{"id":2720,"date":"2019-05-28T11:16:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-28T11:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/why-i-think-having-a-career-is-like-going-to-the-supermarket\/"},"modified":"2025-01-15T06:35:09","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T06:35:09","slug":"why-i-think-having-a-career-is-like-going-to-the-supermarket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/why-i-think-having-a-career-is-like-going-to-the-supermarket","title":{"rendered":"Why I think having a career is like going to the supermarket"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my last blog post, I commented that I probably shouldn\u2019t give careers advice to high school students. About a week later, I got an email asking me to give careers advice to high school students. Funny how life goes.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The high school was the one I graduated from seven years ago. When I arrived, I discovered that they had changed the names of the houses. Two are now named after past students who became prime ministers. These names, printed in giant bold letters, hung overhead in a symbolic way as my fellow alumni and I ate pre-careers-night biscuits.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I was one of two speakers for the \u201cscience\u201d careers session. In an email, I was given a list of suggested topics to cover.\u00a0What has your career pathway been? What are some job titles of people you work closely with? What is one aspect of your current job that you love\/hate?<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure I had even considered what I do as a \u201ccareer.\u201d Having a \u201ccareer\u201d implies some kind of purpose. So far, my purpose has been to avoid job hunting for as long as possible. I tried not being a student, once; it was disconcerting. I had far too much time and money. After working for six months, I panicked and applied to do a PhD.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Being a PhD candidate is a kind of confusing limbo between \u201cstudent\u201d and \u201cprofessional.\u201d I have a student card, but I\u2019m not eligible for student concessions on public transport. I have an income, but it\u2019s a scholarship rather than a salary. Whenever I fill in surveys, my answers end up with bizarre contradictions that make me sound like a drug dealer.\u00a0Are you a full-time student?\u00a0<\/i>Yes.\u00a0How many hours per week do you work outside of your studies?\u00a0<\/i>2.\u00a0What is your weekly income?\u00a0<\/i>>$500.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I always pictured a \u201ccareer\u201d as a series of steps leading up a mountain. The journey is sometimes tiring and tough, but there are exciting things to see and do along the way. You persevere, the view gets better and better, and some day, you reach the summit and all your hard work pays off.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In reality, I\u2019m not so sure that a career has any kind of endpoint.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, I think a \u201ccareer\u201d is more like going to a supermarket. Everyone needs to get food from somewhere. The place you go to get food isn\u2019t necessarily better than any other place, but it\u2019s a place that works for you. Some days you might feel excited and grateful for where you\u2019re going. Other days you resent it. You didn\u2019t consider the local supermarket when you signed your lease, but hey, this is where you ended up. You might notice that the stuff at your supermarket is too expensive, or of poor quality, or there isn\u2019t much choice. You might think about trying some other place. But then, this is the place you know, it\u2019s convenient, it\u2019s close to you, and changing your routine just seems so difficult.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Your career, like going to a supermarket, is not always an exciting topic of conversation. But when I tell people that I\u2019m doing a PhD in zoology, there is often a blink of surprise, followed by either \u201cOh wow! That sounds really interesting!\u201d or \u201cOh wow, I assumed you were still in high school\u201d (I was once asked for ID when going to an MA15+ movie; I was 22.). I do enjoy it when people are interested in what I do. But if someone is enthusiastic about my work, I feel the need to match their enthusiasm. Sometimes this is great. Sometimes this can help me remember why I love zoology, and why I decided to study it in the first place. Other times, I feel as though I\u2019m telling a long, animated story about buying potatoes, desperately hoping that someone will interrupt me.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Because of all this, when I talk about what I do, I feel like I\u2019m treading a fine line between lying and being far too honest. The optimistic lie is often what people expect to hear. Sometimes I\u2019ve said it so many times that it feels true. The pessimistic truth, told at the end of a bad day, feels bitter and ungrateful.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

How\u2019s the research going?<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n