Gatherings Missed: Career Development Struggles

Last updated on July 26, 2026

This week there is a major national conference on campus, sponsored by the academic department in which I reside (in theory).

However, either I missed the announcements or didn’t understand them earlier this academic year. So, while other graduate students and instructors are meeting administrators from across the nation, I will be doing other things. I’m not sure if that’s a positive or a negative.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure about my schedule this summer, so I probably would not have volunteered to help at the conference or registered to present a paper. In fact, I did have a medical procedure last week that included minor surgery and a biopsy. I knew that summer would be busy.

On the negative side, I do realize networking and making contacts is important. The problem is that I am never comfortable in social settings. I do much better with a formal interview than trying to make a good impression in an unstructured setting. Since I am looking for a professorship next year (2010), contacts will matter.

Also, not participating in a national event that is hosted locally means I am, once again, isolated from my peers. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it does emphasize that I have never quite belonged in the department because my interests are slightly different from those of the majority. That’s okay, but it does mean I am taking my own path. I am more focused on technology and creative writing than my colleagues. It bothers me slightly to be apart, but I am also more uncomfortable when I try to fit in.

My ambitions are not the same as theirs. I don’t want to teach “writing” or composition and rhetoric. I want to study digital media and public policy. Within technical communication, I’m more interested in the technology of communication than the writing of manuals and reports. I’m awkward enough that I’ll state I’m not interested in teaching academic writing. An autistic doing what I don’t like rarely ends well.

I need to reframe and rebrand myself. Not this year. I need to learn more about how this career path works.

Learning to master the social aspects of any profession is a challenge. All organizations and professions have social aspects.

Certainly, I am responsible for missing any announcements or misunderstanding their value. I have to pay more attention to event announcements, and I should probably ask my wife or a mentor if a particular announcement is important to me.

As it is, I am sure this is a minor oversight on my part. I did attend a national conference in June and will be speaking at several other conferences before the end of this year. I’m sure my career path will be unaffected, as long as I do pursue other networking opportunities.

The lessons are: (1) pay attention to e-mail announcements, (2) try to network when possible, (3) if you miss an event, there will be others.

I’m just not good at the networking thing. I am learning to compensate with “virtual” networking.