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Resources for mid-career philosophers: should the Cocoon (officially) expand its scope?

In our newest "how can we help you?" thread a reader asks:

This site has been very helpful for graduate students and junior faculty. And it's been around long enough that many of us are now tenured.

What are good resources for that middle career range? There are more and different administrative expectations, more and different politics to navigate, and fewer questions about CVs, job applications, and how to get publications. There are also questions about research trajectories, how to mentor junior faculty, how to think about career trajectories, when and whether to pursue promotion to full, etc.

These aren't great questions for this blog unless its scope is expanded. Maybe it's time to do so? (Or have an occasional series on these questions? I imagine early-career folks might appreciate some insight into what's coming, as long as it doesn't overtake the entire blog.)

Good questions! The Cocoon has discussed mid-career issues (such as tenure) at many points, but officially remains a forum focused on early-career issues. Personally, I'd be open to expanding the Cocoon's scope and changing the blog's mission and subtitle to "a safe-and-supportive forum for philosophers." I doubt much would change, and I'd always make a point of focusing on early-career issues. It might also serve early-career philosophers to see mid-to-late career issues discussed, as well. 

What do readers think?

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9 responses to “Resources for mid-career philosophers: should the Cocoon (officially) expand its scope?”

  1. Lance

    I think blogs should grow with their readers. Makes sense to me to expand its scope.

    Reply
  2. Faculty, Jr.

    I am in the early-career range, and I wanted to confirm what OP says here: I would appreciate insight about what is coming, in the middle-career range!

    Reply
  3. Trevor Hedberg

    I think the focus on early-career issues, given that the people at that career stage are the most vulnerable and most in need, should remain. But I think that can be done while also expanding the scope to include more discussion of mid-career issues.

    Reply
  4. anon

    Would love to see this expansion in scope. There’s lots of mentoring at the junior level, but then it stops.

    Reply
  5. sahpa

    I like that this place is for early-career people in particular (one wonders why there could not just be another site – The Philosophers’ Range or something). However, it seems also that early-career people would benefit from seeing mid-career issues discussed out in the open if for no other reason than it may give them a more complete picture of the career path they have set out upon – which would help them make a more informed decision about whether they really want to stay the course at all 🙂
    In my case, for example, one thing that weighed heavily in my decision to leave academia was learning that there is virtually no mid-career (post-tenure) job market, so if you land somewhere you do not want to be, you either have to stay on the job market while on the tenure-track (immediately after achieving blessed release from it!) or just accept that your entire career will be, e.g., far from family, in a climate you don’t like, or whatever. That inflexibility – that trap – turned out to matter to me a lot!

    Reply
  6. Assistant Professor

    Regardless of whether the official scope of the blog expands, I find I learn a lot about mid-career and beyond from the comments people who are more established in their careers tend to make on this site in response to early career questions.

    Reply
  7. Al

    yes PLEASE! I have had a number of questions come up lately that I found myself wishing I could get advice on, but been unsure where to turn. You already obviously have a lot of mid-career readers… maybe there could be a way to tag/filter posts for those who don’t want the content, but I can’t see how it could really hurt?

    Reply
  8. Current PhD Student

    If the site does expand, I’d really like it if mid-career advice were clearly demarcated somehow, so I wouldn’t need to filter what’s relevant. (I find picking out what’s relevant in various ways from even the limited number of people and sites I follow on the internet time consuming, so it’s nice that this isn’t just a general philosophy advice site.)

    Reply
  9. elisa freschi

    I agree with @anon that there is no mentoring available for mid-career people. I think that a separate website would be too much to ask (and many topics are interesting for all groups), but perhaps a sub-heading “Mid-Career struggles” could help with the concern worded by @Current PhD Student?

    Reply

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