5 years time.....

[gumbo]

I think a lot of people who are in their 30's wanting to move advisory or consultantcy positions now should be encouraged to do so as they will have a lot of good field experience. However, I think there is some sort of interesting graph to be drawn where by the longer some people stay in the field, the less interested they are in advisory/consultancy roles, perhaps largely becasue they can see what an equal load of cock it all is and its far more fun to at least dig up some cool stuff if you can get by with what you are earning.

In 5 years time perhaps we will be getting over this as a profession, but perhaps also that wont necessarily be a good thing for the archaeological sites of the UK as people will be encouraged/forced to go into consultancy/advice/managment earlier.

Another thing I have been thinking about for the 5 years theme is the amount of frustrated people setting themselves up as freelance. If there are less 'big digs' where collective working is paramount, might more and more people just set up on their own after a relatively short 'apprentiship' with an organisation? This is a definite trend, and what do people think about think about the pos's and cons of freelance vs organisations, and where should one be picking up the 'crucial experience' can you be self-taught? I think the profession will have to confront these questions at some point