Whatcha doin’ this summer?

01Jul09

This question is bandied about quite liberally at Stanford, and becomes more frequently asked as the summer draws closer. Last summer, I had a quick and satisfying answer handy, which I now realize fit into a pretty common mold for answers around these parts. ” I’m [working/interning/researching/volunteering] at/in [prestigious company/academic department/tech startup/Africa].”

I unfortunately did not have such a concise answer for this summer, and I must admit seeing the annoyance/regret in people’s eyes when they realized my answer would last more than five seconds…

In any case, I promised in my last post to try to explain my rationale for my summer plans (or lack thereof), so here goes…

I realized sometime last summer that my research position greatly influenced my perceived “productivity/success/accomplishments”. I may not be articulating my thoughts perfectly, but what I basically mean is that seemingly universal desire to “get things done.” Whether my fellow bright-eyed peers will admit this or not, much work that goes on in your typical summer job/internship is tedious grunt work, plain and simple. The amazing thing (at least what I noticed in my own mindset), is that this tedious work, which would be seen as a complete waste of time in almost any other situation, becomes framed as a productive use of time simply because it takes place in the confines of a summer job/internship. While I hardly doubt the importance of internships/lab experience at getting into good graduate schools and ultimately landing a great career, this sudden shift in my (our?) evaluation of “productivity” does give me pause. This realization was one of the main reasons why I decided to pack up and go home this summer.

Between my enlightening classes and brilliant classmates at Stanford, I became convinced that there are so many more things I want/need to learn. I realized that many of these things would be best learned/experienced in my own time on my own terms, rather than under the direction of a boss, manager or professor.

So there. I hope this makes at least bit of sense. I guess I still haven’t exactly answered the question that is this post’s title, although I think you now have a better idea of what I’m not doing this summer. As for what I am doing, you’ll just have to wait and see.

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