(448b) The Crazy Learning Curve of Your New Tenure-Track Job

Tenure track faculty juggle an incredible diversity of job skills, most of which need to be learned very quickly and on the go. After perfecting your research skills as a post-doc, you are expected to delegate almost all hands-on research to your team members, instead figuring out how to recruit, build, advise and manage a group. You are now in complete control of the research directions you pursue, which means you are also fully responsible of successes and failures in a new way. You have an empty lab, which needs to be set up from scratch, one stir bar at a time. You are in charge of raising funding to run this group and managing the finances, all while teaching and doing everything else that keeps your department and university running. There are so many new skills you have to cycle through each day, almost all of it brand new. It is quite a learning curve.

I will share my experiences in managing this dizzying process, and discuss the importance of being patient with yourself, keeping an open mind, being flexible, focusing on your students and their growth, and thinking about what you truly value in directing your decision-making. I will also talk about transferable skills I found valuable through my previous experiences as a post-doc, TA/instructor, and a co-founder and senior scientist of a start-up company.