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| Even at 16, I was focused on space! |
It has been over a
month since my last catch-up blog entry. What a crazy month it has
been! I started my new position at Northern Sky Research, which I'll
write about later because it's awesome. Moving, selling a house, and
buying a house have been enormously time-consuming. I am pleased to
report that our Florida home is on the market and we're in contract
to move into our new home north of Columbus, Ohio in a month. In the
meantime, we're living in a hotel room. All of us. My husband, our
crawling-and-cruising baby, three cats, a dog, and fish. Life is an
adventure.
Recently, there was
a trending Twitter hashtag (with variants): #firstsevenjobs. I've
always found people's journeys fascinating. I had to really think
about my life, where I started and how far I've come, in order to
write my first seven jobs progression. It's difficult to remember
life as a 16-year-old just starting out making minimum wage. A high
school student with dreams, plans, and potential! It seemed that each
job represented another step in my journey, another chapter in my
life.
It was just as
interesting to read others' journeys, posted in fewer than 140
characters. Some posters, early in their careers, shine potential and
hope. Others, later in their careers, embody calm satisfaction with
where they are. Surprisingly, some successful careers took fewer than
7 jobs to achieve, especially military careers. Great for them! Some
successful careers were preceded by so many lower-level jobs that 7
wasn't enough to paint a picture of success. But they got there. Or
they will.
The diversity of
paths is what fascinates me the most. Everyone's first seven jobs
were completely different and mostly unpredictable. We do a
disservice to kids by implying they must choose their careers young
and not diverge from their (or someone else's) chosen path. No one's
path is straight and plan-able. But we all end up going somewhere.
From an early age, I
fell in love with space and decided that what I wanted to dedicate
myself to. But that's not a job title nor a job path. I had to feel
my way through it. In high school, I felt lost, not knowing how to
get there or who to ask. Authority figures were supportive but just
as unknowing. We all knew college was a good place to start!
Even before college,
I had a first job: babysitter. Based on my high school circle, I
would have thought babysitting was a common first job. This doesn't
seem to be the case based on what others tweeted. I had brief side
gigs selling things and tutoring, but for the most part, I watched
other people's kids. I babysat under-the-table, then obtained my
first official job at age 16 in childcare at the local YMCA making
minimum wage.
I'm grateful to the
professors and administration at my undergraduate university
emphasizing the importance of internships and career-relevant
experience. The summer after my freshman year of college, I sought my
first astronomy internship. I had no idea how to get one. With cold calling, I obtained a volunteering astronomy research position while
also obtaining my second official job: selling shoes in a mall
department store for minimum wage plus commission. I was terrible at
it. Thankfully, my volunteer position ended up being paid, leading to
job #3 and my first career-related job at age 19: astronomy research
assistant.
I'm so very grateful
to the professors who gave me a chance. Many people's third jobs
aren't positions related to their intended career. This position led
to every other step and success in my career. Without this starting
point, I wouldn't be where I am today. From them, I learned about
scientific research, programming, data analysis, and technical
writing. I was officially a scientist-in-training.
I returned to that
job for a second summer, but not before beginning job #4: student
newspaper editor-in-chief. I've held numerous volunteer position,
including some career-related, that I don't consider to be official
jobs. After a year of voluntarily serving as news editor, I
was paid (minimally) to lead the student newspaper for two years. It
was a time-consuming, thankless job, but I learned quite a bit about
communication, language, marketing, and layout. And I was "banned from NASA for life" - ha!
I
landed my first NASA internship at Marshall Space Flight Center
during the summer after my junior year. Job #5 had a similar title as
job #3: astrophysics research associate. I spent a second summer with
that same position before transitioning from intern to graduate
research assistant, job #8.
But not before taking on job #6: grader for a freshman physics class.
During that summer between
undergraduate and graduate school, I also helped run the internship
program as an assistant operations manager, job #7. The summer ended
and grad school began.
From
high school babysitter to astrophysics graduate student in seven jobs
and six years. That's a long way! In the following decade, I've
become a chemical engineer, a planetary science graduate research
assistant, a space industry analyst, a scientific research analyst
for International Space Station payloads, a regional operations
manager for a space start-up, a high school tutor, and an independent
space analyst and scientist.
By
my count, I'm up to jobs #15 and #16 (simultaneously). And I provide
full-time childcare for my infant, but I'm not paid for that. Sixteen
paid positions, and I'm still early/mid career! Insert millennial
joke here.
Each
person's path is unique. Very rarely is it straight and predictable.
Very rarely do first (or second or third) jobs indicate someone's
career path or potential.
From the start I had a goal – space – but not everyone does. And
that's okay. We keep on trying, keep on going, keep on reaching and
exploring. I'm looking forward to seeing where my journey takes me.
How's
your career journey going?
