Recently I switched from a role as an R&D scientist (with some management responsibility) to a pure management role in a non-R&D department. It was a good opportunity ($ and experience wise), and is intended to be a temporary (2-3 yr) stretch assignment.
However...
Now only a few months into this new role, I’m honestly starting to find myself bored with my daily work of managing direction, people, and larger projects. There’s plenty of work to do, and on the whole I’m getting some things out of this role that I wanted (including the info that pure management likely isn’t for me long term!), so I’m not looking to pull the plug or beg for my old job back at this point.
But I am wondering- does anyone have any ideas for either hobbies or side hustles I could pick up that might help fill what I’m missing? I’m thinking this might be a valuable pre-FIRE exercise, in addition to helping me out in the short term.
What I love about science work (but don’t get to do much of now):
- pulling together multiple pieces of technical data and drawing conclusions- the puzzle solving aspect is the biggie for me (NMR + MS + IR = x)
- documenting my findings in a clear/concise way- making charts and graphs, annotating well, describing results as clearly as possible, putting together polished presentations or reports
Learning something like coding, data science, or info graphic creation sounds moderately interesting to me, but I don’t know much about any of these as a potential hobby or side hustle, or where I’d even start. I’d love if there was such a thing as a freelance science data interpretation.
I’m sure there are options I haven’t even considered. Doesn’t have to be monetizable, but the long term potential for monetization would be a plus. Any recommendations?
Not interested in:
- teaching/tutoring