OT: Career advice Part II

[Kane One]

I'm going to be making a change soon.

Basically, being an adjunct sucks every ass in the world. And for the headache they're putting me through, I could make the same salary at f***ing Chipotle.

I still wanna teach and I have the experience now, I just need to get my PhD. Then I can get a real job in my field instead of being the university's tampon.

While I'm going through the PhD application process, I think I'm going to work somewhere else in the meantime. I don't care what it is because my career is still on another track and it's short-term, that makes it easier.

And besides, between being a student, then a tutor, then a professor, I've been in the academy for 12 consecutive years. I think 6-12 months away is going to be great for my mental health.

Still, I'm having some major jitters about being on the job market. First time in four years.

What field is it that you’re referring to that you can’t do without a PhD, aside from a professor? Or is that the field you’re referring to?

 

[sbjnyc]

I'm going to be making a change soon.

Basically, being an adjunct sucks every ass in the world. And for the headache they're putting me through, I could make the same salary at f***ing Chipotle.

I still wanna teach and I have the experience now, I just need to get my PhD. Then I can get a real job in my field instead of being the university's tampon.

While I'm going through the PhD application process, I think I'm going to work somewhere else in the meantime. I don't care what it is because my career is still on another track and it's short-term, that makes it easier.

And besides, between being a student, then a tutor, then a professor, I've been in the academy for 12 consecutive years. I think 6-12 months away is going to be great for my mental health.

Still, I'm having some major jitters about being on the job market. First time in four years.

The job market for PhDs is not so great either but that is highly dependent on the field. After I completed the field work towards a PhD I found that spending another few years passing the comps and writing as dissertation want going to all that helpful careerwise. It also didn't help that I wasnt as enthusiastic for my field as I was. So if you are really interested in the subject that's one thing but I'm not sure its worth it just to advance your career. Good luck whatever you decide.

 

[Machinehead]

What field is it that you’re referring to that you can’t do without a PhD, aside from a professor? Or is that the field you’re referring to?

Yeah that's it. I wanna teach long-term.

 

[Kane One]

Yeah that's it. I wanna teach long-term.

Got it. Yeah having a PhD always seemed like a ridiculous requirement to me. I feel like I can teach computer science with no problem, aside from how much I would actually hate being a professor.

 

[sbjnyc]

Got it. Yeah having a PhD always seemed like a ridiculous requirement to me. I feel like I can teach computer science with no problem, aside from how much I would actually hate being a professor.

Teaching comp sci definitely requires a PhD. Programming is a different story.

 

[Kane One]

Teaching comp sci definitely requires a PhD. Programming is a different story.

Yeah that’s fair. I’d rephrase to say I can teach 80% of courses. Operating Systems, Computer Architecture, and Discrete Math are probably the only ones I can think of off the top of my head that I won’t do a good job teaching.

 

[Crease]

Yeah that's it. I wanna teach long-term.

Just be mindful that it is very, very difficult to get a tenure-track position in the New York metropolitan area. In all fields. Be prepared to take a tenure-track position elsewhere in the country, with the plan to apply for lateral positions in New York after a few years of good reviews.

 

[sbjnyc]

Yeah that’s fair. I’d rephrase to say I can teach 80% of courses. Operating Systems, Computer Architecture, and Discrete Math are probably the only ones I can think of off the top of my head that I won’t do a good job teaching.

Computer science is a mathematics degree. The core foundation is discrete, linear algebra, number theory and graph theory on top of the general requirements of calc and differentia, equations. I never took a course in graph theory which is why I could never work in a comp sci related field. A famous mathematician referred to it as the slums of topology but it seems to pay well.

 

[Kane One]

Computer science is a mathematics degree. The core foundation is discrete, linear algebra, number theory and graph theory on top of the general requirements of calc and differentia, equations. I never took a course in graph theory which is why I could never work in a comp sci related field. A famous mathematician referred to it as the slums of topology but it seems to pay well.

Graph theory isn’t universally a required course.

And what do you mean by a comp sci related field? You can be a software engineer without taking that course… I didn’t take it and I’m a software engineer.

Most of the courses you listed aren’t even taught by the computer science department; those are taught by the math department.

 

[Machinehead]

Got it. Yeah having a PhD always seemed like a ridiculous requirement to me. I feel like I can teach computer science with no problem, aside from how much I would actually hate being a professor.

Oh, I believe it.

The thing is, in this field, it's all or nothing. You're doing pretty good or...well, you're an adjunct.

It's very competitive to get the good positions and I'm not about to do six-month appointments the rest of my life. It's a nightmare.

 

[smoneil]

I'm going to be making a change soon.

Basically, being an adjunct sucks every ass in the world. And for the headache they're putting me through, I could make the same salary at f***ing Chipotle.

I still wanna teach and I have the experience now, I just need to get my PhD. Then I can get a real job in my field instead of being the university's tampon.

While I'm going through the PhD application process, I think I'm going to work somewhere else in the meantime. I don't care what it is because my career is still on another track and it's short-term, that makes it easier.

And besides, between being a student, then a tutor, then a professor, I've been in the academy for 12 consecutive years. I think 6-12 months away is going to be great for my mental health.

Still, I'm having some major jitters about being on the job market. First time in four years.

What's your academic subfield?

