I gave a talk at the University of Florida last summer where I was reminded of how different the perspective can be for someone brought up in a first world country compared to those of us who were raised in Latin America.
The students I met that day had all developed structured career plans even though they hadn’t yet finished their education. They knew what role they ultimately wanted to attain, what path they needed to take to get there and what the next step on their journey would need to be to inch them closer to their target.
I met a graduate student, for instance, who wanted to become a full professor one day. Their plan was to teach while earning their PhD in plant research so they could gain the experience and references they would need to be a strong candidate for an assistant professor job that would eventually lead to a tenured position.
I grew up in a different culture. I could go as far as I wanted as a plant researcher in Cuba without having an intricate plan. There a job was guaranteed and the path laid out in front of me. I would earn my master’s degree then work towards a PhD as part of my job. I didn’t need to think about what I had to do to progress along the path or to gain a leadership position. All I needed to do was select the job I wanted and work at it until I retired. As far as academic positions were concerned, those came your way based on the research you’d been doing and the research you were planning to do. If you were a competent teacher, you would get the position.
In first world countries, the scenario is completely different. It’s a competitive process and nothing is guaranteed. Students need a plan and they need ambition. They must know what they want and what they need to do to get there. They feel pressure to gather experience, skills and references, and to build their professional networks before they are fully qualified. Failing to do those things could very well mean that someone else would claim their dream. It’s a striking difference between Latin American and Western cultures, and one that I needed to adapt to in order to thrive in the outside world.
