Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Call for posts! Call for ideas and suggestions!

Nearly two years ago (and I can't believe it's been that long!) a blogger named Mad Hatter hatched the idea for this site.  Since then, we've had some great posts on a variety of topics--non-tenure track positions in academia, government positions, marketing, scientific writing and editing.  We've had discussions on career angst, offered support and personal stories, and listed job opportunites and links to resources and news.

But the well is running dry.

Our regular group of contributors has done a great job (if I do say so myself), but we have only so much knowledge and experience.  Posts here have been slanted toward our particular fields, but are light in others. And as for myself, I think I've said pretty much all I have to say on my own foray into an alternative career (at least for now!)

So I would love to hear from new voices.  I'd love to hear about areas we haven't yet delved into.  Personally, I'd love to hear from those who've used their scientific training to find careers in public policy, patent law, technology transfer, regulatory affairs and consulting.  A commenter here recently asked a questions about the field of scientific illustration.  I know nothing about that field. But I would love to learn.

So this post is a call to our readers:  we want to hear from you!  Do you have something to say? If you would like to be a guest poster or contributor, e-mail me at sneakycat@gmail.com.

Perhaps you don't have a full-length blog post in mind, but you have a tip on a new job opening or a link to a really cool science career site (no SPAM, relevant sites only)? Again,  leave a comment or e-mail at sneakycat@gmail.com.

What do you want this website to be? Ideas? Suggestions? What do you want to see here? Leave a comment or e-mail!

We look forward to hearing from you.

3 comments:

Cath@VWXYNot? said...

I agree - I think we've all reached the end of our expertise!

I did start an interview series with people who have careers outside my areas of expertise, and this is a great reminder to pick that up again. I already have an interview on tape about tech support careers that I really need to write up - it's been an embarrassingly long time. And I do kinda know someone who's in scientific illustration, but not all that well, and she came into it from the art side, not the science side.

Thanks for trying to get this blog going again! Even if new posts slow to a trickle, I think we should keep it up as people are probably still finding the older articles (I can't see the blog stats. I also can't delete spam!)

The bean-mom said...

Thanks for the comment, Cath! I look forward to hearing more from your interview series... and by the way, any idea on how one records a telephone interview? Do you just put the telephone on speaker phone and hold up the digital voice recorder?

Mad Hatter gave me administrator prvileges to this site before she retired from it... and I've just given you the same. Feel free to help me delete spam!

Kuuvik said...

Hi All!
I've only just discovered this blog and have found it very useful. I am a first phase doctoral student at Antioch in agroecology (pollinator landsacpes) I work with many farmers and extension folks and I see so much opportunity to put doctoral "smarts" to work on the ground. Food systems, community economies and alternative economies really mesh with what we do in my program. I am very excited to hear of other ways a doctoral student can find connections and inspiration "in the field" not necessarily in the classroom/academia. Thanks for a great blog!