My Career Path: How Did I End Up Here?
My Career Path: How Did I End Up Here?
It’s all about choices and forks in the road
It’s about making decisions with insufficient data,
yet being comfortable that you know what you are doing
(even thought you probably don’t)
Nine Critical forks (decision points) In My Career
College and Graduate School:
1. BS: bacteriology, anaerobic actinomycetes 4yrs
Draft, ROTC, Military, Scholarships
2. PhD: microbiology, streptomyces sporulation; DNA hybridization 3.5 yrs;
Nine Critical forks (decision points) In My Career
Postdoctoral training:
3. Postdoc#1: Lambda replication/recombination 2 yrs
Military Intelligence intervenes
4. Postdoc#2: Lambda recombination/recombinant DNA technology 4 yrs
Nine Critical forks (decision points) In My Career
Real Jobs
5. First job: NIH; staff scientist; R-DNA, end of Lambda, start of herpes virology 5 yrs
6. Second job: research director, Molecular Genetics Inc; biotech, virology, vaccines 3 yrs
7. Third job: research leader, DuPont; herpes genetics, vectors, neurobiology 6 yrs
8. Fourth job: senior research fellow DuPont-Merck; virology, neurobiology 2 yrs
9. Fifth job: Professor and Department chairman (6 yrs) at Princeton; herpes virology 16 yrs
Some Crucial Forks Influencing Career Path
(also known as “professional contributions”)
Taught Advanced Bacterial Genetics at Cold Spring
Harbor, summers, 5 yrs
Study Section service 7 yrs,
- Chair of Exp. Virol panel (now VirB), 2 yrs
Editor in chief, J. Virology, 8 yrs – 2 more yrs left
ASV President, 1 yr
ASV Council, 2 yrs
AAAS Board of Directors, 3 yrs
Scientific Advisory Board, Pasteur Institute, 5+ yrs
Cells and Virus Gordon Conference co-chair and
chairman, 2 yrs
Co-author: Principles of Virology – 11 yrs and counting
Talks at meetings, various biotech scientific advisory
boards, consulting for big Pharma – all the time
Some Crucial Forks Influencing Career Path
(also known as “professional contributions”)
A passion for more than research
Deciding to get out of the box
Networking and expanding horizons
What is a career? How do you make it happen?
What I’ve learned that works for me
Lesson #1
1. Try to do what you love or
what you think you care deeply about
1a. It isn’t about the money
1b. You know it when you see it;
When you are not doing what you love,
its time to move on
1c. Don’t be afraid to try new things
BUT be careful……
Lesson #1 corollary
Be careful: your passion has to be framed carefully.
Two crucial terms to frame professional passion:
Cause and Challenge
Cause: your personal alignment with a particular mission.
What is the reason you are passionate about your work?
e.g., are you passionate about the environment, medicine, science, teaching?
Why?
Challenge: your passion and enjoyment for the work itself
You love the day-to-day activities.
You say:” This is not a job; I can’t believe I get paid to do this.”
e.g. you can’t wait to see the results; you love the ups and the downs of
experiments, hypothesis-testing, grants, students, and paper/report writing.
Lesson #1 via Apple wisdom
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly
satisfied is to do what you believe is great work”
“And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
“If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking and don’t settle.”
“As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”
Steve Jobs
Lesson #2
2. Maintain constancy of purpose in your professional life as much as possible
2a. Focus on this purpose
2b. Focus doesn’t always mean doing the same little thing over and over
2c. Do things for your profession as much as possible with this purpose in
mind
2d. Don’t be afraid to try new things
Corollary to Rule #2
1. Never forget your family and friends
This career stuff is not just about you.
2. Find another passion
(e.g. fly fishing)
to clear the mind of clutter
Lesson #3
When you arrive at a fork in the road, take it. Yogi Berra
3. Follow your gut feelings when you must make a career decision
3a. BUT… DON’T OVER-ANALYZE;
most of us can’t see further than a year or so down the
road so
don’t fret!
3b. Listen to people you trust, but not too much; it’s your career
3c. Remember Lesson #1
3d. Don’t be afraid to try new things
My Career Path: How Did I End Up Here?
It’s all about choices and forks in the road.
It’s about making decisions with insufficient data.
If I played the tape again, it is highly likely that a
new path would have emerged.
That is an interesting thought!