Life outside Academia

[floatyboats]

I am looking for some discussion/advice about life outside of academia. I left 5 years ago because for my health, and I now never intend to go back. Life is good, I have a solid job in IT and a fulfilling life. However I just feel this emptiness in me I cannot quiet. Academia was who I was until I was 30, every I worked any my time in grad school were all leading towards an academic career.

I still read, I still write. But I really miss the sense of community, of being able to share ideas and learn from each other and the support of general intellectual inquisitiveness. You don't get that in the 'real world'. I have tried joining book clubs, or attending lectures, but frankly it's not remotely at the level of intensity that I had as a graduate student or research assistant. Of being able to relate to people about my passions and interests, instead of feeling incredibly alienated because they aren't about football, condos, cars, etc.

I am still in touch with friends from my experience, but they are dispersed, but boy it's awesome to hang out with people who 'get' me of an intellectual level. I have other friends and hobbies, but there is nothing as fundamental or fulfilling as being able to talk about ideas and arguments like we did as students, that is not something I get with non-academic folks.

Is anyone else ever dealt with this? What would you suggest to do? I cannot attend reading groups or lectures because of my 9-6 work hours. I also cannot afford to take classes, as you can imagine they are about $6000 a pop. It is very frustrating, and I have ignored this for years, but it's really eating away at me on the inside. I have applied to do volunteer teaching, etc., and tried to socialize with academics/students, but frankly I keep getting rejected for not being an active student/academic for that kind of stuff.

No, going back to school is no an option. (This is always the first thing anyone says to me when I mention this stuff.) I am hoping to complete my PhD in retirement, but that is 30 years away.

Thank you.

[ciao_yall]

I am looking for some discussion/advice about life outside of academia. I left 5 years ago because for my health, and I now never intend to go back. Life is good, I have a solid job in IT and a fulfilling life. However I just feel this emptiness in me I cannot quiet. Academia was who I was until I was 30, every I worked any my time in grad school were all leading towards an academic career.

I still read, I still write. But I really miss the sense of community, of being able to share ideas and learn from each other and the support of general intellectual inquisitiveness. You don't get that in the 'real world'. I have tried joining book clubs, or attending lectures, but frankly it's not remotely at the level of intensity that I had as a graduate student or research assistant. Of being able to relate to people about my passions and interests, instead of feeling incredibly alienated because they aren't about football, condos, cars, etc.

I am still in touch with friends from my experience, but they are dispersed, but boy it's awesome to hang out with people who 'get' me of an intellectual level. I have other friends and hobbies, but there is nothing as fundamental or fulfilling as being able to talk about ideas and arguments like we did as students, that is not something I get with non-academic folks.

Is anyone else ever dealt with this? What would you suggest to do? I cannot attend reading groups or lectures because of my 9-6 work hours. I also cannot afford to take classes, as you can imagine they are about $6000 a pop. It is very frustrating, and I have ignored this for years, but it's really eating away at me on the inside. I have applied to do volunteer teaching, etc., and tried to socialize with academics/students, but frankly I keep getting rejected for not being an active student/academic for that kind of stuff.

No, going back to school is no an option. (This is always the first thing anyone says to me when I mention this stuff.) I am hoping to complete my PhD in retirement, but that is 30 years away.

Thank you.

Could you teach an intro class at your local community college? Most of the time just a Master's degree is required. Pay is okay and the students can drive you nuts but we love them anyway.

[pedanticromantic]

Maybe just going to conferences for "vacations" will tide you over? There's no reason you can't find a conference in a place you'd like to visit and use some vacation time to attend a conference and meet people and get excited over the ideas being presented. A change is as good as a rest, as they say, so why not use some vacation time to spark your brain instead of turn off and lay in the sun (or whatever you do on vacation).
Also no reason why you can't have an online intellectual life with people as well. I know it's not the same, but then working in academia is not what you think it is either!  The further you get up the chain the more time you spend in administrivia and grant writing rather than engaging in intellectual discussion.

