementing any improvements to how the business got the liquid products made. There were some large scale projects, with long lead times for return on investment. These provided a sense of satisfaction in seeing all the puzzle pieces come together to reveal the final picture. Due to the size and operating style of the company, there were also many small-wins available. Changes in workflow that I could identify, hash out with the workers, and roll-out within a week or so. I get a warm feeling knowing that a small piece of code I wrote, or an idea I implemented, is still being used by the business today. It seems likely that many smaller business have an equivalent opportunity for low-hanging fruit improvements.

Retrain

1. Teaching
   As mentioned above, I do enjoy teaching. It is a challenging yet gratifying job. I could start a teaching degree to prepare for a move into high school teaching or similar. So far, I have enjoyed teaching at a university level. The content is challenging, and the students are generally self-selected for their interest in science. I have not had any experience teaching at a high school level, but if my schooling experience is anything to go by then there will be many students who do not want to be learning. That negative is balanced by the opportunity to inspire the few who do pursue science. I know I would not have done chemistry - and thus would not be where I am today - had it not been for my high school chemistry teacher.