Alternative Careers in Science: Leaving the Ivory Tower

This book is a great source of information for graduate students and PhD's! I am currently a graduate student finishing up my thesis work in biomedical sciences. I decided that academia is not where I want to spend my future yet felt that I really did not know what other choices I had available that did not require yet another degree. There are far more career options available than I could have imagined on my own! I like that each career has a detailed description of a 'typical day' and what characteristics a person needs for each career. Also, each career alternative describes to varying degrees how we can start on those career paths. For the most part we can't expect to head our own venture capital firm or lead a business development team in a major pharmaceutical company after graduation. But we can certainly learn how best to go about getting to that stage at some point because the book describes what job skills are needed for each profession. For those of us who like to do a little job searching in our spare time, a lot of chapters include websites where jobs are posted. This is a great source to find out what entry level positions are available for people looking to get out of the lab. Probably one of the most important things is I have learned from reading this book is that I have acquired a much bigger skill set than just how to do bench work. This book by no means informs us how to land the jobs we desire, but it is truely a great reference manual for those of us who are clueless about life outside of academia.

As a recent Biology Ph.D. graduate, I am fortunate to have found this book about 1 year before graduation. I have always enjoyed biology, but my heart was just not in research, poring over the same project and data, day in and day out, 50 hours a week. Biology Ph.D.'s are, unfortunately, trained with tunnel vision in terms of career development. You are lead down a research path, and graduation represents a fork in the road: You can choose a life of academia following your mandatory postdocs, or you can immediately enter industry, following your mandatory postdocs. For those who don't know, a postdoc is a type of internship following your graduation. You are the personal Igor for the head of the lab (usually a professor at a university or medical school). Hours are typically 6 days a week, 60 hours minimum, and earns about $35,000. You work on at lest 2-3 projects for the lab, and are expected to assist in training the new graduate students as well. In addition, you are expected to find your own grant money. After the extreme stress of graduate work had been completed, call me crazy, but I decided an increase in stress was not what I wanted. Don't get me wrong; for those who love research, this is heaven, but not for me.A year prior to graduation, I found this book. In my multiple years of study, no one had ever mentioned a sentence about any of the career options mentioned here, ALL of which were accessible to a Ph.D. student. About two dozen career options are mentioned here, from clinical research, to broadcast journalism, to sales...lots. Every career is discussed in detail from a personal account of someone who actually works in the field. Everything is discussed, from salary, hours, a typical day, to extra training and advancement opportunities.This book did nothing short of change my career outlook from a pessimistic view of my science career to a wonderful new career in medical writing...earning twice as much as the postdoc I quit after one week. (If this doesn't appeal to you, there are plenty of other choices in this book.)The book does not discuss EVERY option. The job I have now was not mentioned initially in the book. However, it opened my eyes, and got me started in this path. Spend the cash and buy it. Consider it a cheaper version of going to a great career counselor....or a psychiatrist.

A large number of students (and postdocs?) within the sciences are not overly happy with research as a career, but say wistfully; "What else could I do?"Well, there are TWENTY THREE 'alternative' careers in here, written by people who have made the transition. Each job is described in terms of information about how to make the transition, what a typical day is like, and honest assessments of positives and negatives of each career. There's also recommendations for how to position yourself for the transition.You may not find your 'dream job' in here, but even then you will learn about the wide possibilites which are available to you. You may decide not to switch careers, in which case you'll have learned enough to be more sure in your decision.

This book offers ideas and support for the professional tired of their present career, no matter how successful. It was a real boost in my "ego-arm" to read this book. Sometimes it is lonely when making big changes and it helps to talk to someone who has been there.

IF you find yourself in your seventh year of your PhD work, and you are not sure you want to work at the bench, buy this book! There is a world outside the lab.