Oops

[morsla]

I managed to find the Honours co-ordinator today, and gave him my medical certificate for the past two weeks. I was hoping to get an extention to cover all the days that I was sick for, and then hopefully not use all of it - I have to get back to work at some stage.

No problems with the extention, except for one thing: I'd managed to misread the original due date, way back in February... so the thesis is actually due a week earlier than I'd planned! With a full two weeks extra, that's only one more week than I was planning for.

I really should read the fine print more thoroughly before I start these things...

Speaking of fine print and devious agreements, I had a long chat with my supervisor today. Words like "PhD," "scholarship applications" and "CSIRO collaboration" were bandied about. I think he was trying to hint at something, but I just can't put my finger on what that might be. I have been noticing that an awful lot of the people in all the really nice science communications jobs have their doctorates, though - and most of them have formal sci-com qualifications, too.

After (finally) getting the rejection letter I'd assumed would be coming, from Geoscience Australia, I'm starting to realise that I need something more than plain 'ole me if I want to force open those doors. I'd just love to know what to do first - seven years into the uni thing, and I'm looking at new courses around the country.

Why can't I convince myself that I'd like a fly-in-fly-out job on some remote West Australian minesite? I get emails about them from desperate hiring firms, about every day or two - there are hundreds more positions out there than this country has geologists for...

Comments

[sugar-plum-fair.livejournal.com]

A job is better than no job. At least that's what I keep telling myself when I want to kick my employers in the head.

fi/fo

[virtual-munkee.livejournal.com]

working out on a site somewhere, or as a exploration geo has its definite upsides, (ie pay, travelling to da outback) but it is a lot of hardwork and u gotta learn fast that u cant always say what ya wanna say! i guess geos all have a hard task out in the field, that is, convincing ur fellow-non-geo-workers that u arent evil or pscyho or bitchy or weird. cause they think we all are! i have had a ton of fun in the field tho, but i have made stacks of mistakes too... we are a breed apart, us geos, u can tell just from ur honours year that we arent normal science geeks! working in the field also sucks, u miss ur friends n doing normal things n stuff, but the sunsets are worth it for sure@!

umm i guess all i can say is dont be disparaged bout not getting into ga, altho i can say once u do ur doctorate they arent very keen to take u on either...! try for some geo survey jobs maybe, try ur hand in the field for summer vacation work if u arent sure bout working industry! def work short contracts if u are unsure, its less stable but at least u can toss in the towel if u arent 100%. yeah, i think trying summer vacation work would be best. after 2 months u will know whether u wanna commit...!

Re: fi/fo

[morsla.livejournal.com]

That's just it, though... there's pretty much zilch that interests me in a fi/fo job. They're so easy to get right now, but it's the last thing I feel like doing.

I know exactly where I'd fit in on a minesite - I wouldn't. Unfortunately, there are lots of places where the long-haired city kid from the leafy southeast of the country just doesn't fit in. I've even done half an arts degree... I could be run out of some towns for that alone :P

I'll be working full time at CSIRO until the middle of next year, on my current contract. No idea what happens after that - even if I stay there, I probably won't know if I have a job until the week before my contract runs out. I'd just like something that I could make some plans around.

Re: fi/fo

[virtual-munkee.livejournal.com]

ahh yeah i agree with what u've said! just remember that noone keeps a job for more than 10 years these days, i think in science u'd be lucky keeping one for more than 5 years! its good to try and plan where stuff is going to take you, but i am not one for worrying too much. with ur qualifications, and experience, u'd have no probs babe! and remember, there is always overseas...! don't walk into a phd unless u really really want it. i'm prob the last person that should be doing one... but here i am.