Posted on 04/04/2006 9:58:28 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
My husband jokes that I should have been an electrician. In this age of outsourcing and job insecurity, the trades seem to us to be the best professions of the future. To be sure, most aren't glamorous and are often physically demanding. But a number seem to have financial security and stability, and their job portability doesn't hurt, either. Many of us white-collar employees don't get to choose where we will live; we must go wherever our employer requires us. Many folks in the trades can command a good income, choose their own hours, and put down roots in a community and stay as long as they choose. I wish I had this luxury.
Both my husband and I are Ph.D. chemists. I'd once wanted to be an opera singer. I come from a long line of writers and musicians, but I had the (mis)fortune of being good at science. In college, the thinking was that the sciences (and an advanced degree) would guarantee me some sense of employment security. Pursuing opera would subject me to the unemployment line, I thought, at least until my career took off. I could sing on the side, but by making medicines that make people well, I could make a meaningful difference in the world.
I could never have predicted the difficulties that I'd face. I followed my husband from Virginia (where we went to graduate school) to Maine, where my husband found a job, and then to Oregon, where we live now. In Maine, I was out of work for almost a year. I went to four temp agencies before I found one that would place me. I was turned away from administrative-level positions because I didn't have "admin experience." I worked retail and part-time jobs. Eventually, I learned to leave my Ph.D. off my resume, which helped me land my first serious job. It didn't pay well, but at least it was serious.
When we moved to Oregon, where my husband had accepted another job, and I found myself interviewing again. I worked for a biotech company, handling their patents and licenses, but this company didn't care about my expensive chemistry degree. I now work at an advertising agency where I (Shhh!) barely earn above minimum wage. The agency ran an ad for the assistant position I now hold and received 60 applications the next day.
It just doesn't seem right. I was valedictorian of my high-school class of 600, summa cum laude from my university, and graduated with distinction from graduate school. And none of this seems to have made the least bit of difference in helping me to build a career. At age 30, I feel grateful to have a job at all, because there are few in my part of Oregon.
My situation is hardly unique. My husband and I know plenty of people with advanced degrees (Ph.D., MS, J.D., and MBA) who have had this problem. In many cases, it's the "two-body problem," where both spouses hold advanced degrees. For some, it's because they choose to live in smaller cities, where opportunity is limited. But often it seems as if the job market isn't able to absorb all the advanced-degree holders at the pace colleges and universities are churning them out. Where are all these people going to work?
I am planning to go back to school this fall. Another doctorate. I have decided to make use of my Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry and become a pharmacist. I still dream of being able to make my own destiny, to carve my own path. A person of some intelligence who worked hard and had the right attitude used to be able to do that. Right now, my Ph.D. and $3.65 gets me a Cinnamon Dolce Latte at Starbucks, and not much more.
My dad often used to say, "Life does not reward us for efforts expended." I have learned the hard way that there are no guarantees in life, and that you can have all the determination in the world, and sometimes the opportunities just aren't there.
In this new world order, where jobs of every stripe are outsourced, and job security or opportunity can be a scarce commodity, one could do a lot worse than to be a electrician.
maybe you can read this, and then tell me I'm crazy again.
I know former co-workers of mine (not PhDs) - working at Lowes. One guy went into homebuilding.
and the free traders come on and say "oh, just retrain". sure, retrain a tech PhD to be a roofer or a plumber.
Any job where you have to use your hands and get dirty someone will always want to pay you to do it instead of them.
Well, it does...if you expend your effort in a direction for which there is demand. A PhD in medicinal chemistry sounds like a fairly narrow specialization which leaves one at the whim of market forces. An PhD (or even an MS) in computer science or mathematics and a few years of developing derivative software algorithms for an investment firm in New York would have paid off much better, for someone with her brainpower.
Do something you enjoy, and the pay does not matter...
Trying to "keep up with the Jones" does folks in...
It doesn't pay much, but at least she'll be able to buy her Cinnamon Dolce Latte at Starbucks with her own money.
If my brother can get into construction work as fast as he did, surely a PhD can do it.
I hold an M.S. in Electrical Engineering and have a good job, but to have it severely limits where I can live, unless I want a long commute. And then there are downsizings out of the blue to be concerned about. There are times I wish I had been an electrician, or a pharmacist, or a CPA, something that I can do and live where I want.
I doubt that I will recommend this career to my children.
(Before I get flamed by Captain Obvious, let me stipulate that yes, these were my decisions. Nobody forced me to do them. I'm the idiot that signed up for the trip. That having been said, I might do it differently if I had it to do over again. )
What's wrong with being a roofer or a plumber? There's apparently a much greater demand for their services than there are for certain PhD's.
My son has a PhD and is a Director of Technology, BUT he is also a carpenter and a mason.
The more advanced your knowledge, obviously there are fewer places to employ it. It sounds like this lady is letting her husband pick his market, and if it's different than medicinal chemistry, she has been limited even more. They need to work as a team to figure out what cities can employ both of their degrees if they want to use them.
there is nothing wrong with those jobs.
but you don't tell someone who has gone to college for 8 years to get a PhD - to retrain to be a plumber mid-life, because the government allowed Indian H1Bs into the US to scoop up the jobs.
Okay. You're crazy again (still?).
PHD = Piled Higher (and) Deeper.
In a more serious vein, this woman and her husband are over-educated for the average corporate job as a chemist. Most PHDs obtain their higher degree in the expectation that they will become college professors. As a pharmacist, the woman will be employable almost anywhere, and no longer be limited by her husband's job locale. I have a BS in Engineering and have been fully employed or worse (60 to 70 hours a week for the last 15 years) since graduating from college.
And based on the incompetency of some of the tradesmen I have encountered, there is plenty of room for the skilled blue-collar worker to succeed. Here on Kauai, electricians make $50 per hour and carpenters $35 per hour.
Same story for me. I did well in HS, finished 3rd in my class. When I told my teachers I was going to tech school, they had a fit. I now work as an electronic tech, can afford to have my wife stay home and mother the kids, and make a decent coin. I did go back to school on my company's dime and got my 4 year degree in Economics. Nice to have, but it hasn't really advanced me in the world.
Very few of the people I know that have college degrees actually work in the field they majored in (myself included). Entrepreneurship is the key to financial and mobility freedom.
I am planning to go back to school this fall. Another doctorate.
Question: If the first PH.D. is not working out for you, is it really wise to attempt a second?
Also, if it is really that difficult to find a well paying job, should one spend $3.60 on something that can be made at home for 10 cents?
1) Nobody's stopping her from becoming an electrician.
2) What does she expect, living in Oregon?
3) Having a Ph.D. in a research field won't do much good if you aren't a whiz at research.
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