Hi all. This is kind of a vent, but I (25) was wondering if you guys have any advice. I wanted to go into academia, and had a pretty good shot at it; I landed a full ride and stipend for a competitive grad program right out of undergrad, and did well there. But academia has some problems with power imbalance, and unfortunately, I was not allowed to graduate due to my advisor wanting to keep me working with him indefinitely, despite the objections of the rest of the department and my program director. The result is that my coursework is complete, but I need to pay out of pocket to defend and receive my degree.
People have asked me to consider re-entering academia, but obviously, that's not something I find very appealing. I asked for help before it was a major problem and wasn't believed, and I feel strongly that their insistence on my potential is coming from a sense of guilt rather than any real desire to help me. So I'm back from the program and looking to switch fields, but it is just miserable. Further, blackballing is a real and genuine threat in academia- when I refused to work with this advisor any further, he immediately reached out to speak badly about me to anyone who would listen, and didn't give me the courtesy of a response. I doubt very much I would ever get in anywhere again, if I ever even felt like putting myself in such a vulnerable position again.
I have no idea what I want to do. The only reply I've gotten from my applications thus far was a scam posting that, thankfully, I didn't fall for. But every job is $14/hr, with three years of experience, minimum. I know the old adage of apply to any job you want, requirements be damned, but I really do not think that makes much of a difference anymore. I feel stuck and shut out from the field I wanted, and completely unable to break into any new one. Any advice? Have you ever had to leave the field you were trained for so suddenly? What did you do to find something decent?