Discovering my aptitudes post-graduation

[Camisotro]

If you feel "burnout" from the sciences so early in your career, probably chemistry is not the way to go... Due to the economy, the environment is currently highly competitive so hiring managers are looking at everything, including potentially "rusty" laboratory skills...

That's a consideration too. But at the same time I feel like it would benefit me to find some way to take the specialized skills I've learned and carry them into a career. And it's hard to walk out of this degree and "be a scientist" outside of a chemistry environment without having invested more experience within the field.

I wouldn't be averse to finding my way back in by starting with a job that I'm overqualified for. That'd give me a chance to focus first on hands-on skills before tackling a position that calls for both education and experience.

[Kostas Petritis]

I did not imply that your laboratory skills are "rusty" right now. What I meant is that if you continue to be away from wet chemistry for another year or couple of years then that will be something people will look at. At this point there is no need to look for jobs that you over qualify for, just look for jobs at your level...

[Camisotro]

Fair enough. I find that for most analytical jobs I see listed though, I'm either overqualified (e.g. laboratory assistant), or underqualified (requires both a graduate degree *and* years of experience I don't have).

The environment I was in during grad school wasn't a good fit for me, but I did find LC/MS interesting to work with. What I disliked the most about my program was getting stuck in the middle of interpersonal conflict without any clear direction of how to complete what either side had assigned me to do. The "burnout" was I think less about the science and more about the experience. But it's left me a little wary of getting back in.

[DSP007]

The devil knows how things you do in Vancouver. Of my friends on anchem.ru you have worked in Canada, Dear Islander and Spectrometrist at PNNL and Dick Smith (their words).
I think that you have written, doctor of chemistry? That's looking for a job in his specialty. It is important to you now hooked claw, and then see what happens.
And your skills outside of the diploma course will not go unnoticed.

[Camisotro]

The devil knows how things you do in Vancouver. Of my friends on anchem.ru you have worked in Canada, Dear Islander and Spectrometrist at PNNL and Dick Smith (their words).
I think that you have written, doctor of chemistry? That's looking for a job in his specialty. It is important to you now hooked claw, and then see what happens.
And your skills outside of the diploma course will not go unnoticed.

Unfortunately your post is barely comprehensible - the devil? I have an M.Sc. in Chemistry, no Ph.D., and not particularly interested in pursuing further in academia.

[Kostas Petritis]

DSP007,

I suppose that you might be talking (at least partially) about me as I worked (in the past) for 7 years at PNNL with Dick Smith, have a PhD in analytical chemistry, but never worked in Canada. PNNL is in Easten WA, Richland, USA, not too far from Vancouver (I have driven a couple of times there) . However, I am not the one looking for a job or thinking about my future career... I do probably know several of your colleagues from Russia...

[Camisotro]

Well, Richland WA is "close to Vancover" to about the same extent that Boston is close to Philadelphia...

[lmh]

Whatever you decide, and however it pans out, just don't forget that people do care. Many of us have been through thin patches in our careers.

Try to look normal, trustable, and undamaged in interviews. A bad PhD/Masters experience is unfortunately quite common. You need to distance yourself from it if at all possible. Present your good sides, and the good things you got from your masters. I don't mean lie about bad things; if it comes out in interview, fine, you'll have to be honest. But try to make it clear that you learned a lot, that you've drawn a line under anything that went wrong; you are up for new learning, and new productivity. Don't get bogged down in the conflict side of things, because otherwise future bosses are going to start jumping to conclusions about any role you might have had in it. Also, be positive, even if you don't feel positive. There is no advantage in letting an interviewer notice your negative vibes. Don't say you felt burnt out after a PhD. Say you find the idea of moving on into industry/wherever excitingly refreshing (if you can, with a straight face; interviews benefit from a certain dramatic talent). If they offer you the job, you can still say no, if you have genuine cold feet about it. Regard the interview as a one-off challenge to be dealt with.

If you do move out of science, be happy! The world needs people with scientific skills in non-science positions. Chemistry really is a good training for many other jobs.

Above all, good luck.

[Camisotro]

Thanks for the advice

I feel like if I am to move out of science and present myself there as a scientist, I need to get a bit more legitimacy first within a science context. So that's one reason I'm looking to do something with my chemistry to start.

[Vlad Orlovsky]

"Unfortunately your post is barely comprehensible - the devil? "

This is understatement! I know both Russian and English and have hard time "comprehending" translation. This has nothing to do with knowledge of the language but rather with style. I guess we all need to learn how to ignore parts we don't understand in this particular case

[Rob Burgess]

Have you thought about school teaching full time perhaps? Looks like you've had a bit of experience with that already - how did you find that?

[Camisotro]

Have you thought about school teaching full time perhaps? Looks like you've had a bit of experience with that already - how did you find that?

I've had some instructional experience as a TA, and in tutoring roles, but I don't really see it as a serious career option because I don't really have the personality for teaching. You really have to be someone who is willing to sacrifice much more of your life than you are paid to provide, in exchange for the satisfaction of helping students, and then wake up the next day and every day ready to do exactly the same, and thrive on that. I have immense respect for educators who can accomplish that, but I think it'd be a bad match for me as a career.

[Asymmetry]

I've also got decent computer skills - I find I'm often the one helping other people fix their computers in any work or volunteer environment, or diving into a user interface to find the options that someone else can't locate.

you sound like me in a few respects.

I finished my PhD over a year ago, I felt really burnt out. I took some boring technical officer and teaching roles, 9-5 stuff. It was good actually. I started to have energy again after awhile but I knew I didn't want to return to research chemistry/academia.

Role came up as a laboratory manager at a major university, it was a stretch just graduating but I got it. I love it, people are really impressed and really made the researchers lives a lot better. In a modern instrumentation lab, a lot of the problems are IT based. IT at universities are a joke, so someone like you can do a lot of good

[Camisotro]

I had what felt like a good interview today at the environmental division of a large worldwide testing lab. I was interviewed by reps from both their inorganic (ICP-AES, ICP-MS) and organic (GC, GC-MS) labs. No LC at that facility but the jobs seemed potentially interesting - maybe not at the salary that some M.Sc. graduates aspire to, but this is really about getting me some experience.

They do shift work. Two of the four positions (the better-paying ones actually) they discussed would have required me to work 10:30 PM - 6:30 AM, 5 days a week. Another one is for 3:30-11:30 PM, and the closest one to "regular hours" is Tuesday-Saturday around 8AM-4PM. I don't know that I could stomach the graveyard shift, but daytime or evening shifts I could be fine with. It's defined initially as a "casual" position, presumably that means no benefits or pay in lieu of benefits, and statutory vacation pay in lieu of vacation.

Anyway... fingers crossed. If it works out, I will have some real-lab experience and a potential pathway to a more permanent position with benefits. If it's not for me, but I stick it out for a while, then I'll have a "Masters + experience" on my résumé instead of just schooling alone.