We’re looking for guest posts on non-academic careers for ecologists

Years ago we did a series of guest posts on non-academic* careers for ecologists, operationally defined as people with graduate degrees in ecology or an allied field. We want to revive it, and already have one guest post in the works, but we want more. Are you someone with a graduate degree in ecology who now works in something other than academic ecology, or do you know someone who fits that description? You (or whoever it is you know) should write a post for us about it!

It’s easy. Just email me (jefox@ucalgary.ca) the answers to the following questions:

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Who are you, what sort of ecology did you do in grad school, and what do you do now? (aside: we can make you anonymous to readers, but I need to know who you are)
2. How did you get into your current career?
3. Tell us a bit about your current position and how you got it.
4. Did you get advice (wanted or unwanted) from others about your non-academic career path? If so, what sort of advice did you get, and how did it affect you?
5. In what ways do you find your career to be a change from academia? Are there aspects of the career that were a surprise or a “culture shock,” or that have required some adjustment on your part?
6. In what ways (if any) has your academic background helped you in your career?
7. Any regrets about not pursuing an academic career path?
8. Anything else you want to say to readers considering your career, or a non-academic career path more generally?

You don’t have to write multi-paragraph answers. Just long enough to be useful to others. As an example of the sort of thing we’re looking for, see here and here.

We’re most interested in posts from people in careers other than those we’ve already covered (see list below). The career needn’t involve ecology.

For reference, here are our previous posts on non-academic careers:

Independent science consulting (aside: one of our very best posts ever)

Government scientist

Data scientist in Silicon Valley

Non-academic research scientist

Environmental consultant

Helping graduate students pursue non-academic careers: Anne Krook’s advice

Training graduate students for non-academic careers

*Note that I didn’t say “alternative” careers. A non-academic career is merely different in some ways from an academic one, not somehow inferior or second-best or whatever.