Hi all, As always with this, who you work with strongly effects what your experience will be. The support from up the food web will also strongly influence the job experience. I've done a short stint working at a consulting firm, been a research tech at universities, and currently work for the federal gov with NPS. Each position had it's pros and cons.
The consulting job was good, but as a placeholder position between undergrad and grad school, I was given less hours when work slowed down. Not surprising nor was I upset by it, but I did have a hard time with the regimented schedule the owners wanted unlike the more relaxed atmosphere that you tend to see with academic jobs (yes, there are still time frames with start of class or meetings, but if your an hour or half an hour early, it's no big deal). Still a good experience. As a research tech with two different universities, there was a big difference in the administration and support from the university. One was great and I was classified as full time staff with all the privileges even though the position was funded through a grant. At the other, I was an hourly slave and the only advantage I had over the general public was I could login to the library's bibliographic databases remotely. One PI said I was there just to manage the project, i.e. I was not going to help with the publication of the data. The other PI said I could donate my time if I wanted to do more than grunt work. Well, as a master's student, I had a hard time separating out personal time from school, and I had a bad case of burn out and the prospect of 60+ hours per week to the benefit of others (the PI and university, yes, I would also get some benefit) when working just about paycheck to paycheck was not very appealing. Not that I had a terrible time, just the experience dep! ends on who you work for and with and sometime what you want/can put into the position. With working for the feds, I've noticed a greater level of bureaucracy then what I remember at universities (not that I saw much as a lowly tech). With working in an office and needing to work with multiple parks, I've noticed that bad relations (between the office and park) can last for a long time even when the people who could not work together are no longer present at either place. The threat of government shutdown has not been very fun, I haven't been in my current position very long, I need furniture for my place, and my car is getting long in the tooth. It becomes hard to plan for spending not knowing if I'll be working two weeks from now and if furloughed how long will it last. If Congress is good, the process for the next fiscal year will begin after the current year budget is passed. Who know how that may go? Well, that is my input, just to say it depends. Regards, Tim -----Original Message----- >From: malcolm McCallum <[email protected]> >Sent: Mar 4, 2011 4:08 PM >To: [email protected] >Subject: [ECOLOG-L] working in academia vs govt vs consultancies > >Hi, >With all the graduate students and recently graduated on this listserv, >might it not be interesting to compare from personal experience working in >different academic sectors (e.g. research, regional, private, public, SLAC), >government (e.g. US EPA, USGS, US FWS, NOAA, USACE, USFS, state vs fed), >not for profits (e.g. nature conservancy, zoos, museums), and consultancies >(e.g. self-employed, tetra tech, &c.). > >I just think this might be a useful discussion and we seem to have people >from all groups! > >-- >Malcolm L. McCallum >Managing Editor, >Herpetological Conservation and Biology > >"Peer pressure is designed to contain anyone with a sense of drive" - Allan >Nation > >1880's: "There's lots of good fish in the sea" W.S. Gilbert >1990's: Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss, > and pollution. >2000: Marine reserves, ecosystem restoration, and pollution reduction > MAY help restore populations. >2022: Soylent Green is People! > >Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any >attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may >contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized >review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not >the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and >destroy all copies of the original message.
