How to make the great escape from academia, and still have a career that feeds your family.


Please ignore that link I gave you in the video, the system failure rendered it nonworking. Instead, you can use this link.

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    8 replies to "The escape from academia"

      • morgan

        Nice parody on consultants, but the kind of consultant being parodied is going to be out of business pretty quickly. Real consultants (the kinds who stay in business) solve real problems for people. It is not about sharing information (plenty of that in the world already), it is about applying the right information at the right place and time to solve a problem that someone wants solved.

        And, BTW, what I said above applies to grant proposals as well. If your grant proposal comes off like the consultant in the story did, it will be sunk faster than a brick thrown into the Pacific ocean.

    • James Sacco

      Hi Morgan

      Thanks for the presentation. You clearly define some career alternatives that I had not considered before. I’m still in the postdoctoral stage of my career (and looking for jobs right now) and considering all options. I agree that grad school or science education does not prepare you for such business ventures. I do think that perhaps some sort of “apprenticeship” (hopefully paid!) in the information business would be useful before starting on one’s own. Is this unrealistic to expect?

      James

      • morgan

        Hi James,
        The apprenticeship idea is awesome! I hadn’t thought of that until I saw your comment, then it hit me: it would be a great idea both for the host and the apprentice.
        Drop me a line if you’re seriously considering that option as you approach graduation.
        Morgan

    • Melanie Uy

      Dear Morgan, thank you so much for your presentation. It helps to hear about failures as products of success. I am in the social sciences and considering (while doing the phd now) not going to academia. I am still in the process of refining what i want to do in life and finishing my dissertation. This is very uplifting because i have had failures with launching the consultancy and i have put it in the burner while i find the best people to work with. Life after the degree can be scary but also exciting. I don’t want to be one of those – what do i do after studying?

      • morgan

        Hi Melanie,
        I love your website – very well done. It puts my site here to shame. Did you design it yourself? With talents like those, you could certainly earn a living helping people with that, although it wouldn’t take advantage of your skills.

        I hope you won’t consider your consultancy a “failure,” but instead a “learning lesson.” I’ve had those five “failed” businesses in the past, and I learned new things from every one. Someday I’m going to figure it out!

        If there was one key I could give you to the consulting business, it is figure out what your customers really need, and figure out how to help them get it. If you don’t know how to provide it right now, then just educate yourself on the topic deeply, then suddenly you become the expert! (And it is even better if you’ve put the knowledge to use yourself in the real world).

        Good luck, I hope to hear of your successes in the future!

    • Sound Problem

      Hi Morgan, no matter what I do on my end, i can’t get this video to play loud enough to hear more than every 3rd word while straining my neck. Is it possible to boost the sound somehow? I would love to listen to this video. A transcript would work just as well!

      • morgan

        Hi “sound problem”-
        Wow, how did I not notice that before?

        I’ll see if I can dig up the original video again to make a version that’s more user-friendly.

        Thanks,
        Morgan

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