Mid-life octopus crisis!

Dresden220

Hatchling
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Joined
May 28, 2019
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4
Location
Lubbock, TX
Tired of living in the desert & being a slave to the system. Ready to chase my lifelong dream of living in the Pacific Northwest and working with octopuses. Advice?
 
Seattle Aquarium is your destination! Believe we have some contacts... let's see if anyone jumps in here, otherwise PM me in a week or so if serious and I'll see if we can make a connection.
 
Thank you so much. I'm stuck in Texas for another year, maybe two. I'd like to spend that time preparing for a job as an aquarist or something of that nature and making connections in the field and the area in which I hope to land.
 
cool! you've got some time then :smile: -- @sedna may have some contacts when you're ready, and I can go into some email archives when the time comes. @Dresden220, you should study the Puget Sound area and see all that Seattle and its aquarium has to offer. Keep us posted and good luck!
 
cool! you've got some time then :smile: -- @sedna may have some contacts when you're ready, and I can go into some email archives when the time comes. @Dresden220, you should study the Puget Sound area and see all that Seattle and its aquarium has to offer. Keep us posted and good luck!
I'm already starting to feel much better about making such a big move. Thank you for that. My good friend lives in Port Orchard so my daughter and I are planning to visit her early next year. Maybe by then we will have made some connections.
 
Would be great for some aquaria folks to weigh in (@sedna?)... but I'm sure there are roles. In our Education & Employment forum, one of our staff just posted about a career-launching research opportunity in Portugal... so why not!
 
"Is it even possible for a person like me with a college education in sociology, psychology, and ADRS to obtain a position with hands-on access to octopuses?"

Possible, better odds after some volunteering experience. Part-time aquarist positions are unlikely to pay more than a few bucks above min wage. Joining AZA would help as well.

Going for Edu Department positions would likely leverage your degrees better and might pay better based on those degrees. Once in, sooner or later they will ask you to develop an edu program; yours, of course, would be on octopuses. . .
 
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Moving to the area and doing what you already do might be a good first step; you would be halfway there. Once there you can start to make connections. Aquariums do hire from their volunteer base. There are very active SCUBA clubs in the area.
 
What do you want out of 'working with octopuses'? If you are looking for a career and money to live on this is probably not a great direction to go. Academia is hard, Public Aquariums often end up being a slave to the system kind of job once the shine has worn off, so I would be with James on this one. If you love octopus and want to be around them in a more professional setting, I would see about volunteering with them at a public aquarium or keeping them at home. This isn't to say that working at a PA doesn't offer some great experiences and knowledge, but the move across the country and start a new career part makes me nervous. If you really want that job in a PA, volunteering at a PA before you move is a good way to go...then you can also talk to the aquarists and get a good idea about the realities of work life at their facility.
:biggrin2:
 

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