Intellectually stimulating jobs

[Anonymous]

What are really intellectually stimulating careers? I find my job (corporate paralegal) to be okay, but I wish I was more engaged with my work.

[Anonymous]

Academia. It's really pure cognitive labor. Publish or perish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Academia. It's really pure cognitive labor. Publish or perish.

+1 - academic scientist here. Seriously - not in it for the money or the work/life balance. Love the intellectual stimulation but it it comes with serious lifestyle costs - I'm entirely content but have seen many decide it's not worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Academia. It's really pure cognitive labor. Publish or perish.

+1 - academic scientist here. Seriously - not in it for the money or the work/life balance. Love the intellectual stimulation but it it comes with serious lifestyle costs - I'm entirely content but have seen many decide it's not worth it.

+1

[Anonymous]

Multilateral organizations

[Anonymous]

Former / recovering academic here.

I work for an NPO that does research, grantmaking, advocacy, community convening, etc. in a human services field.

I find it incredibly intellectually stimulating (with none of the administrative tedium that I experienced in academia).

When I’m on a project, I get to learn all about something new, talk with really smart people about it, and create something to benefit other people. I’m on 3-4 projects at a time that run anywhere from 2 weeks-6 mos., and manage a couple large ongoing projects.

I feel incredibly lucky because I applied for 3 or 4 jobs with this org. before I got my position. From the inside, I now see I would have been a terrible fit for those roles. My boss has a knack for really recognizing and working to people’s strengths.

[Anonymous]

Night shift toll booth attendant,and read books while working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Academia. It's really pure cognitive labor. Publish or perish.

+1 - academic scientist here. Seriously - not in it for the money or the work/life balance. Love the intellectual stimulation but it it comes with serious lifestyle costs - I'm entirely content but have seen many decide it's not worth it.

I am a research scientist and I agree it comes with financial sacrifice, though I make a decent enough salary. My spouse left bench research for an administrative job and I often think I should do the same but it sounds so boring compared to what I currently do.

[Anonymous]

I'm a government researcher (PhD), and it's very intellectually challenging. Even research administration is in some ways like drinking from a firehose, with the volume of different kinds of things you can learn and direct. The work-life balance and pay are great from my perspective; I wouldn't touch academia with a ten foot pole.

[Anonymous]

I find my job intellectually stimulating. I'm at a science-based non-profit that often works in a consulting capacity. The work is hardly ever the same, we're constantly trying to figure out new issues (e.g. climate change adaptation), and as I've moved through different positions there's been lots to learn along the way related to business management and strategic planning.

I think a lot of think tanks and/or consulting jobs would be similar.

[Anonymous]

I used to be a reporter and found it very intellectually stimulating. I told people I got to be professionally curious for a living.

Sadly the job market is super unstable, which is stimulating in a much more unpleasant sort of way. I now find myself in a more boring, more stable field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to be a reporter and found it very intellectually stimulating. I told people I got to be professionally curious for a living.

Sadly the job market is super unstable, which is stimulating in a much more unpleasant sort of way. I now find myself in a more boring, more stable field.

I was just going to say this. I moved recently from a not very stable newspaper job to writing content for a nonprofit. It's not quite as interesting since it's a niche area, but I think still intellectually stimulating in a more narrow way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to be a reporter and found it very intellectually stimulating. I told people I got to be professionally curious for a living.

Sadly the job market is super unstable, which is stimulating in a much more unpleasant sort of way. I now find myself in a more boring, more stable field.

Me too. I used to be a reporter and loved my job. Now I move to corporate communications, and it is not that challenging. A well trained monkey could do the job, but it it pays much better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to be a reporter and found it very intellectually stimulating. I told people I got to be professionally curious for a living.

Sadly the job market is super unstable, which is stimulating in a much more unpleasant sort of way. I now find myself in a more boring, more stable field.

I was just going to say this. I moved recently from a not very stable newspaper job to writing content for a nonprofit. It's not quite as interesting since it's a niche area, but I think still intellectually stimulating in a more narrow way.

This is PP - and I actually moved to nonprofit writing, too. My job has its intellectually stimulating moments but overall is (honestly) pretty dull. Great hours, great org, fantastic cause, and hopefully stable job, though. Picking up some new skills, as well, which is always good (I hear!).

But yeah - being a reporter was super intellectually stimulating. It's hard to imagine a better job if you like going out and learning about things, talking to people about the things they are passionate about, then figuring out how to talk about those things in ways that other people will find engaging. I wrote mostly features, and I just loved that job so freaking much.

[Anonymous]

Also a reporter here _ very intellectually stimulating, worst part in my book is lack of work_life balance. News breaks and you have to clear your schedule be it your kids bday, Christmas Eve or 11 pm on Tuesday.

Curious what two.recovering reporter PPs are making now as I am very seriously thinking about leaving journalism