• Question: were you on the chat because i dont think i we got to speak to eachother .... what is it like to be a scientist ? is it hard work ?

    Asked by laurenhughes03 to Daniel on 12 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Daniel Patten

      Daniel Patten answered on 12 Nov 2013:

      Hi Lauren,

      No, I’m afraid I couldn’t make the chat earlier (I was busy in the lab!).

      Being a scientist is definitely hard work, but is also very rewarding! The hours are can be long and unpredictable (science is definitely not a 9-5 job!), as experiments can run longer than expected or things might go wrong so you have to start again and stay late, but they are also very flexible (as long as your work gets done, nobody seems to mind if you leave early! NOTE-this is true of jobs in academia (ie. in a university), but may not be true in industry (ie. working for a company)). Science can also be very frustrating at times, for example, when things don’t work or the results you get aren’t what you hoped them to be, but when they do work and you finally get the result you wanted and find something that nobody has ever seen before, it is definitely all worth it!

      If you have any more questions, just fire away!

      Dan

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