It is depressing how many smart people (in the US) who once worked on biking and walking are getting paid highly to "decarbonize" transportation, and how few opportunities there are (still) to be paid highly to advance biking and walking.
I know all the reasons why. I just wish that it wasn't so.
@bikepedantic You'll be able to get the VP position, but you'll have to work on proposals for boarder areas as a trade-off. Also, it's good money but a terrible lifestyle. Lots of BS travel and waste on meetings that serve no purpose.
@HayiWena exactly. and in my idealized world, bicycling and walking are important and significant enough specialties on their own that you don't have to dilute your time down by also having to pretend to care about ____.
@bikepedantic @HayiWena the inherent problem with bikes is they can be so cheap and durable that they never need replacement, and no one gets rich off them. But we all get richer when they are used more, because they don’t poison the air we breathe or the water we drink. It’s really for the public sector to recognize this and put the resources behind making biking/walking grow so we can all get richer through savings, better health, and a better environment.
@bikepedantic I think you could probably get such a position at Alta or High Street or Toole and there's enough active transportation work that you don't have to sell your soul. But the easy get is a Jacobs or HDR or WSP position which would be fiscally rewarding but awful otherwise, except maybe HDR since they are employee-owned.
Acknowledging that i'm functionally unpromotable, I would like to at least be able to dream about a pretirement VP gig thinking and feeling things about bike networks at some big A&E firm or think tank