======= Date Modified 26 Jan 2012 11:02:57 =======
Watching Masterchef where 'Quantum Physics PhD' student is competing has got me wonderering, if you were not pursuing your current pathway through a PhD what could you be doing?

Me, I might pursue a career as a boat skipper. I have a yacht masters ticket but am cursed by a wife and daughter with horses so there is no time or money to keep up sailing as a hobby. But in a parallel universe I could jack it all in and take the family out to sea....

In all seriousness, if I could have been anything I wanted, I'd have been none the wiser and would probably have still done a PhD. Chef does sound nice though. I've actually been getting into cookery programmes of late and honestly quite Master Chef. Not too sure about being a boat skipper; it can be very dangerous, so I'd recommend you read: http://www.amazon.com/Avoid-Huge-Ships-John-Trimmer/dp/0870334336/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327443402&sr=8-1

I did recently watch Warrior (deserves a review on the dusty film review thread!) and that made me want to be a cage-fighting mixed martial artist - until I reminded myself that you can't just buy muscles from Argos and it's unlikely to be all Hollywood glamour. Gigolo...hmm...Richard Gear (that now strange hippy man) was one of those...but then I'd have to buy new shoes, a suit and buy more expensive deodorant than Lynx Africa, plus my bodywork needs a bit of maintenance and a respray - too expensive. So, yup, post-grad by default.

I do love doing my PhD and teaching, but I do have these 'what if' moments as well.

Before starting my BA I was training to be a hairdresser, then my parents practically made me to go university. I'm very grateful for this as I was much better than I thought I would be and really enjoyed it, so decided to carry on! I still think about what my life would be like if I'd finished qualifying though and taken that path; I think I'd have more money but no job satisfaction whatsoever!

Another thing that I still think about sometimes is becoming a midwife, I always wanted to be a doctor when I was at school, then realised that I wasn't good enough at chemistry so thought about nursing/midwifery instead, and helped to deliver a baby during my work experience at a hospital! I seemed to fall into doing psychology though, and have stuck with it, for the time being.

My friend stated working for herself as a personal trainer around the same time I started my PhD. My back up plan was to go and join her company if I could.

Having worked in restaurants I think being a chef would be blooming awful. Roasting hot kitchen, stress, hating the customers, hating the waiting staff, unsociable hours etc.

something arty and creative as I am neither:-( or one of those people who get to mind an island for a year, all alone (not sure what hubby, four kids or dog would think of that!) but I think it sounds bliss:-x

Probably be doing the job I was doing before I started - Design Engineer. Dull isn't it? I suppose I may well have emigrated if I wan't doing this job/PhD.

Assuming I was young and single I would just leave the country and travel for a few years, working when needed as I go until I eventually settle down doing something somewhere, probably something random I can't think of now.

I think that if I had not started the PhD, if I had never gone to university even, I would be a proper housewife... That would have been my main role in society: mother and wife and housewife. Cleaning, cooking, patisserie, gardening, vacuuming, bearing children, raising children.

I think I am glad I went to uni...

I'd probably have found a chemistry job in industry. I'd probably also have tried to move countries with my boyfriend last year when he found a job abroad. It's not particularly exciting, but I really enjoyed my degree and can't imagine that I wouldn't have wanted to work as a scientist even if I hadn't gone for the PhD.

Alternatives to the PhD:

1. another PhD
2. cad monkey in an office
3. Housewife
4. Fish fry supplier
5. any low paid Mac-job with minimum responsibility
6. shepherd/ farmer/ fisherman- autonomous living in rural areas

I think seriously of 1, 3, 4 and 6 as career paths after I finish

Ooh, and by the way my sister's husband is a chef. He works insanely long hours, he carries heavy boxes, and has pain killer injections to make it for the next day. He works in a basement with no natural lighting and an average T of 40 C, and then he enters the freezer at -20 C so his internal thermostat is broken; most of the times he can't tell if he is boiling or freezing. Chef is not a good choice.