• Question: are there and disadvantage of bieng a scientist

    Asked by sciencebox to Dalya, Derek, Sarah, Tim, Tom on 19 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Dalya Soond

      Dalya Soond answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Of course, there are disadvantages and advantages to just about everything in the world. I think there are 2 big disadvantages for me:
      1) The pay isn’t great. I know you guys think we make a ton of money, but after you pay your taxes and mortgage and other bills, it isn’t so much especially when you have a family.
      2) It is hard to get a permanent job. Most lab jobs are on 3 year contracts. That sounds like a lot but when you are an old fart like me, 3 years pass by very quickly. It is nice to have some permanence especially when you have a family and mortgage and all those other nice things I mentioned.

    • Photo: Tim Millar

      Tim Millar answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      I tend to take work home and feel like I’m self employed. The more I put in the more I should get out and this can affect me and my family. getting that balance right is very difficult.

      I can be away from home on conference for a few weeks a year and this makes it hard for me to take time of with the family for holidays, as I need to catch up with work. So you never tend to switch off from work as you are always thinking about the next experiment, because if i don’t no-one else will do it for me.

    • Photo: Sarah Thomas

      Sarah Thomas answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      There are some disadvantages of being a scientist.

      – The pay is not very good compared to a lot of other jobs.
      – You have to move around a lot, especially if you are an academic, to advance your career.
      – There is many misconceptions about scientists, a lot of people think you are something that you are not.
      – Sometimes people do not trust scientists.
      – You generally don’t get the credit for your hard work.

      But the advantages of doing interesting and important work outweigh the negative things!

    • Photo: Derek McKay-Bukowski

      Derek McKay-Bukowski answered on 19 Jun 2011:

      I would certainly agree with everything the others have said. Science can sometimes be lonely too. If you are the only one working on something, you may have no-one to turn to, if you run into a problem. With lots of travel and moving around, it can be difficult to stay in touch with friends too. Fortunately with modern communications, this is not as bad as it once may have been. (Hooray for telephones and the Internet!)

    • Photo: Tom Crick

      Tom Crick answered on 19 Jun 2011:

      I think there are advantages and disadvantages to every job in the world: at least I am doing something I love. The pay and hours may not be great, but at least I have the flexibility to work on the things I find interesting.

      This is a problem of my own making, but I am terrible for taking work home and working evenings and weekends…you have to remember to have a life too!

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