When I didn’t land a faculty job, I tapped into my artistic side to reinvent my career

I wondered if I needed a new career plan after three years in my job. I had applied for more than two dozen faculty jobs. I didn't feel surprised. In the middle of the financial crisis, when many universities had instituted hiring freezes and faculty openings were scarce, I applied for a faculty position. I could have spent another year or two waiting for the financial storm to pass so I could build up my CV. We were eager to close the gap even though my future husband lived all over the country. A long dormant dream of becoming an artist started to stir as I needed a plan B.

When I decided to pursue chemistry as an undergrad, I put the idea of going to art school back on the table. I took drawing and painting classes at night in order to keep up my interest in art. My family was bursting with mathematicians, computer programmers, and engineers who pursued music and literature in their spare time, so it had felt natural to have my daily life centered around science.

The change began after an office mate excitedly showed me proof for a review article. The journal's scientific illustrator did a great job with her sketches. I thought it would be a great job.

I enjoy being able to combine my artistic and scientific side.

• Mary O’Reilly
• the Broad Institute

I volunteered to create illustrations for my institute's newsletters to see if I could find a new career path. I read scientific papers and thought about how to show the results. It was a fun task and I used my scientific training to complete it. I felt like I was on the right track. I don't know if I could make a full time career work.

I searched online and found people who did that kind of work. Many had training through master's degree programs. I decided to get a certificate in digital design because I didn't have enough money saved up for tuition after living on graduate student and post graduate salaries for years.

It was exciting to find a career that drew on my diverse skill set and would allow me to work from anywhere my partner needed me to. I felt a sense of loss as I let go of my dream of becoming a faculty member, and I worried that I would let down the people who had invested time and resources in me. It helped me to remember that my career path was still in science. I was using my love for art and science together. I was convinced that my background was a crucial part of the niche I was carving out for myself because of some key early projects.

I taught chemistry at the university where we lived as I launched my career. It was difficult to get my business off the ground because of the income. I spent a lot of my money on trying to drum up business. Word of mouth and online searches were the best places to find new projects for me. As my list of clients grew, so did the referrals. I stopped teaching after my business grew large.

I work as a visual designer at a research institute where I help researchers communicate their work visually. I like that I can combine my artistic side with my scientific side to contribute to the dissemination of knowledge. I wouldn't change anything about the stops I made along the way, even though I can't recommend my path to this career.