[gavinlit]

There's been a few threads on this but thought I'd stick my own up anyway. When I left school & went to uni I did so thinking that it'd be good to do something to help society. I was always quite good at maths & by my second year at uni started to like the subject, rather than just respect it and practice it. Did a few degrees, taught maths for a few years in high school & then fell into a job working with prospective maths teachers for a university.

I've worked for a very flexible tertiary institution for the past 5 years, which has allowed me to explore quite a few opportunities in the field & meant that I've been almost continuously learning new things. I work within a team environment but am geographically quite some distance from the main institution - meaning I pretty much run the local show. This has quite a bit of freedom and responsibility attached. The financial aspect is rewarding but at it's still govt service I'll never be lining up for a new porsche. I've had a taste of undergraduate and postgrad teaching on campus and at this point in my life it dosn't quite feel right.

Now, to this point my career has pretty much progressed at a faster rate than I ever thought possible due to a combination of previous work, timing and good fortune. I consider myself very lucky but now find myself saying.. now what. For the past year I've worked part time for the fire brigade and have enjoyed that role quite a bit. It's not a job where I find myself thinking now what.

This leaves me with a fairly big decision to make. Pursue the fire brigade thing full time - which is a huge change in direction and a substantial cut in money (back to the bottom of the scale), or find a new direction in my current field. Either way it's time for a change. Money is not crucial, given that either path is likely to be govt service rather than private enterprise.

So has anyone pursued their part time work or hobby at the expense of their professional career?