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by Cipolla
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I am in a career that I do not want to pursue. 

I have not been productive. I am quite stressed and anxious. But I am still keeping it and creating new science collaborations and research projects.

I have recently realised that I probably did university, a PhD, and started a scientific career just for FOMO. 

Mainly because of prestige, the perks of the academic life, and comparing myself to my peers (a lot of which had very clear ideas about their science careers since their start, and it shows it now). Obviously I was attracted to the science aspect of it, but I think it was just for fun (and also to please expectations of others).

But I have been not happy in my life for several years now. I think my anxiety has been manifesting itself into my body (mainly with head confusion and headaches).[1]

Even if I see myself as a professor in the next few years (something that you usually need to plan well in advance to create the right support network of people), I still fail to see how this can bring me happiness in my life.

After discovering certain online communities (like this one and lesswrong) I opened my eyes, and discovered that the pleasure of research can be pursued in different ways.

But I am still pondering on my future. Mainly because of fear.

My ideal scenario is the following: have a personal business (so that I can have "individual freedom"), while pursuing economic/social research in some university/research institute in a vibrant city. In particular, I would like to focus on topics like economic/social inequality. Something I have always promised myself to do after retiring (I would also love to do random bits of science, but I need to focus on single topics). 

I do not know how to do this (and how I could distinguish myself to gain the first bits of momentum). And on top of that, I am so afraid of starting a new path and being labelled as a failure.

I have not much interest in working in a company (tried internships and was unproductive). And do not see any place that makes me scream I wanna go there. Only reason I would consider it is money.

The problem is that I am the kind of person that will not use their mental resources to finish a task in absence of a deep sincere interest. On the other hand, to pursue the deep interest, I need to jump into the unknown. And I am afraid of regretting my choice.

 

  1. ^

    Someone suggested long-covid, but not sure where it leads.

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ScienceMon🔸

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It sounds like we're around the same age, both a few years out of a PhD (mine was in bio). I'm happy to email/talk 1-on-1 with you about this:

  1. Do not continue down the academic path. Your mind and body are clearly telling you to stop! Instead, start applying for jobs as you wind down your ongoing projects.
  2. Probably don't start a business right now. Not unless you have a major technical edge in a lucrative area and a suite of business-relevant skills (I couldn't infer this from your post).
  3. If your internships were at large/established companies, I would be unsurprised that they went poorly. There are stark cultural differences between academia and the corporate world.
  4. Consider joining a startup. Culturally, this will be a smoother transition than to big corporate. You will be paid much more than you are as a postdoc. The people around you will generally be happier than your academic colleagues. And you'll build skills that are relevant to starting your own business one day.

Academia is wonderful in many ways, but it teaches people that life is linear, which is a damn lie. Life isn't linear! You have decades ahead of you that will be filled with personal growth and bringing happiness to other people.

Cipolla1
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Thanks a lot! I will consider it :)

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Phib

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Personally I cannot say much to this, but vs there being no answer/comment, here’s my naive suggestion:

If you haven’t already considered the 80000 hours career guide and their advising, that seems like a good resource for someone in your position.

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