If you had to restart your career, what would you do differently?
Ask A Biologist 1/6/25
Answers from Biologists:
More practical/job experience before graduating.
Started working towards it in high school if I’d known my passion.
Learn worker’s rights and understand my benefits sooner.
Get my undergrad done in my early twenties to open more field tech opportunities.
Speak up more for myself during grad school.
Realize making a career change is not a failure.
Go right to a 4 year degree and not do an Associate degree.
Try to build actual work/life boundaries and take better care of myself.
Not hook up with/date others in the field. It’s too small and everyone knows everyone.
Go to grad school.
Travel and take more risky jobs before I settled down.
Apply to federal positions during and right after undergrad.
Immediately quit my master’s program when my advisor became abusive.
Be open to relocating for work earlier and not waste time trying to find work where I was at.
Done more conflict mitigation or non-violent communication classes/workshops.
Not move fora partner. It worked out in the end (we got divorced) but I gave up my life for their success.
Speak up for myself when I’m burnt out.
Go to law school instead of spending 8 years in grad school only to make $50k in my 30s.
Marry someone outside of the field who makes good money.
Taken time to get seasonal work experience before jumping into grad school.
Skipped physics 2 and calc 2 and saved so much stress.
Stick up more for myself when seasonal positions ask/require way too much.
Avoid wildlife rehab. Very exploitative and few paying jobs.
Beware of pay to play internships that take advantage of young or naive students.
Realize my career is not my personality and experienced more in college.
Get involved in research in undergrad and make those connections.
Waited for a grad position with an advisor who respected their students and not abused them.
Go for a Masters over a PhD-more than enough for the vast majority of non-academic jobs.
Gone into a better paid/more secure field and then volunteered for a non-profit in my spare time.
Prioritized work life balance earlier. I gave up an art minor to do things in Biology.
Volunteer/work for professors to get experience while still in undergrad.
Taken more GIS/Stats based classes to round my skillset out.
Change my degree to make sure I had enough botany credits for federal jobs.
Apply for more funding from my university research and summer internships.
Not go into debt for my grad school degree.
Publish my manuscripts from my masters thesis before graduating university.
Try to get into undergraduate research.
Spend time learning GIS and R.
Take advantage of student/recent grad prioritized job.
Did seasonal work in school. Full time tech now, but I feel like I missed out on experience.
Get a practical degree (applied wildlife biology or restoration) over a traditional BSc.
Don’t adopt a pet. It would make traveling to seasonal positions a lot easier.
Focused on data or GIS more at least a least niche type of wildlife biology.
Not let it take over my personal life. I regret all the time I missed with family and friends.
Connect more with professors/researchers in undergrad.
Be more proactive in my grad school and or/job searching earlier on. It takes awhile.
Change bunkhouse culture. Our irresponsible behavior cost me a good friend.
Take more GIS classes. It’s the only undergraduate class I use daily.
Take time to find a good PhD advisor rather than rush into a terrible 6 year experience.
More exposure to the planning/permits side to expand opps with actual liveable salaries.
Choose a different career with higher pay. Hard raising a family with our salaries.
Feel less loyal to jobs to feel compelled to return for multiple seasons/years.
Spoken up sooner about the terrible treatment we received as techs.
Make better connections/impressions in college. Didn’t care then and it would be a big help now.
Nothing. Living my dream.
Take photography classes a lot sooner.
Take more time choosing a graduate advisor.
Learn that it’s okay to leave a toxic job. It’s not “giving up”.
