We may often hear friends and relatives talking about their dream lifestyles and jobs. In this high tech, fast paced society, many crave for peace and tranquility in remote and less crowded areas. I have heard friends yearning to have a bed and breakfast, a small restaurant or cafe on a major interstate or intercity highway, and the most popular of all to the point of it becoming a joke among Iranians, to have a kabobi place of our own. But how many are really serious about their dreams and really want those images become reality? Today, I saw an update from an old classmate of mine in graduate school on linkedin that shocked me, inspired me, dropped my jaw in awe and respect for her, and at the same time saddened me! I have mixed feelings about this:
A PhD in Computer Science has left computer industry to own her own farm in Michigan! She says in her profile after years of being in the computer industry, I have chosen a lifestyle that is more connected to nature, is organic and sustainable, an alpaca farm! What she did does take a lot of courage: going from the comfort zone of a desk job to dealing with and relying on mother nature for a living. Her animal herd count is 7. She has an online store of handmade products for sale. I am happy she made her dream reality. I am sad for the academic and technical world to lose a PhD in her field! What percentage of people in the world get the opportunity to receive all the trainings and education she did? Who will help train the next generation of scientists and engineers if PhDs persue careers such as running a farm, a restaurant, or becoming a homemaker as another friend of mine with a PhD in computer science called it after she got married! I am sure their education helps them in different aspects of their lives, but is not their choices a huge loss for the scientific community?
I too have some dreams of my own. I hope I have the courage to pursue them. Sadly, it may be very hard for me to take that risk, though for a good reason: I like my job. My dream independent work, if becoming reality, will be very rewarding and yet very time consuming and exhausting. My dream does not involve nature or food industry. It involves human beings! And that makes it most complicated.
My learning experiences, feelings, and memories often in form of a poem or a story.
Full Moon Rising
This picture is by Stefan Seip.
2 comments:
This is not the first time I hear a highly educated person pursues a profession that has nothing to do with science or academia. There is a friend of friend who is a shepherd now and there is another one who has his own leather making workshop, a MIT prof who said goodbye to academia and opened his own organic farm... I never looked at this as a lost for a scientific community. I think in a lot of cases the scientific community was not nice enough to these people and push them away. I don't know (!) that is just my interpretation.
As for me, I wish I went to a culinary school and had my own restaurant.
Hi Daisy, thanks for your input. You are most probably right. I think the scientific and technical communities should appreciate and celebrate their expert members, or the situation would get even worse than what it is in those fields especially in the U.S. While it is great to have educated members of society in any field since they are more likely to make better and more logical decisions for themselves, their businesses, and people who depend on them, it is sad to see their knowledge and expertise may not be used up to their full potential.
Well, maybe you can pursue your dream and take classes during weekends or afternoons, and later get part time jobs in restaurants as a chef or invest in your own restaurant someday. One can do such things in retirement too ;-) we probably do not want to lose you as a professional in your own field of study.
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