I want to create a movement. Everyone seems to be doing it these days. This one person movement however will be different.
I finished my post doctoral fellowship on June 30, 2013 and is went to for an intense two-week bioscience management boot camp. I had no intention of going back to the bench or back to academia. While a postdoc, I dabbled in a few things, forever seeking to expand my horizon and mind. One thing that I noticed during grad school, fellowship and now working in the 'real world' [away from the bench] is that people frown upon 'smart people' who try to seek further educational experiences.
Maybe it is just me, but in grad school whenever I or any of my fellow school mates expressed an interest in learning something else (outside of required or allowable courses\electives), we were met with "But you're already getting a PhD. Why would you want to go and do more school work?" Early on into my postdoc fellowship, I realized that academia was not for me. I made use of every opportunity to diversify my skills. Most I did under the disguise of hobbies, the main one was taking a job in retail (11 months on the weekends) to work on my interpersonal skills. More on this in a later post, when I delve more into skills I think PhDs need in order to navigate the world. For the management boot camp, when I got accepted I had every intention of continuing with my postdoc (at the time). However, after a conversation with my postdoc mentor (PM) who said it was a stupid idea and a huge waste of time. PM then went on to ask why would I want to learn the business and management side of science? It should be noted that a part of the course was about setting up and effeciently running labs in both academia and industry. Something PM could have used. More on this experience at a later time.
I am now into my second job and the comment I've gotten the most is "You do not need to learn anything else, you already have a PhD". I don't even know what this means. Why do people think that having PhD means I should stop learning? And aren't employees with PhDs also allowed the same career and professional development oppurtunities as it relates to their JOBS as every other employees? I find this to be very infuriating and what's worse that twice this comment came from the head of HR.
Well 2018 will be the year we all #StriveToDiversify.
