Astronomy is what I would be doing if I had the brains for it. I major in English because I enjoy playing with all the dinky little words that swim through my head .

Don’t be too much in a hurry to make ‘real money’ in a corporation. You definitely have the qualifications for it and you’ll bring home a decent to great paycheck. That’s all you’ll be taking home. And you’ll be crying inside the whole time. Because you will want to look up into the sky and explore the greatest playground ever made. In a corporation you’ll have 2 minutes every month to talk about the intellectual love of your life. Whomever is politely listening will nod their head and tell you “Yeah, sounds cool” before handing over the stack of paper “Here are the number on the Schwimmer account you were asking for”. You may find the whole experience less than totally enjoyable.

Unlike most people who have to go through the daily grind just so they’d have enough money to pay the bills, you are doing something you actually love. You wouldn’t be you if you were prepared to give that up.

You’re living the dream right now. Don’t question your luck.

First of all I want to tell I love your podcasts. You’re doing a great job!
This post really touched my pain strings. I love astronomy, I love science. I want to share my love with others. That’s why I started my on-line sky map project few years back. Unfortunately I have to work “in industry” for living. Evenings and most of weekends are taken by my children (and I can’t say I don’t enjoy that time ether) So for my astronomy enjoyment only deep nights are left. And, of course, those happy nights turns against me hard in mornings
Fortunately (at least in this context) there’s no one to drill me down that I’m spending time and money on useless stuff
I can’t say I don’t like my day job, but it definitely would make me happier if I’d be able to combine those two things together (or even all three). Who knows, may be some day it will happen. At least I’m looking forward optimistically

I work in an office doing sales and marketing. I generally enjoy the work. There are good days and bad days but I could say that about most of my endeavors (and I do).

I have had a love of astronomy and science since I built models of the lunar lander during the Apollo missions. But life is a complicated thing. While I admire anyone who can find the focus, passion and courage to live their dream, I have found that I haven’t always had all three at the same time. More importantly, my life is bound up with others (my family) and my love of astronomy and science is only a part of my life.

I believe a challenge equal to that of living your dream, is the challenge of a blended balanced life where all of your dreams get their time in the sun (or the middle of the night for the astronomy dream).

I work hard and earn a fairly good income. I own a couple of telescopes and enjoy observing whenever I can. I have a nice home which is far enough away from the city where I’m able to get some decent skies and good seeing. I read science blogs over lunch. I’ve a total of five children who are reasonably well cared for (they’re never actually satisfied but that’s another story) and they are all in, or on their way to college. We vacation once a year and everyone is generally well-taken care of. I get a tremendous amount of joy and satisfaction from all these things. Were I to work as an astronomer, I dare say I would not be able to afford some of these.

So I try to indulge all my passions: my wife, my family, my job, my love of science, my enthusiasm for all things technical, my fondness for teaching, my belief in education, my commitment to my community, my enjoyment of magic tricks and juggling, classic rock and roll, Revolutionary War history, fine art, F-Troop reruns and more. It’s a challenge. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be a professional astronomer. I’m sure I would love it. But we all get just one life and we all do the best we can to fill it as well as we can, with the people, activities and things we love.

So I do admire every person who has found the thing (or things) they love and are doing them. But for a lot of us it’s an ongoing challenge of a balance of many things. It is not giving up everything for one thing. And that challenge is equally valid and its accomplishment equally successful. Although I work in an office, I am happy to report, my soul is not dead. It’s not even sick. I suspect those of us who are not professional astronomers or poets or botanists or marine biologists, who enjoy science, and science blogs, and are in fact doing ok, particularly when we stop and consider all the things we do have and the wonderful, chaos that life is.

Here’s one for the road taken.

The biggest carry-over is an understanding of the scientific method, which is woefully lacking in society today. The business world has been abuzz for several years over Six Sigma process improvement methodology which is nothing more than the scientific method in the work world.

So even if you just do a little bit of academic astronomy, it’s not as abstract and disconnected from business as some might think.

I now run my own startup company, I do contract work and when I feel like it, I give lectures to students about astrophysics. I live in the same town I grew up in in my own country. I develop innovative software. I am my own boss. Working in the “industry” does not mean you have to do the corporate thing.

This post really hit home for me. I graduated in Physics a while back and ended up in the tech field working IT. The money is great and all, but you’re 100% right: you would miss astronomy way too much.

I ended up doing a part-time Master’s degree in Astro to keep fresh, and have finally landed a PhD spot. I’m now staring down the biggest pay cut in my life, and I’ve never been happier.

Keep it up! Love Astronomy Cast.

In the past I have given up money to go to what I thought would be more rewarding jobs. They never panned out. Now I figure all jobs suck so I might as well get the most money.

A lot of people listen to your podcast because you are talking about something you love. Listening to you on my commute to my crappy job gives me hope that it is possible to have an enjoyable job.

As for the shoes and the paintings, I think your podcasts and star parties and interaction with students will have a much more lasting effect on the world.

You see, this is why astronomers need English majors. The sentence should read, “we are paid more than…” not “then.”

I’m a writer and actress who enjoys writing about astronomy (I’m that pesky Pluto advocate who won’t leave the astronomy community alone) and a member of an amateur astronomy club. I’ve just completed writing a play that deals with astronomy (yes, Pluto!), so I’ve found a way to incorporate all three.

And yes, you are right, there are many things more important than having money. I too would die in the corporate world if they didn’t throw me out first after about five minutes. Thanks for spreading the word that creativity is something to be valued.

The pocketbook on the other hand, well…. Perhaps a little scriptwriting & voiceover work for “Nova”? Give WGBH a call and see what happens. You have the sheepskin and street cred they’d want to see. Then we could see you in high-def!
Rich in Charlottesville

In the part of the world where I come from, there tends to be a lot of ignorance from the general public with regards to science and engineering, despite so many discoveries and inventions coming from there. I also remember vividly having to justify my choice of engineering degree to people, who had no actual idea of the applications and benefits that such a field can provide to society. In fact, I often met eye-rolling from individuals on occasion, to which I would reply, “So what do you study then?”, and would get responses like “English literature and psychology”. Not that theres anything wrong with this. I just feel that there can be a lot of misunderstanding.

You wrote: “it is hard to not decide that maybe working in industry would be good for my soul.”

No way! That would not be good for your soul. Your pocketbook maybe. But not your soul.

You are making a huge contribution to the community by what you do with Astronomy Cast. There are people out there inspired by what you do and who are considering science as a career or avocation.

There’s a lot more to life than having money. Doing what you love and inspiring others to join you is so much more enriching. That’s good for the soul.