Recently, I have come across several articles, such as this one, describing non-linear career paths as “the future of work” and the key to career fulfilment. Well I do hope they have a point, as I have often viewed my own career as not exactly linear, with mixed feelings about that.
On paper, my CV looks fairly logical: MA, PhD, postdocs. But to maintain that clarity, I usually leave out a few things: volunteering for an NGO in Slovenia, working for an environmental startup in Hungary, editing a copywriting project aimed at competing with WikiHow (I know a bunch of random things from this job, but none are particularly useful for academia), and part-time university admin work. In my Master’s and early PhD years, I was never sure whether to follow the academic path or try something else—so I explored, and at times, failed. Sometimes I wish I had been a standard dedicated and dissertation-centered PhD student from the Piled Higher and Deeper memes instead.
What about all these theories I could have read about or all these papers I could have written instead of drafting environmental campaigns or compiling lists of alumni donations?
Perhaps it’s time to admit that I just don’t like straight roads. Sometimes, I wish I did — it would probably be easier to progress in one single chosen direction. At other times, I value the diversity of experiences I was exposed to in the early stages of my academic career. Even negative ones, though they still stir up sad memories, ultimately taught me what I value and what I want to avoid.
This path has not been particularly straight so far, but this is the unique one I am creating. Anyone with field experience in the Arctic knows the value of direct routes. But that feeling of freedom and openness when making your own way through deep snow, or kick-sledging across a frozen lake — that matters too, doesn’t it?
Anna Niia Varfolomeeva 
Leave a comment