 

[Machinehead]

What's your academic subfield?

Urban Sociology

 

[smoneil]

Just be mindful that it is very, very difficult to get a tenure-track position in the New York metropolitan area. In all fields. Be prepared to take a tenure-track position elsewhere in the country, with the plan to apply for lateral positions in New York after a few years of good reviews.

Me: waiving from Arkansas while I apply to the scant few jobs in my field back East.

Yup.

 

[smoneil]

Urban Sociology

Hm. Sadly, I'm not much help there. I don't know why, but I thought you were in English.

 

[sbjnyc]

Graph theory isn’t universally a required course.

And what do you mean by a comp sci related field? You can be a software engineer without taking that course… I didn’t take it and I’m a software engineer.

Most of the courses you listed aren’t even taught by the computer science department; those are taught by the math department.

I'm surprised by that. Anyway, I was thinking in terms of network analysis or design.

 

[Machinehead]

Hm. Sadly, I'm not much help there. I don't know why, but I thought you were in English.

I am. Or I was. Or...I don't know lol.

Basically, my MA is in English but I teach Sociology. Nobody in Sociology is a Sociologist.

I'm not opposed to teaching English.

 

[Kane One]

I'm surprised by that. Anyway, I was thinking in terms of network analysis or design.

Networks also isn’t a CS course. In the college I went to, that would fall under Information Systems. People in that major are more likely to be a systems engineer than a software engineer.

Courses I can think of in CS are all the intro/intermediate/advanced programming courses, algorithms, databases, Unix, operating systems, and computer architecture.

Then all the math and stats courses that are required.

 

[smoneil]

I am. Or I was. Or...I don't know lol.

Basically, my MA is in English but I teach Sociology. Nobody in Sociology is a Sociologist.

I'm not opposed to teaching English.

If you like creative writing, that has literally been the only "hot" field in the market the last two years. There have easily been 2x more tenure track creative writing positions than all of the other subfields combined. Medieval and American lit might as well not exist with the number of jobs they're getting.

 

[Machinehead]

If you like creative writing, that has literally been the only "hot" field in the market the last two years. There have easily been 2x more tenure track creative writing positions than all of the other subfields combined. Medieval and American lit might as well not exist with the number of jobs they're getting.

I'll keep that in mind!

 

[smoneil]

I'll keep that in mind!

The academic jobs wiki has, well it hasn't died, but it's not as robust as it once was. HigherEdjobs is a good place to track the job market (and to look into administration/advising jobs if you want to stay in academia but pivot to a more robust job market).

Search College and University Jobs - HigherEdJobs

 

[Machinehead]

The academic jobs wiki has, well it hasn't died, but it's not as robust as it once was. HigherEdjobs is a good place to track the job market (and to look into administration/advising jobs if you want to stay in academia but pivot to a more robust job market).

Search College and University Jobs - HigherEdJobs

The latter might be good for me.

To be an advisor, does teaching count as experience in "student services?"

I guess it depends on the school.

 

[sbjnyc]

Networks also isn’t a CS course. In the college I went to, that would fall under Information Systems. People in that major are more likely to be a systems engineer than a software engineer.

Courses I can think of in CS are all the intro/intermediate/advanced programming courses, algorithms, databases, Unix, operating systems, and computer architecture.

Then all the math and stats courses that are required.

Maybe it's different from school to school but I was always told it was a mathematics program but there is a practical branch. So many problems in math can be stated in the language of comp sci but I'm probably looking at it with a different perspective.

 

[Machinehead]

I'm very anxious about the resume.

I have an MA and four years teaching experience. I can't think of how I can possibly present myself for a lateral job that doesn't make me look overqualified.

I've read that it's perfectly acceptable to say you're working towards your education, and that's absolutely true in my case, but the degree I'm working towards is paying PhD application fees.

I'm afraid they're gonna say "oh f*** this, this guy is gone in three weeks."

Which is not the case at all. I'm looking forward to maybe a year of just working without emails, prep, deadlines, writing, and grading. But I can't explain that in a resume.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

So some positives from last week and some negatives.

Positive: I had a pretty positive performance review after 90 days which makes me breathe a sigh or relief because I haven't always felt like I was doing a great job.

Negative: My new task is taking notes for changes to charts that my team puts together that are requested during meetings. This is bad because my biggest issue is that I just can't focus during meetings, I'm pretty sure I have ADHD. So I'll have to start taking notes for the entirety of the meetings, there are so many that it'll be a pain in the ass.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I'm very anxious about the resume.

I have an MA and four years teaching experience. I can't think of how I can possibly present myself for a lateral job that doesn't make me look overqualified.

I've read that it's perfectly acceptable to say you're working towards your education, and that's absolutely true in my case, but the degree I'm working towards is paying PhD application fees.

I'm afraid they're gonna say "oh f*** this, this guy is gone in three weeks."

Which is not the case at all. I'm looking forward to maybe a year of just working without emails, prep, deadlines, writing, and grading. But I can't explain that in a resume.

What jobs are you looking for that will make you overqualified?

Sometimes overqualified isn't bad. I got an offer last time from a company that I didn't end up taking but the guy basically told me I was overqualified for it and asked why I'm looking at the role (for what it's worth I don't think I'm that overqualified for it), but I ended up getting an offer in the end. Some companies will view it as a positive.