So I am still working my way through various transition plans trying to forge the correct mix of all for myself. I’ve managed to figure out quite a bit over the past ten weeks, and while some of the answers are still slightly broad (since I haven’t quite fine tuned the positions and/or companies), I have a better idea of what I should be working towards.

I’ve managed to answer one of my “why” questions—why am I still in science, and why do I want to potentially stay in research. I’ve also managed to use it to help me figure out that if I stay in biomedical—that is where I may switch to data analysis (or maybe go in the direction of scientific/medical writing), but at the same time I could switch to the agricultural industry or cosmetic research sector & stay within research by helping to improve crop production (or maybe even biofuel production), or cosmetic products. I also need to remember how my Clifton Strength Assessment went and that I’m more of an inward working person (thinking & executing) than people facing person; out of my top fifteen traits only three are in the relating clade. My top five traits are: learner, intellection, input, achiever, and deliberative. These are also things that I need to take into account when choosing what type of professional lifestyle I want to live.

Then when I turn to thinking about the professional lifestyle that I would prefer to have, it includes some time in the lab doing research. I realize that going into industry will actually decrease the amount of time in the lab (based on a forty hour week), as there will be meetings that will have to be attended as well. I also know that at times science isn’t a nine to five job (experiments can run late, especially if they follow a meeting that might have started a little late), so I know that hours might have to be flexible. I’m fine with that, because I know that I should be getting paid well enough to compensate for the extra hours (and maybe an occasional weekend). In terms of traveling, I’d prefer to only have to do it less than say ten percent of the time (so mainly going to conferences and local symposiums). While I want to travel—I want to travel for enjoyment and not the job (or at least not one where I’d be in potential meetings all day). I can probably do data analysis, though sitting in front of a computer for eight hours doesn’t sound like a lot of fun—I know that there would probably be meetings throughout the week to break up the monotony of staring at a computer screen. I also know that I need to try to start reading more articles (and I think I might have to schedule it into my day in order to make sure that I actually do it).

So with these thoughts in mind, I’ve decided on the following prospective positions (though the list will probably change as I start to go more in-depth research on each one and the companies within different industry sectors):

(1) R&D scientist

(2) Health Economist and Outcome Research

(3) Market Research Analyst

(4) Marking Communications Specialist

(5) Clinical Data Manager

(6) Scientific/Medical Writing

(7) Quantitative Analyst

So other than #1 (and that depends on the industry sector I go into), the others are all slightly outside my comfort zone. They are all interesting to me (though two of the bottom [5 &6] could have a little more travel than I’d want—but that could be something that can be worked with).

If I go a little slow (mainly to keep the anxiety in check), I will probably get quite a few lists made of things to work on for each position (including ideas for better networking on linkedin). I’ve realized over the past two weeks, that I have been letting my anxiety and stress hold me back this month in terms of trying to really move forward on the transition plan. Now that I have ideas of the types of positions, I need to look into different large cities (or biotech hubs) and see what companies are in those locations. While I am willing to relocate outside of Oklahoma—I do have a certain criteria that I’m going to be looking for in terms of places I’m willing to move. Once I know that a city has a large enough variation in companies—then I will start really researching the companies.

So I have made some strides in what I’m wanting to do—the list hasn’t changed that much since I first made it back in September—I’ve figure most of them (other than R&D scientist) can be considered a data analyst position of some type.