There have been relevant responses to Malcolm's challenge. Even so, let me offer something semi-relevant using a perspective gained from a career with government followed by several years as a consultant:
You can go to work for a government agency and end up very content with maintaining a status quo. You can get an academic appointment and end up satisfied with a short publication list in obscure journals and herding a progression of students through the mill. You can work for a not-for-profit organization begging for grants and then feel useful completing a long string of short term random projects. Or you can become a consultant with wildly fluctuating incomes and work loads and perhaps successfully educate or transform a client or two without selling your soul. So what do you want to accomplish given your knowledge and skills? What do you hope is going to happen because of you? These should be the top criteria for selecting a career slot in ecology. If you're good at planning, organizing and performing improved ecological management, then a government job may be the way to make a difference. If you're good at discovering and comprehending the meaning of rigorous ecological details and inspiring others to employ this knowledge, then academia may be our route. If you are good at envisioning and promoting an ecologically considerate socio-political structure, then some non-profit organizations could make great use of you. And if doing the right thing ecologically in ways that improve both the natural and human systems is your forte (and you don't need to make a lot of money), then consulting can be your field. In every one of these situations, you want to be able to finish your career able to look back and see where things changed and improved because of you -- you didn't just maintain a status quo, do some obscure research, make temporary improvements, or satisfy a client. You made a difference because you chose the field where you, with your special abilities and interests, could make a difference. And I wish someone had told me that early in my career. Warren W. Aney Senior Wildlife Ecologist 9403 SW 74th Ave Tigard, OR 97223 (503) 539-1009 (503) 246-2605 fax -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of malcolm McCallum Sent: Friday, 04 March, 2011 15:08 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.
