Inspired by a post from Girlpostdoc I have written a list of my likes and dislikes about academic science. What a great exercise - I highly recommend it.
Likes
• Intellectual engagement (i.e. time left alone to read, write and learn new things, but also time spent with others pursuing those activities)
• Creative work that is always different
• Flexible hours and duties
• One-on-one and small group teaching
• Travel (for fieldwork and conferences)
• Publishing - I enjoy getting page proofs and I love it when a paper comes out
• Churning out data – I get great satisfaction when things are going well
• Refining methods to make them more efficient and comfortable
• Data entry (weird I know … but when combined with other things I like it)
• Exploring data (taking a look at those first results and using them to decide what to do next)
• Debating how science is done and how it is taught – philosophy of science
• At a deep level I like to have adventures and then tell people about them (usually via writing and sometimes pictures). In a way that is what science is. Each new project (or subproject or question) is an adventure, you need to plan the best way to do it (write the grant), do it (collect the data) while making decisions and changes along the way, and then consolidate all the new information and tell people about it (analysis, presentation at conferences and writing).
Dislikes
• Tight job market for tenured and tenure-track positions
• The extreme workload (which can unbalance the work-family equilibrium) when on the tenure-track (or so I’ve read and heard)
• Job insecurity and lack of benefits in untenured jobs (i.e. post-doc, adjunct researcher, sessional lecturer)
• The ivory tower syndrome: the feeling that I am reaching a small group of people about a very narrow topic – scientists who find time to reach the public are real inspirations for me
• Constantly dealing with rejection (it gets easier after a while, but it remains unpleasant)
• Geographic limitations when looking for a tenure-track job (Am I willing to live in a place I hate for a job?)
• Dispassionate “soulless” academic writing (although I’ve realized that the some established scientists have managed to keep their writing both passionate and academic)
• Having to do things over and over without results (i.e. when a method just doesn’t work and I can’t figure out why)
• The way that science frowns upon intuition when it is often the basis of new hypotheses. Sometimes I think the baby gets thrown out with the bathwater when new ideas fly in the face of the status quo.
Likes
• Intellectual engagement (i.e. time left alone to read, write and learn new things, but also time spent with others pursuing those activities)
• Creative work that is always different
• Flexible hours and duties
• One-on-one and small group teaching
• Travel (for fieldwork and conferences)
• Publishing - I enjoy getting page proofs and I love it when a paper comes out
• Churning out data – I get great satisfaction when things are going well
• Refining methods to make them more efficient and comfortable
• Data entry (weird I know … but when combined with other things I like it)
• Exploring data (taking a look at those first results and using them to decide what to do next)
• Debating how science is done and how it is taught – philosophy of science
• At a deep level I like to have adventures and then tell people about them (usually via writing and sometimes pictures). In a way that is what science is. Each new project (or subproject or question) is an adventure, you need to plan the best way to do it (write the grant), do it (collect the data) while making decisions and changes along the way, and then consolidate all the new information and tell people about it (analysis, presentation at conferences and writing).
Dislikes
• Tight job market for tenured and tenure-track positions
• The extreme workload (which can unbalance the work-family equilibrium) when on the tenure-track (or so I’ve read and heard)
• Job insecurity and lack of benefits in untenured jobs (i.e. post-doc, adjunct researcher, sessional lecturer)
• The ivory tower syndrome: the feeling that I am reaching a small group of people about a very narrow topic – scientists who find time to reach the public are real inspirations for me
• Constantly dealing with rejection (it gets easier after a while, but it remains unpleasant)
• Geographic limitations when looking for a tenure-track job (Am I willing to live in a place I hate for a job?)
• Dispassionate “soulless” academic writing (although I’ve realized that the some established scientists have managed to keep their writing both passionate and academic)
• Having to do things over and over without results (i.e. when a method just doesn’t work and I can’t figure out why)
• The way that science frowns upon intuition when it is often the basis of new hypotheses. Sometimes I think the baby gets thrown out with the bathwater when new ideas fly in the face of the status quo.
