Episode 02: The Hardest Part Is Deciding To Leave

Recovering Academic

In this episode, we talk about the difficulties with deciding to leave academia. We ask two important questions: What made the decision to leave academia difficult? Once you decide to leave, how do you know where to go?

While most people with PhDs do not go onto a tenure-track position, feelings of failure with leaving academia still persist. These feelings are valid but aren’t grounded in fact. Scientists can go out into the world and do things besides academia that are important to society.

To decide where to go next, we talked to a lot of people (including dialog with ourselves), went on informational interviews, and read about different careers. Taking those next steps helped a bit with overcoming the fear of the unknown and the uncertainty about life outside of the ivory tower.

“Your next job doesn’t have to be your last job.”
“It probably won’t be.”
“And that’s ok.”
–@Doctor_PMS, @IHStreet, @LadyScientist

It’s possible to leave, and it’s less painful than you might think.