Possibilities on The Other Side
I get a lot of questions from folks considering leaving academia about what work will be like on The Other Side. The crux of what they seem to be asking is: “Will I continue to be independent? Will I have agency?”
When I was contemplating leaving, these were some of my biggest fears too.
Academia was actually the second stage of my career. I had worked as an independent artist and creative entrepreneur before turning to academia, so I had an inkling that my skills and contributions from that part of my life would likely be of use. But my sovereignty as a creative and a thinker was important to me, and imagining what work might be like on the outside left me worried that I would be constrained by the 9-5 life.
For some perspective, I was burning out in academia.
You’ve likely heard it before:
- Very mixed past academic work experiences that were peppered with great colleagues, a good deal of meaningful research and teaching, and some truly exploitive and demoralizing experiences fueled by gaslighting that overtook the good stuff
- Unsustainable and fluctuating income and employment (by the time I left I had landed a contract, part-time non-tenure track role, that I bolstered with additional research and writing contracts – these contracts followed a pandemic-induced 18-month period of unemployment after a dismaying postdoc)
- And a professional future which looked even more bleak given the state of higher education at the time (which is now, in 2025, looking even worse), despite accolades, accomplishments, and very hard work over most of my professional career.
I won’t dwell on the decision-making other than to say that, practically speaking, I knew I had to leave.
Yes, it felt existential – cue Billie Eilish “What was I made for?”
Once I was resolved, I had to find my path out. I reflected not just on what I could do and where I could go, but what work would look like and what that would mean for my life. In academia, I was used to having a fair amount of agency in terms of how I structured my days, my comings and goings, how I formulated my research and designed my teaching. Wouldn’t a “regular job” be confining? I’d just be doing someone else’s bidding, wouldn’t I? Wouldn’t it be… boring?
Now that I’m on The Other Side, I’ve found that the answer is “kinda,” but also “not really.” I also now reflect that academia wasn’t nearly as independent as I perceived.
Teaching/work schedules, funding body priorities, institutional values/priorities, organizational expectations about in-person or hybrid work, the particular contract shaping your role – these and more affect the kind of agency you as an individual worker have in your workplace. This is true in academia as much as it is outside.
At the time of writing this post, I have been working for my current employer for approximately 17 months – my provincial government in Canada. In my role, I have both some agency and also some limitations (as to be expected).
Sure, I work approximately 9-5, but I’ll emphasize the word “approximately.” I have the flexibility to start a little later or earlier depending on what’s going on in my life. As long as I’m putting in the time, attending all my meetings, available when my manager needs me, and getting the work done, my manager generally doesn’t hover. My employer requires that I be in the office three days a week, but I can choose which days I’m in or not. Plus, when my laptop shuts at the end of the day, I don’t touch it until morning.
Of course, not all workplaces on the outside are like this, but this has been my experience so far.
Is the work deeply meaningful and fulfilling all the time? Nope. Is it sometimes meaningful, do I work with excellent colleagues, have a steady income, and feel like I’m contributing to something decent in a way that is sustainable for my life? Very much so.
All of this to say, I am finding my way.
My current full-time job has offered me an important step to a more sustainable life. It’s opened up space in different ways: I worked with a therapist to help me process my grief and career transition, I’ve picked up hobbies, I workout 5 days a week, I have started a newsletter which is fueled by my program of research and teaching, specifically about building creative and humanity-centred lives and workplaces, and I’ve started to take on some writing and thought leadership strategy clients.
To return to my colleagues’ initial query, “Will I have agency?” My answer is Yes.