• Question: how long have you been a scientist?

    Asked by oliviaeganx to Damien, Rachael, Simon, Suzi, Tim on 14 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by chloetaylorx, hannahcurrie123, abaney, scientisteco, sknight, livmarshall, charliepl10.
    • Photo: Suzi Gage

      Suzi Gage answered on 10 Jun 2011:

      Hi @oliviaeganx and @chloetaylorx
      Thanks very much for your question!
      I have been a scientist since I went to University, in 2001, so for 10 years (now I feel old!!!). Although I didn’t know I would stay a scientist when I first started my degree.
      I am still quite early on in my career though, as I am in my first year of my PhD (I’ve written a bit about what a PhD is in my profile but feel free to ask more about it).
      Quite a lot of people go straight from their undergraduate studies to study for a PhD, but I took 5 years, and worked as a research assistant helping some professors with their research. This was great as it gave me an idea about what a PhD would be like, and meant I could improve the skills I needed before starting my PhD.

      I hope I’ll be a scientist for a lot longer 🙂

    • Photo: Rachael Ward

      Rachael Ward answered on 10 Jun 2011:

      Wow, I’ve never worked it out before but I started my degree in neuroscience in 1995 so the answer is that I’ve been a scientist for 16 years or pretty much half my life! That feels quite odd.

      Not including my undergraduate degree and some time out I took after it, I’ve done about 12 years of actual laboratory based science which is a pretty long time to be wearing a white coat.

    • Photo: Tim Fosker

      Tim Fosker answered on 10 Jun 2011:

      I started my PhD in 2001, so I guess I’ve been a scientist for 10 years, but it really doesn’t feel that long. If you keep asking questions it keeps you ‘feeling’ young, although I think I will need surgery if I want to keep ‘looking’ young 😀

    • Photo: Damien Hall

      Damien Hall answered on 12 Jun 2011:

      Well, I’ve always liked science – when I was a boy, I remember asking my Dad to make me one of those things you used to be able to win prizes for at school fêtes, where there’s a metal frame all twisted up (made out of a coathanger) and you have to move a metal ring along it, but without touching the frame. A battery’s connected to the frame, so a bulb lights up if you touch it, but if you make it to the end you get a prize. Well, I wanted one partly so I could practice and win prizes but also because I was interested in how that worked! Then I also had a chemistry set later.

      I suppose I’ve been a language scientist for about 16 or 17 years, though I haven’t been at a University all that time. I clearly remember when I realised that I wanted to combine precise numbers with the languages that I was already studying – that was in 2002. I thought it was a real brainwave, as I didn’t realise that other people were already doing it, but I’ve jumped on the bandwagon …

    • Photo: Simon Bennett

      Simon Bennett answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Hello,

      I suppose I started formally as a scientist when I was a research assistant, so for about 2 years now.

      Thanks.

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