I'm about nine days out from finding out whether I'm among the involuntary layoffs. But...only indirectly related to that - I've been in career counseling sessions for the past month.
Here's the deal: I love geography, and continue to love geography. But, unless you go into a career as an academic research geographer, almost any career in the field is going to be very GIS-heavy. And I've begun to wonder in recent years whether I really do want to spend my middle age and older working years jockeying to stay on top of the latest technology.
A recent skills assessment and some soul-searching has caused the field of "library science" to rise to the top. I'm in the process of conducting some "informational interviews" with people in the field and who've gone through a graduate program at the College of St. Kate's (in St. Paul), and will be attending an informational session at the end of the month.
Much more soul-searching needs to be done. If I manage to ride out this impending round of layoffs, I need to answer the following questions for myself:
on one hand:
- Am I looking a gift horse in the mouth? (I've got the best job I've ever had; albeit, in a field that makes my heart grow cold. But we can pay all the bills and slowly pay off debt, and Sharon doesn't even have to work. Plus, I'm doing work I generally enjoy, can blog & listen to NPR, and and make maps pretty much all day)
- Do I really have the motivation (and finances) to embark upon another attempt at a graduate to enter a field with God-knows-what employment prospects.
on the other hand:
- The opportunity to working in a career where a voracious interest in the accumulation of useless knowledge and a near-insane drive to catalog and file is rewarded?
- The opportunity to work in the public sector and maybe even incorporate the "programming" aspect of Sharon's old job at the nature center that I always thought I'd enjoy.
on the third hand:
- Something I can do with my background in geography that might allow me to make my escape from retail once and for all, and maybe pull me just a bit away from technology a bit. The other aspect of my searching about.
Anyway - that's what this is all about. I'm in a rather insane period of waffling and roller-coastering right now. And I set a high-bar to begin with. I'm 100% for something one moment, then fretting and losing sleep over that idea later the same night. As I said to Mixx today - and though it was in relation to something a little difference, it is tied to this same current phase of insanity - and is perhaps one of my best self-assessments ever:
I am a little boat, far out at sea, continually buffeted about by the alternating winds of motivation and malaise.
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6 comments:
I thought the elaboration of the idea was even more apt...
As I intuited the SS Minnow from his original philosophical statement and you replied...
"I constantly feel like Gilligan, the Professor, Mary Ann, and The Movie Star are battling it out in my head."
true, as well. Not sure whether either statement is necessarily that much of a surprise to anyone, but sometimes it's nice to coalesce that which is sensed but not articulated into a simple executive summary.
I've been extra-insane in recent times. I think this not-knowing-whether-I'm-about-to-get-laid-off is beginning to take its toll on me.
Understandably so.
I'm afraid I'm advice-free.
Maybe you should see yourself not as the "naughtly librarian" but more of the Overlord of the Written Word.
I can and do understand.
Deciding is the tough part.
I could see you being great at a library -
I'll be thinking of you - feel free to call
I put your post on the "the low-down" into Wordle, but I did not save it. I didn't want it locked in for the world to see. It was interesting to see the words pop from your post. If you are not familiar with this site, you can put in speeches or any text for that matter, and you can see what the most used words or important words were.
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