First thing: I begin to type out this post, and "Mad World" by Gary Jules starts playing on the radio. Cosmic coincidences can kiss my ass. :P
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I must say that as the old bear in the room reading the posts of 3 extremely smart furs at the same point in their lives, it has given me reason to pause (paws?) and contemplate that point in my life. What was I thinking about my career back in 2000? I was still at the point when I could have gone down a few paths. I could have bounced around different regions learning the subtleties different river systems, I could stay in one place and become the expert in that particular basin, or I could try to climb the ladder and go for a management position in Denver or Washington. I tried for the first strategy but it was largely dependent on who was hiring. I found out that openings were few and far between. I could have gone the management route, but then I found out how mind-numbingly boring it was. The system doesn't allow you to be both scientist and manager. There are some in the agency that do pure research, but they are the folks like you with PhDs. So by default I have become the local expert. It's kind of cool thing when someone asks me a question and I rattle off an answer which I think is clear and simple because I have been doing it for so long, but the person's eyes glaze over due to the complexity. Have there been any major regrets over the past 15 years? Nah. Not really. Everything comes and goes. You ride one wave and then anticipate the next. Look out for new opportunities. Don't force yourself into something you don't want. When things stop being fun, let them go.
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Your last line is why I stay in academia. I could make a lot more elsewhere, but that'd risk losing a lot of the fun and freedom. ^^
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