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Alternate science careers advice

elpgal

Veteran

I have to figure out what I want to do for the next stage of my career. I have decided full bench science and chasing after funding is no longer what I want to do but would like to stay involved in the field. Have any of you made a career shift like this and have advice for me?

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14 replies

Latest reply was from Scarlet

Liz

Veteran

No advice about science careers. Just this: don't look at "all" the next things. Just do the one next thing. For today, that might be setting up a coffee meeting with someone in your field who might have some insight for you. That's it. Just one thing. Then do the next thing.

You can do this.

Anonymous

Liz's advice is perfect. Break it down into doable steps. Best wishes.

rachylou

Veteran

Research project wrapping up? Policy... I guess what's available depends on your field and location. Government policy means you have to be where government is...

Anonymous

What branch of science are you in? When I first came out of college I was a microbiologist for a qc lab, was quickly promoted to head of lab, but was at a crossroads as to what I really wanted to do. Got my MBA and totally changed fields.

Possibilities outside of bench lab can include grant administrator, patent law, research administrator , bioinformatics.

Science policy exists at the state and federal levels of government where you can be a specialist or a generalist. Your best bet is university level acting as a liaison between the university and government funding agencies or management of institutional review boards, ensuring all research follows the appropriate guidelines are are performed ethically.

Hope this helps.

Anonymous

My daughter got a Master's degree in Food Science. Would that field interest you?

chirico (Chiara)

(website)

Veteran

You can work for a Pharma Company. Many people in the Company I work for that are in the quality assurance or regulatory departments, have a background in biology or pharma chemistry.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

I'm in a different field, but also trying to transition from academia to non-profits or a govt position. I don't have a lot of advice, just want to cheer you on--we need scientists defending science these days, so go, go, go!

Greyscale

Veteran

Definitely understand this -- it gets harder and harder to find the next research gig. :-/

I'm writing all this from a biology perspective. If you're in a different science subfield hopefully some of it is still useful.

My first suggestion is to talk to as many people as possible who have jobs like you'd be interested in. I was on a career panel recently where one of the other panelists - a molecular biology PhD - works for SF's water utility. Because SF manages its own reservoir up in Yosemite, her job involved a huge variety of things, from mundane water utility stuff (overseeing testing, etc) to writing plans for endangered species protection within their watershed. She said part of why she loves the job is that she gets to think about so many different types of things beyond her narrow training. It was a job I wouldn't ever have thought of. So one possibility is to look through municipal or jobs that exist at your local or state level (even if they don't have openings).

Things that come to mind...
policy jobs at thinktanks -- Rand etc
project manager for a big hospital/academic research project (eg https://sfbay.craigslist.org/s.....08676.html)
federal policy jobs
federal grants agency
jobs at biotech companies that interface with regulatory bodies
campus grants office
campus biosafety office
science communication jobs at universities or nonprofits
campus IP office
journal editor

Some of these jobs require PhDs, and some don't -- I don't know what your background or field are exactly, or whether you'd be interested or able to relocate. A lot of policy stuff is based in the DC area but there are state level things for sure, and I suppose it depends on your subfield. There's conservation/ecology stuff at federal & state levels but medical research policy is mostly in DC.

I believe Tanya just made a relevant career shift.

Kathie

Veteran

I left the bench after 15 years, including grad school. Six years into the career change, I love it. Still working in academia, but now in early stage technology commercialization, running a university based investment fund.

Staysfit

Veteran

Implementation Science is hot right now and a big policy area, check it out. Both my brother and daughter do this and it's relatively new. Good luck!

Chris987

Veteran

Liz's suggestion was great...(as were all the others)..but If you have no idea what you want to do next you may find it difficult to figure out who might have insights that would be relevant. If that is the case start with some very broad networking. What I mean by this is ask someone to have coffee with you just to talk/brainstorm. It can be a friend or neighbor who's job is completely unrelated to yours. The process of starting the discussions and the networking activity will be helpful in ways you won't be able to predict. Then you can do the coffee thing with people perhaps closer to what you want to do. LinkedIn is a great resource for this....you can go to a colleague in your network and say "I noticed you know so-and-so, would you ask them if they'd be willing to have coffe with me". or whatever, assuming you are comfortable letting that colleage know what you are doing.

My main point is that ideas will come to you from surprising places, but you do need to put yourself into the exploration process.

Jane

Veteran

Not at all science related, but quite late in the day, I made a side ways move into a different arena in my profession. It was / is the best thing I did, and shifted my life in all sorts of different ways. It took a lot of thinking through though, but very much turned out to the good. Good luck with the change ahead, and I think my advice would be to set aside enough thinking time (particularly if you have an analytical brain - which I guess you have being in the sciences..).

elpgal

Veteran

Thank you for all the suggestions. You have given me a lot to think about. I wish I could respond to you all individually here and share the specifics of my situation but I am feeling somewhat overwhelmed at present to navigate that work/online persona divide. I'll follow up with private messages if I think of specific questions.

Scarlet

Veteran

In a somewhat similar situation myself in case you ever want to "chat" about it. I also want to say a thank you to the commenters above because I found this thread to be a helpful read too.