The transition from academic life to full-time employment is always something that takes a little getting used to. You can’t miss a day of work and get the notes off of a friend or take an afternoon nap between project development meetings. Your once flourishing social life can be consumed by work responsibilities and it’s not likely that everyone from around the office is going to accept your proposal for an epic game of beer pong after work.
Gone are the days of eating noodles for the third straight week but lost is the excitement and energy that is generated by being a part of a collection of young and like-minded individuals. For many people, the transition can be difficult, especially if that transition includes moving to a new country.
While working 9am to 5pm at the office is still quite substantially different from your average academic timetable, working 10 days on 5 days off is an entirely separate concept of the life-work balance. It’s known in the industry as the “Fly-in, Fly-out” method of staffing a project. It involves flying the employee from their “home” based city and landing them in a remote location where they are required to work for a designated period of time. Once their work “hitch” is completed, they are flown back to the city to enjoy some time off. Rosters vary greatly depending on the location, company, and project. Some will work 14 days on-site with 7 off while others will work 19 on 9 off. Some even fly out to their project on Monday and return home on Friday for the weekend (5 on 2 off). Every project has its preferred schedule.
The first hitch I did in Australia was 21 days long… I used to time manage my university studies between a plethora of extracurricular activities including kung fu, flair bartending, weightlifting, salsa dancing, basketball, guitar, and Spanish Club. The next thing I knew I was in the outback of central Queensland working 12 to 14 hour days for three straight weeks. Even when there was a spare hour in the day for personal enjoyment, the emptiness of the outback provided little in the way of what I would consider conventional entertainment. The utter shock of going from a life of such varied stimulation to living in a small mining town for 21 days nearly drove me insane. I began to develop anxiety as a result of the intense feeling of isolation prolonged over three enduring weeks. I felt trapped; suffocated by the distance from the lifestyle I was so accustomed to.
My first experience with culture shock was when I moved to Mexico on a six-month university exchange. You may think that moving to a third-world country with completely different customs and an unfamiliar language would present a greater obstacle for adjustment than adapting to a fly-in, fly-out rostered lifestyle… but you’d be wrong. Learning to adapt to this lifestyle over the past two years has been one of the greatest challenges I have met with my career. It has also been quite rewarding.
Being in the field allows you the opportunity to focus solely on your work without any other daily distractions or stresses. Such focus is necessary when you’re new on the job and you’re being bombarded with information that you will need to quickly absorb. A routine is easily established which can be a good thing for keeping on top of your work duties and minimizing stress. You can also use the routine to your advantage by settling into some good habits and attaining personal goals. I have also learned to use my separation from city life to widen my philosophical boundaries. In the words of Bruce Lee,
“Loneliness is only an opportunity to cut adrift and find yourself. In solitude, you are least alone. Make good use of it.”
Then, after an exhausting work hitch, you can jump in a plane and completely leave any thoughts of work behind you. The physical distance alone really sets that barrier between work life and personal life where such a line might be blurred in a typical Monday to Friday job. A weekend might leave you enough time to have a couple of nights out on the town or take a short trip out of the city, however, a week or more off is enough to take a proper vacation and explore the amazing coastlines of Australia. I have even been able to travel to Cambodia during one of my breaks to meet up with some friends that were backpacking at the time. And you definitely don’t feel guilty opening your wallet and spoiling yourself a little extra during your breaks since you need not spend a dime while working in the field.
There are many benefits that come with working on a fly-in, fly-out schedule once you have learned to cope with the obvious sacrifices. Learning to adapt to this new lifestyle was a challenge that expanded my comfort zone and earned me the ability to work in a wide range of environments. I have learned a lot through all of my experiences travelling both in the field and on my breaks. I might even find it difficult to get accustomed to a Monday to Friday job in the city … but then again, everything in life is just an opportunity to learn and grow, is it not?
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