I’ve talked to some people in the audience about writing a book and I’ve got a bit of time now to focus on it. I’m considering going the route of self-publishing through Amazon/Apple for an eBook and maybe doing some limited print runs instead of going the traditional publishing route.
did a great overview of his own self-publishing journey with The Pathless Path. I’ve got a co-writer who I’ll keep quiet for now since this person may decide to drop out and/or may just want privacy.The primary goal of writing this book is to provide a resource to every scientist and maybe some engineers who are either in school, fresh out of school, in their first science/engineering job, or trying to figure out what they should do next in the later parts of their journey. I’d want this resource to be as comprehensive as possible for the modern age and how using artificial intelligence will influence future.
I’d want this resource to be readily available and relatively easy to access. I’m not the only indie voice writing about science careers. Chemjobber is maybe the OG in the space and there are others like
’s The Aliquot. Vega and ’s definitive guide to Pharma and Biotech layoffs is a great example of a resource that is just available and written by people well versed in Pharma and Biotech (that’s not me necessarily).The Audience
I suspect the audience who might want to read this type of book is also large. Getting an estimate of how many people graduate with a chemistry degree is challenging. For the numbers below I used ChatGPT who is citing C&EN, Chemistry World, and American Chemical Society who cite data from IPEDS:
34,860 undergraduate degrees awarded in chemistry, biochemistry, and chemical engineering (2021-2022)
4778 masters degrees in chemistry, biochemistry, and chemical engineering (2021-2022)
2000-3000 PhDs in chemistry and biochemistry are awarded roughly every year (starting in 2014 going to 2023).
Overall, this means the total addressable audience for a definitive modern work about a career in science grows roughly by 30,000 people in the United States each year and of those 30,000 about 7,000 get higher degrees.
The Current Literature
A quick search on Amazon for science focused career books yields a not so great result:
Alternative Careers in Science, Leaving the Ivory Tower - Maybe one of the earliest reliable books about “alt careers” back when it was assumed a scientist would stay in Academia and a scientist appeared to be defined by those who obtained a PhD. This book, while potentially very good for it’s time is dated and things have changed significantly since its publication.
The Perfect Science Career - I generally dislike the title because there is no perfect career in my view. We change as we get older and our “careers” in my opinion should exist to serve our current needs. This books is more focused on getting “the job” and coaching you to get there. Getting that first job is often a huge challenge, but it’s the first in a life of challenges.
Next Gen PhD - I’m actually reading this right now myself with the hope that I’ll answer my own problem of deciding what I should do next. I’ll reserve my judgement until I’m finished, but based on the reviews I have high hopes. My only issue is that it’s geared towards PhD holders which is a relatively small population compared to all of the scientists without. A PhD helps get you in some doors, but it can also exclude you from others.
My opinion here is that there is plenty of space for more information. I’m not a career coach or a professional author, but in essence I’m trying to solve for some of my own problems and after 5 years of writing this newsletter I know those same problems exist for others in the audience.
The Churn
The churn is when the rules of the game change—when the system tears itself down and reorganizes itself into something new. Scientists and engineers like you and me, we end up without a job and on the hunt again. Our desire to find fulfillment in our work, while noble, might not really matter if that work disappears. The churn doesn’t really care about who you are, if you have the right skills, the right attitude, or know the right people. When the rules of the game change you need to figure out which way is up and leave the past behind.
I got to experience a teeny tiny piece of the churn back in February of 2025 when I got fired from the FDA, went on the record with the New York Times, and then got rehired. It wasn’t a huge surprise to me, but it was a stressful and eye opening experience. I got lucky that I was able to go back to FDA, but in the back of my mind I’m waiting for that dreaded 9:30 PM email telling me I’m fired again.
Our system of educating scientists and engineers has been good at producing capable scientists and engineers. Our system has historically done a decent job to enable students to gain entry into the working world. This means opportunities for doing research, internships, externships, relevant coursework, and at the end of it all you get a certification that you are a scientist or an engineer.
Hopefully, you have a good grasp of the fundamentals or “first principles” as the tech guys and VCs like to say on podcasts. First principles can help orient you in the churn and figure out which way is up or sideways. Knowing a bit about what is going on in those directions might help you figure out where you should go next and that’s what I want to do here.
Examples of The Churn
There are a few things churning right now as I write this for the newsletter that are significant in their impact to scientists and engineers in the United States. The following are happening concurrently:
Funding cuts at traditional granting institutions like the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, United States Department of Agriculture, etc.
Tariffs are injecting uncertaintanity into global supply chains and making it difficult to plan where and how to manufacture goods.
Artificial Intelligence is making inroads across all organizations and will be used as a tool to enhance productivity of the existing workforce and provide cost savings to shareholders.
If you are a young person trying to get your first job you are probably struggling. If you are experienced and also looking for a job I suspect you are also struggling. If it’s not Artificial Intelligence then it’s COVID-19 or the Great Financial Crisis or the Dot Com bubble bursting. If I know one thing for certain is that there will be another event that causes churn and it will not be your fault.
The Good News
An education that is built on science and engineering with a bit of the liberal arts means that you can probably do anything you want given enough time, energy and effort. This means you can probably do research, communicate results, potentially build something new either physically or virtually and in general add a lot of value to society.
Most people who consider themselves scientists are going to be working in what is known as “the industry,” or generally not academia. If science is the discovery of the fundamental laws that govern the universe then industry is the application of those laws to benefit humans, maybe not all humans, but generally aimed at our benefit. Industry is where the money is and therefore this is where jobs and careers are built.
The biggest misconception that I had as a scientist was that the only career worth having was one based in research and developing something new. The more time I spent in industry the more I realized there was a much bigger world out there.
My (our?) goal here is to explore that world and bring it to you—the reader who is either a seasoned scientist who sits in the back of a conference room and says, “I tried that 20 years ago and it didn’t work” or that an idealistic young person who wants to make the world a better place and cannot wait to start.
The world is yours.
Tony, with 2 kids in college I am painfully aware of how hard it is for someone coming out of school to get their first job. The 4.3% unemployment does not reflect the pain of the new graduates / new scientists. Economic uncertainties make things worse, since industry stops to figure out what is going on, so no hiring new people. The there is AI...eventually we will figure out that we do not need less people, but we can do a lot more things, create more value and need more people properly trained...but for now, the "cost reduction is the only path people" will win and there will be less demand for those coming out of school or having less experience.
Fertile ground for your book.
I’ve loved your writing and it has opened my eyes to this whole field.
This might be outside of the scope to your book but a guide that could show a way for non-chemistry grads to enter the space may capture the zeitgeist and be a future buyer of your book.
I think a lot of grads don’t feel competence/confidence to apply for jobs outside their degree. This pigeonholing fails them and I’m sure there are many who can find a great career in areas they dismissed as a student.