I took a short break from the end of the term gradingpalooza the other day to take a brief walk around campus for some fresh air and a mental reprieve. My mind wandered, as it often does on walks, this time mulling over my career trajectory: the different decision points and opportunities, the times I said yes and the times I said no, thinking through the patterns of each.
Now, career thoughts didn’t just materialize out of the blue. Part of my plan for my upcoming sabbatical is to take some time and space to think carefully about what I want the next phase of my career to look like. So I’ve primed my mind to wander in that general direction, although I didn’t set out on my walk to think career-y thoughts.
On this particular day, my wandering mind focused on the opportunities I intentionally sought out, and the opportunities that sought me out. Which of my career moves were intentional, and which were serendipitous? Was there a pattern? Is there some sort of calculus I subconsciously employ when making career decisions? Do I rely too much on serendipity, and does that mean I am not as brave as I could or should be when making career moves?
Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish intentional moves from serendipitous moves. Post-PhD, I knew I wanted a position in an industrial research lab, ideally outside of the midwest. (Nothing against the midwest! I just wanted a change of scenery.) The chance to do a post-doc in an industrial research lab came about somewhat serendipitously in the process of job searching on the west coast, which probably means there was some element of intentionality that heightened my attention to non-traditional opportunities like that.
Some moves were definitely intentional. When it came time for my academic job search, I knew that I didn’t want to end up at an R1 and that I wanted a teaching-focused institution that also valued research — so I pursued mostly SLACs.
Interestingly, most of my leadership roles have happened serendipitously. The STEM Director role came open just as I’d started the HERS Institute leadership program. Being active in the NCWIT Academic Alliance (now Higher Ed Alliance) led to invitations to serve in leadership roles on committees. And after a few years of making it onto various ballots for big service committees on campus, I finally was elected to the tenure and promotion committee. (I just finished my 3-year term on that.)
But even in these serendipitous circumstances, there’s an element of intentionality that set the table for them to occur. I made it onto those ballots because I’ve been open about my willingness and eagerness to contribute to the direction of the college in a meaningful and structured way. I was invited to serve on various NCWIT committees because I’d stepped up to volunteer and show up in small and informal ways previously. I’ve formed relationships with colleagues that have fostered interesting discussions and mutual curiosity, because I enjoy hearing and sharing ideas, and no doubt that’s resulted in opportunities and asks.
Serendipity has served me well thus far for sure. But part of me wonders if I rely too much on serendipity. Do I default to waiting for opportunities to seek me out, rather than more directly shaping my own path? Do I want to more directly shape my own path, or do I want to see where serendipity takes me? I’m not sure, and that’s why I’m looking forward to the time and space of sabbatical to help me figure that out. Maybe I will decide that I prefer to be surprised by what comes along, rather than directly seeking out particular opportunities. Or maybe I’ll determine that I want to steer my boat rather than drift along with the current. Or perhaps I’ll split the difference, paddling for a while with frequent rests to drift and observe what’s around me.
Has your career path been more directed and intentional, or serendipitous?
This is what a computer scientist looks like 
Henry Walker once described his approach to scholarship and service as “opportunistic,” and I’m much the same. I can’t imagine ever having a five-year plan. Writing a sabbatical proposal for a year from now is hard enough – especially since I know that in the end it will have been a total fiction. That said, I think we all have in common that we have our own “North star” – some direction, enough of a sense of our own values that we can make good decisions about what serendipitous opportunities merit saying “yes” to. I’ve sometimes wondered if I should plan more intentionally, but this approach feels genuine to me, and I’m happy with it.
The challenge I am facing now is how to stop doing things that I previously said “yes” to, not because I don’t want to do them but because my attention is becoming too divided.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ooh, yes, serendipity / opportunity operate more effectively with a strong set of values and direction in place — that’s a great point!
Part of me is also wondering if this desire to be more intentional has anything to do with knowing I’m in the latter part of my career. Maybe when I was younger and had more years in the profession ahead of me, I was more willing to let things play out. But now that I’m thinking I have 15-ish years left, part of me thinks I should not leave things so much up to chance and “squander” that finite time. Maybe that’s a whole separate blog post!
Good luck with your fiction writing….er, sabbatical proposal writing! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person