Thoughts on the future
Yesterday I went to a seminar on using some fancy flow cytometry software, the humorously named FlowJo. It was kind of useful, but also kind of boring. I mean, there is only so much that you can get out of a two hour seminar where someone demonstrates how to use software that you've already been using for almost 2 years. I definitely learned some things, but I also had plenty of time to think about random things during the demonstration.The woman doing the seminar works for the software company and just does these sorts of demos/and hands on training as well as writing up "how to use the software" stuff. (I googled her to figure out that last part.) She also has a PhD in immunology (what I will eventually have). I ended up spending a lot of time in the seminar thinking about what her job was like, how one might decide to get a job like that, what sorts of special qualifications she might need, etc. etc.
You see, there are a lot of different job options with a PhD in the biological sciences. A lot of the time I feel overwhelmed by all of parts of going into academic science and the life of an academic scientist and I am not sure whether I want to do it. I've put some thought into a few different options outside of the academic box as well. Its too early (sort of) to be thinking a lot about this, but it always strikes me when I come across a job that is a little bit off the beaten track of science jobs. Sometimes I come up with plans (I have such plans!) for jobs I don't think actually exist, or I don't know how one would ever get into. The scariest part of all of it is that I know that my advisor can be very narrow-minded about what are appropriate next steps after working here and I can't imagine telling him that I'd do anything other than post-doc in the same field, but whatever. That is a problem I'd face if and when I came to it. Plus, I oscillate about whether or not I want to do the academic science thing a lot. I've been much more positive about the whole idea since I went to Keystone this year. We'll see.
I'm not sure that this post has a point. My head really hurts and I'm tired. Stupid beer.
posted by Immunegirl @ 10:09 AM
10 Comments:
Once you figure out your life, do you mind sorting out mine as well?
Thanks!
Sheesh! First you want me to make you a poster and now you want me to figure out your life?
Disparaging beer is a bootable offense.
*gives Iggy some Motrin & a glass of water*
I'm with Ben - don't dis beer!
There are tons of different types of jobs you can get. Put your resume on Monster, and they'll start contacting you immediately. At least that was my experience. Then again I'm a PhD drop-out. :P
Wow, I wish I understood your post *smile* Let's start with - what is "academic science"? Is that teaching/research or both.
"anything other than post-doc in the same field" - what does this mean? What's a post doc?
Man I feel so, well, lost.
Ben and Phlip...it was dollar drafts, so I think you'll both agree that it was insultable beer, not the good stuff.
Lasann...A post-doc means working as a slave....err...researcher in a lab after finishing a PhD. You have to be a post-doc (usually ~3 years but sometimes you have to do 2 post-docs) before you can be a professor. It is kind of an intermediate step. Our own lovely Bob is a post-doc. You usually do your post-doc somewhere other than where you did your PhD. So "a post-doc in the same field" means me doing HIV Vaccine immunology research in another lab for a few years.
Academic science means being a researcher at a university as opposed to at a pharmaceutical or biotech company or at a government lab. Usually it entails doing both research (running a lab, writing papers and grants), teaching lab stuff (like managing people yourself and teaching students how to do research) and also teaching some classes. It is a tough path because there are a lot of conflicting responsibilities and many demands on your time. It sometimes leads to a less than desirable lifestyle. One could also be a professor at a university and just do research and lab-ish teaching and not teach classes. There are a few colleges (small liberal arts schools) where people with PhDs can teach classes without doing research/having to run a lab, but there are not very many of those jobs and there are lots of people who want them.
Does that make sense? Do you have any more questions?
The best economic decision is to go to industry as you will be paid more money, sooner, and be able to invest it and begin compounding interest at an earlier date.
Considering the opportunity cost, you will not have a satisfactory ROI if you take 3 years to post-doc in a dingy lab.
Now, if a career in academics is worth the lost capital. That's cool. Just recognize that you are paying a price for something you don't seem sure that you want to do.
I think you’ll find that it’s easier to get an interesting job in industry than you think. I’m sure my company has or will hire immunologists. Anyone marketing products to a field needs experts in that field to ensure that the products are aligned with the needs of the application, or to help develop new products.
Flow cytometers weren’t invented by engineers in a vacuum.
Based on the experiences I've had thus far, I don't think I want to work in industry, but by industry I usually mean pharmaceuticals/drug development. I think that what was interesting to me as my mind wandered was exactly what you are getting at, Ben...that I could bring immunology experience to a somewhat different field or do something outside of the normal immunology box. (Although I've met the people who invented flow cytometers...they're all immunologists who honestly strike me as insane, not engineers. :))
As for my feelings about academics, I'm totally up in the air about it. In the end, I think it is what I want to do and that I would enjoy it in the right circumstances (it is notable how much my opinion of the idea changes with the quality of my data and the amount of progress I am making), but the main thing I am hesitant about is the lifestyle. I really, really like the idea of running a lab in abstraction.
Don't forget that even drug companies have scientists doing basic research to identify molecular targets. From what I've seen ( a whole three months) the actual work is not that different from what you're used to. You study the literature, come up with a hypothesis, test it, then present the results at lab meeting and get suggestions from colleagues. You try to publish papers, and you go to conferences. And you get invited to all the cool parties thrown by suppliers at the conferences.
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