Every so often, I have a chance to talk to early career scholars who took positions at non-research schools.
Their perspective is interesting - bc often they took their positions bc they wanted to be
(a) near to family or a location,
(b) less stressed,
(c) focused on pedagogy,
(d) focused on out-of-the-box research or
(e) any combination of a to d.
Listening to these early career scholars, I often hear much joy in their current job - 9 times out of 10 - they made the right call in picking their career path.
However, in those conversations, I also detect a bit of wistfulness but also a lot of curiosity about what is going on in the broader field.
When I do, I encourage them to think about reconnecting with the field.
What do I mean by that?
I mean that it is easy, when not pushed by uni requirements, to become very local in what you think about, to focus on your day-to-day academic life, and to forget the broader discipline that you belong to.
If you go too long without keeping up with your discipline, you lose track of:
(1) research methods,
(2) emerging themes in the literature,
(3) who is playing editorial roles,
(4) trends in data sources/requirements, and
(5) expectations about reporting.
I like to think of it as being oriented on the past (internal combustion engines) when the future (electric vehicles) has arrived.
While we are still using old-school engines, the future looks electric.
To update skills, you need to reconnect - which means taking part in the broader community by attending conferences & workshops, reading the journals in your field, and reading journals in adjacent fields.
So why do it?
Participating in conferences and serving as a reviewer helps you
(1) knowledge source - see what is coming long before publication
(2) opportunity detection - helps you make friends with forward-looking scholars, who often will help you thnk about your work
(3) find potential colleagues - recruiting doesn't start when you have a job to fill - it starts years before at doc consortium and conferences
(4) career advancement - helps you learn trends in teaching and research, which in turn helps you earn a promotion when the time is right.
And most important.
5. Friendships - all of us need friends away from our institutions (https://lnkd.in/eSra_Weh) reconnecting with the field makes that possible.
Ultimately, it pays to stay connected to your field or to reconnect if you have let relationships lapse.
If you've been away for a while, don't worry, people will welcome you - it's never too late to build a network in academia.
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