Possibilities after being a full time NTT lecturer for a few years

[adsorbiter]

Hi,
I've been a full time physics lecturer for three years after the coming spring '21 semester. I got this job at the same university where I graduated with my PhD because (apparently) they liked my TA evaluations from students. Between graduating and becoming a lecturer I spent over a year applying to various academic/non-academic research positions with not much luck.

So I've been doing this for three years. It's not completely terrible; talking about and demonstrating physics can be fun and challenging in a good way. I even enjoy preparing notes/lectures/assignments. However, I'm on the fence about whether or not my personality is a good fit for a teacher because...well, I don't really have much innate desire to help people learn. I pretend like I do because that's what I'm being paid to do so when students show up to office hours or ask questions in class I simply plaster on a welcoming and encouraging demeanor like a damned sociopath. I also don't care about pedagogy; I studied physics in school not psychology. If they want somebody to devise intricate schemes to trick students into learning then I'm not the person for the job. If students aren't showing up with their own motivation then I feel like there's nothing I can do. I just don't have the kind of enthusiastic personality that draws in attention and makes people be interested in the subject.

Anyway, you can see why I'm conflicted. I don't hate teaching, I'm just not sure If I'm the person who should really be standing in front of the class. Having said that, I will probably continue to apply to teaching positions in the future because I guess that's the experience I have now. I haven't done any research since I graduated and the topic of my dissertation appears fairly bland and uninteresting to me now. I don't have much interest in programming as a job although I do have some very minimal experience with Python and LabView. Data science is not interesting to me.

I suppose I'm in a brainstorming stage concerning what to do next. My girlfriend and I are both in our thirties and don't plan on having kids so that is not a concern right now (i.e. I don't really care how much money I make). We do want to get out of the current area, so I will probably quit my current job and will be moving this summer with or without another another job lined up (I have money saved up to help with that).

I guess I'll finish with a more direction question: Are there any careers/jobs/professions outside of academia that value the skills of former university lecturers?

Thanks for reading

 

[Dale]

I am not really clear what your goal is. It is hard to recommend a next step without a destination in mind

 

[adsorbiter]

I am not really clear what your goal is. It is hard to recommend a next step without a destination in mind

My ultimate goal is to be left alone by society, but that probably won't happen except maybe to an approximation. I'd settle for a job that allows me to compile ideas into a presentation of some sort. Maybe being a technical writer could work for me. I enjoyed writing my dissertation probably as much (or more) than working in the lab itself.

I could see myself being a baker: waking up early, baking bread and bread accessories, and then going home without having to deal with customers. Baking isn't that much different than working in a physics lab.

I sort of feel like being a lecturer gets me halfway to an ideal job. Maybe that's as good as I can hope for.

 

[Dale]

Well, if you can do your lectures remote then with something like starlink you should be able to do remote lectures for paying the bills and then live in some isolated place and spend the rest of your time doing prepper type things. I have 5.5 acres and I am raising almost all of my protein (chickens, ducks, and goats). I don't do it to be left alone, but it would be relatively easy to "go all in" with something like that.

 

[MathematicalPhysicist]

My ultimate goal is to be left alone by society, but that probably won't happen except maybe to an approximation. I'd settle for a job that allows me to compile ideas into a presentation of some sort. Maybe being a technical writer could work for me. I enjoyed writing my dissertation probably as much (or more) than working in the lab itself.

I could see myself being a baker: waking up early, baking bread and bread accessories, and then going home without having to deal with customers. Baking isn't that much different than working in a physics lab.

I sort of feel like being a lecturer gets me halfway to an ideal job. Maybe that's as good as I can hope for.

Well if you have a girlfriend you aren't really "left alone" now are you?

 

[adsorbiter]

Well if you have a girlfriend you aren't really "left alone" now are you?

Damn, you're right. They got me!

 

[Locrian]

I guess I'll finish with a more direction question: Are there any careers/jobs/professions outside of academia that value the skills of former university lecturers?

As long as you don't care whether they're physics related, there are careers out there that will find your background valuable. However, note that they can't just value your skills & background - they have to value them more than all the other candidates. So there are options, but they aren't necessarily easy ones.

After my masters degree I moved on to actuarial work, and then to advanced analytics. Former teachers are not rare in either area (though not exactly common). Both fields offer a chance to reduce (but not eliminate) human interaction at the individual contributor level, though that completely goes away in management. If you're curious what entry into these areas might look like, let me know.

I'm sure there are many other careers others can suggest. Best wishes in your journey.