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Rogue at Work: Embracing the Alt-Ac Path

Remarkably few doctoral program graduates obtain the tenure-track university posts to which most aspire. I often envied the Ph.D. computer scientists working at tech companies or in “fintech,” jobs that valued research abilities. I considered working full-time for issue campaigns or moderate political operations.

I envied those outside academia because they had more job security, higher salaries, and better work-life balances than what I had managed at colleges and universities. Since earning the doctorate in May 2010, I have worked for five institutions. That’s too much job-hopping and, to be blunt, a steadily decreasing paycheck in fixed dollars, not even adjusting for inflation.

For too many of us, teaching in higher education is a year-to-year contract. It’s juggling adjunct appointments. It’s taking overload schedules because you might need the extra income later. Eventually, you realize security is out of reach and the workload pieced together is unhealthy.

There are too many doctorates chasing too few jobs. Colleges and universities exploit this workforce. Not all of our tenure-track colleagues remember (or experienced) the struggle to survive. It became apparent I needed a career: steady work and income doing something I studied to do.

I regret I stubbornly clung to the idea all I could possibly do was teach, even if that meant teaching courses I did not enjoy. Teaching what you like is amazing. There is nothing like sharing your passion with others.

My passion for the rhetoric of design has not faded, nor has my interest in research. Surely a doctorate in Rhetoric, Scientific, and Technical Communication with special interests in UI/UX and behavioral economics would qualify for an alternative-to-academic career (Alt-Ac) path out of higher education.

August 9, 2024, was my final day as an instructor at Texas A&M University. The university is considered one of the best in Texas, and I was honored to teach there, but I was underpaid (even with course overloads) and unhealthy — a combination that left me unhappy. I commuted up to three hours (114-130 miles) each way three days a week to be a lecturer. I taught the courses that were available in hopes of someday, maybe, teaching in one of my areas of expertise and interest.

If my disposition differed, if I could have kept quiet and stuck with it, the university and English Department would have permitted me to remain a lecturer at A&M for another four years. I might have earned a promotion after my fifth year to “senior lecturer.” Teaching the same three or four courses each school year was unappealing. My ambition was to teach media production and media strategy. I did not want to teach traditional English courses.

When I was an undergraduate majoring in journalism and English, my plan was to teach high school journalism and media production. That was my career plan and one to which I kept returning. Even this summer, I applied for middle school, high school, and university media production posts. I was a finalist for a university post in journalism and mass communications. Had I been offered such a post, I would have remained in education.

In 2017, I completed a Master of Fine Arts in Film and Digital Media. I did so because my doctorate was misunderstood, so the MFA was an effort to clarify my interests in design and media, not academic writing.

Despite the MFA, I kept landing in English Composition and Business (aka “Workplace” or “Professional” Writing courses — far from my areas of interest and scholarship. Even the technical communication courses to which I was assigned were far from the technology of communicating. I appreciate academic writing, but if our primary goal is to foster critical thinking and logical argumentation, I wonder if other media might better reach our students. The stilted, artificial language of student (and faculty) papers is satirized easily. The style persuades few (if any) readers outside academia. The technical communications courses largely ignored how organizations deliver information today: videos and online help systems.

When I surveyed my students, not one — not a single one — had submitted a cover letter or traditional resume to secure an internship or employment. Job applications are online, where databases filter and screen applicants using keywords and artificial intelligence. When asking students how they learned new tasks, most of them pointed to YouTube and Wikipedia. To enhance the relevance of my course sections, I brought media production into my classes as best I could. Over the years, my students created board games, LEGO kits, interactive fiction (IF), websites, ebooks, short films, and audio content.

I have exited higher education for a job in local government.

Now I drive less than two miles. I use my MFA daily, creating content with a great team. We analyze data and develop media strategies to inform people about public policy. Yes, I am engaging with the rhetorical nature of economics.

I look forward to work. It’s not like a job. It’s a team of creative artists who also happen to enjoy data-informed communication. The best part is that I’m learning about filmmaking and photography again. I get to play with cool gear. I share what I know in return.

I do not miss six hours on the road for four hours (approximately) of teaching (in four different rooms), trying to adhere to an outdated curriculum and a writing style that should be evolving. But, had I landed a job teaching media production courses, I’d be teaching until someone dragged me away. Those jobs are in decline and undervalued.

A few academic projects remain on my to-do list. I have one paper and one book chapter nearing publication in late 2024 or early 2025. Those publications mean that I have a perfect submission record for conferences and publications. I intend to continue attending conferences and submitting works for publication.

Now that I am on the Alt-Ac path, my position allows me to use my degrees. I am transitioning full-time to digital marketing strategy and analytics. My duties include explaining economic issues to the public; I continue researching and writing on the economics of rhetoric and the rhetoric of economics. (There will be surveys and focus groups!)

In academia, I didn’t teach in my areas of interest, and publishing wasn’t advancing my career. In my first few weeks on this new path, I’ve been able to take photos, design websites, and analyze data.

Leaving academia allows me to be a visual and digital media rhetorician. Reaching the broadest possible audiences has always involved sounds and pictures. I recognize that letterforms are visual and texts are auditory experiences, but that’s exactly the sort of academic argument that people ignore. When seeking to educate and persuade, pictures are worth thousands of words. Audio triggers responses that differ from reading. When pictures and sound are put together, the effectiveness of a message increases exponentially.

Being paid to analyze data to determine the effectiveness of media campaigns, which I also help design? This was what I dreamed academia might be. People wonder why I track issue data, polling, focus groups, and Q Scores. I love data, especially probabilistic mapping of behavior and choices. Sometimes, I don’t even care about the underlying area. For example, I helped a student analyze why first-round draft picks are overpaid by the NFL and by how much versus third-round picks. Data are fascinating.

Chasing the dream of a tenure-track academic post did a lot of damage to my mind and body. Now, I do what I enjoy without a three-hour commute, and there’s even the potential for advancement. I’m content with the choice and wish we educated graduate students better on the realities of the job market. No shame in not becoming a professor, especially since so few get to follow that path.

There was no “back to school” for me… and I am relieved.