[simpleSimon]

As you have now experienced, there is nothing like the life of the mind; very few of us signed on to academic life for the money.  I received my doctorate from a school in Boston.  As much as I hated living through those winters my intellectual curiosity there was very satisfied.  Of course the degree program was stimulating, but whether you were walking on Massachusetts Ave, drinking in pub, or jogging along the Charles River, the intellectual life there was like no other.  It seemed as if almost everyone was a student, alumni, or faculty member and could hold their own in virtually any conversation.  Random lectures and seminars from the literati happened all the time; the opportunity to take or audit courses at area schools through a consortium was limitless as were access to virtually all the university libraries.  The Boston public library was nothing to sneeze at either!  You do not mention your city, but if you are in a major urban area, you have access to museums and the like.  Make a special effort to see opportunity rather than roadblocks.  Most people do, in fact, work 9-5 but they still manage to find and join book clubs, attend lectures, or take an occasional course at a local school be it a community college or a university--if it is important to them.  At the end of the day, you have to make peace with your choices; you made to choice to leave academia.  That choice has consequences.

[reener06]

If it helps, I got that feeling much more in graduate school than I get as a professor. My students sometimes provide it during some seminar classes, but I don't get to teach those much. My colleagues and I don't engage in intellectual discussions; rather, faculty meetings are mundane and boring affairs about student needs or emotional labor. I get it when I do research but I'm not having engaging discussions often over email or FB about big ideas. I mostly get it at conferences, although that tends to be short-lived and hyper for 3 days. I like conferences, I like seeing colleagues, and I do get inspired by what they are doing, but that's about twice a year and then it's back to this.

Which is to say, if you had an academic job it might not provide what you are looking for.

[downer]

I teach at 3 places and of those, 2 provide no sense of community and 1 provides only a very slight one. If you read these fora, you will see that even people with tt jobs don't have a sense of community. (E.g. "I never see my colleagues.") So unless you have access to hanging out at a very friendly and active department, I would not recommend trying to teach as a way of gaining a sense of community.

If you live near a big university, maybe you could go to talks by visiting speakers. Generally the list of visiting speakers is made public. That can be a way to get to know people.

I'd suggest that the most promising approach is to get involved in a scholarly group devoted to studying topics you are interested in. Often they welcome people who are not in academic life if they can get a benefit from it -- are you willing to help with running the group? If you in IT, you might be able to help them a lot. Go to a conference once or twice a year and meet up with the people from the group.

[Cheerful]

If it helps, I got that feeling much more in graduate school than I get as a professor.
...
Which is to say, if you had an academic job it might not provide what you are looking for.

If you live near a big university, maybe you could go to talks by visiting speakers. Generally the list of visiting speakers is made public. That can be a way to get to know people.

Yes.  Floatyboats has an inflated view of life in academia.  The wonder and energy of grad school and pre-tenure years -- with countless "analytical" discussions about abstract matters wanes over time for many academics, for many reasons.

[floatyboats]

I'd suggest that the most promising approach is to get involved in a scholarly group devoted to studying topics you are interested in. Often they welcome people who are not in academic life if they can get a benefit from it -- are you willing to help with running the group? If you in IT, you might be able to help them a lot. Go to a conference once or twice a year and meet up with the people from the group.

I have been trying to figure this out, but can't really find much in the way of scholarly groups that are say, graduate level rigorous. I used to find a decent community on Reddit and other message boards, but they have all collapsed the past year or so, mostly due to popularity.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'scholarly group' could you be more specific?

[floatyboats]

Could you teach an intro class at your local community college? Most of the time just a Master's degree is required. Pay is okay and the students can drive you nuts but we love them anyway.
[/quote]

No, I cannot. I live in Boston, the market is flooded. That is why I looked at volunteer teaching opportunities, but again, there is to much supply and they only want active graduate students for those positions.

[floatyboats]

I live in Boston. The city is rapidly changing, and it is not intellectual like it once was, sadly. I do attended libraries, talks, on occasion, but it is very difficult because all the events are during workday hours.

[Wahoo Redux]

I think the OP has worked in academia and knows what it is like, so I don't see an "inflated" view of the lifestyle.  I too had several "good jobs" after my undergraduate degree which left me all but insane and definitely empty.  Academia is not the fraught wonderland of Good Will Hunting with gigantic wood-paneled offices and geniuses rescued from blue collar criminality (I have a meeting in a half hour and I am dreading it soooo much!) but my brain and life are so much more actively engaged than ever in the 9 to 5 world that I totally relate.

Floatyboats, I know very little about IT scholarship and research (not even sure if those are the right words), but is there some project you could work on somehow?  Are there people in your sub-discipline who are working on things outside their work environments that you could communicate with about things that interest you?  Could you be the next Bill Gates?

Don't know if that is helpful.  Just a thought.