Something that has me not sleeping nights...

[pat]

With the war, and the hurricanes, the federal budget is well and truly screwed. Even by Republican, never-seen-a-deficit-we-didn't-like standards.

The breadwinner in my family is a career employee with a federal agency that is often seen by a big chunk of the public as frivolous or trivial. (I am not going to get into the intrinsic value of research or exploration, and the economic and social value of the technology developed as a result, because those people don't think about that either.)

A big problem with being one of a handful of people working in an area is that if your funding source goes away you're in trouble. There aren't a lot of people out there doing equivalent research who aren't also funded by NASA -- maybe the Canadians. (Hey, moving to Canada would have some advantages....)

I wonder if remote automated drilling would be of interest to the oil & gas industry. Of course, good project management skills are transferable a lot of places....

Comments

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

I understand. It might have to be a big sideways step, in that case. But I trust there will always be jobs that do make a difference. (I think I might be somewhat like him; in particular I took on my current job regarding the teaching component as a necessary chore (and nerve-wracked about how I'd actually do at it) and it is now the major part that keeps me going, because I can see that I am making a difference to specific individuals in a very direct way. Also that the difference I am making increases their chance of making a difference themselves. This has now become a very long parenthesis so I'll stop now.)