Career choices? Not yet, please.

Timing is everything. Whether it's comedy, dating, or cooking; it's all about timing.

Lately, I've gotten a bit tired of the day-to-day of being a graduate student. Usually, this happens to students in near the end of their career. I'm in the middle of year 5, which is pretty near the end. What makes things worse is the not so subtle temptation of a real job. Education is my passion and the allure of a real teaching position has been overwhelming.

First, I received an email from an on-campus research group looking for a post-doc. The position involves developing a science curriculum for middle and high schools built around robotics. And not just any robotics, the LEGO Mindstorm system. Oh my gosh! Are you kidding me? A post-doc working with kids and playing with LEGOs! That's awesome. I contacted the team leader, whose parent group awarded me the outstanding graduate teaching assistant award last year. She said that they would hold the position for me, if I were interested. She said I could start as soon as this summer, then move into the post-doc position as soon as I graduated.

But, then I thought about the career to follow. Working with K-12 isn't bad, it's just not me. I'm a physicist and teaching people about the natural world through physics is what I want to do.

Enter career choice 2.

When I attended the SACS-AAPT meeting a few weeks ago, a professor at Gainesville State College asked me when I was graduating. I told him I wasn't exactly sure and yet he urged me to consider a position at GSC. This weekend, I attended another conference. This time, he asked me to consider an Adjunct (Temporary) Professorship next semester. He said I could teach as few as two days a week. The facilities at GSC are incredible for any college not just a state college. The focus is on teaching, which I love, but I have to ask myself: Do I have the time? Will I be able to work at GSC and then when I'm done at Tech, walk away? Is this making a career choice too early?

I think the answer to the last question is yes.

To make matters worse, my boss and I have laid out a plan for me to finish in the Spring of 2011. I have a date -- and it's pretty finite. So I need to start looking for position that will open in the Fall of 2011. I don't want to be unemployed when this date comes up. But, he's said that I should have no problem finding a job at a Tier 1 school. Is that true? Tier 1? That's a tall order.

Maybe I'm just afraid of leaving school. I've been in a college for almost 10 years. It's a different state of affairs when you're on the other side of the student-educator spectrum. And being a graduate student is not being on the other side, you're still a student.