Transition Q & A: Daniel Mullin

By Jennifer Polk - From PhD to Life. What did you hope for in terms of employment as you completed your PhD?
As I was working on my PhD, I still had hopes of becoming a tenured professor. I did quite a bit of adjunct teaching during my PhD and thought that if I was lucky, and got my foot in the door, I would get a tenure track job eventually. Of course, that didn’t happen. Instead, I learned that most adjuncts never make it to the tenure track and they work for very little money. Once I realized that the odds of landing a tenure track job were low, and that adjunct teaching couldn’t support me financially, I started to think seriously about non-academic employment. I actually started blogging on this subject before I officially finished my PhD. By the time I had the degree in hand, I was well on my way down another career path. Ironically, I haven’t taught since I earned my PhD. More...