After defending my thesis mid-July and graduating, I didn’t want to touch that damn document for a long time. I needed a mental break from anything related to grad school and decided to focus full-time on finding a job.
You can see that’s gone well.
What I should’ve been doing with my free time, at least some of it, is cutting down my thesis into a manuscript to submit to a journal for publication. I’ve already written it, I might as well get some credit for it and allow the world, or at least those interested in wayfinding research, a chance to read it. Throughout the months, working on this was always on the back of my mind, but I could never motivate myself enough to actually open up my thesis on my computer and look at it again. I didn’t want to be reminded of the torment I went through to write it and defend it. Having an MIA laptop didn’t help things either.
But finally having my other publication released last week has reminded me once again that I really should do this.
I helped write up my first-year GA project that I helped my advisor with for a journal publication. Since it wasn’t my own research idea, I was credited as a second author, which I still thought was really cool. Pretty much I would write a section, and she’d e-mail it back with ‘track-changes’ red all over it. It was a fun process not unlike writing my thesis shortly afterward.
The article was accepted for publication in January. This was soon enough that I was able to cite myself in my own thesis and in presentations about my thesis work, which I was super excited to do. Also, in some twisted way, it kinda fulfilled my childhood career goal of being an author (although children’s chapter books and scientific journal articles are absolutely, completely different forms of writing). It took 11 months for the article to be officially published, which I’ve been told is actually on the faster side, but I’m officially in print.
Having a first-author publication, which is what my thesis would be, would be even better.
If I decide to go to school again, this should help my chances for sure. Yet, I’m not sure if that’s what I want to do at this point. Currently, I’m not sure what help another publication would be in the job search. It looks impressive, but maybe not specifically impressive enough to employers. I’ve been asked about this in some interviews, and it should show that I can write, but it hasn’t been enough so far at least.
Nevertheless, it shouldn’t take too much effort to do this. I might as well, right? Even if it’s only for my own personal benefit.
A Master of Nothing Employable 
Basically the way I see any opportunity at this point in my unemployment is that there isn’t any considering. Just do it and do it as big as you can. A publication with your name, even if its not first author, is fantastic. Kudos! If nothing else this is a great “one-upper” at a dinner party or something. 😉
Yeah I am going to do it. It really is just getting motivation to get started that’s the toughest part. I’m sure once I get back in the swing of things, it will be awesome.
It seems like you are making problems your self by wanting to clear up this concern rather than looking at why their can be a dilemma in the first place