• Question: would you ever change your career

    Asked by abbey on 7 Dec 2021.
    • Photo: Thomas Nicol

      Thomas Nicol answered on 12 Nov 2021:

      I enjoy science and right now I am not considering a career change. However, ‘never say never’ is a good motto to live by and I can’t predict what the future will hold. It’s always worth exploring new options.

    • Photo: Joaquin de Navascues

      Joaquin de Navascues answered on 12 Nov 2021:

      One should always keep options open. Particularly in academic science, people are on short term contracts for many years – easily well over a decade. Often, finding the next contract means moving cities or even countries, so it is not rare that at some point people exhaust their options and find a job in research in industry or a non-research, science-related role elsewhere. It can be hard, but on the other hand, there is no shortage of people that wants to go into science, because it is a very interesting career!
      Personally, right now I enjoy what I do and have the option of a permanent contract, so I am not thinking about this right now, but there have been times in my life when I was considering it.

    • Photo: Craig Anderson

      Craig Anderson answered on 12 Nov 2021:

      I might shift a little to focus on agriculture or to manage the effects of global warming, but probably not massively. I really like it!

    • Photo: Stephenie Purvis

      Stephenie Purvis answered on 13 Nov 2021:

      At the moment I can’t see myself changing career any time soon but I have always liked teaching so I think maybe later in life I could veer into using my scientific knowledge to help teach others

    • Photo: Mukta Deobagkar

      Mukta Deobagkar answered on 14 Nov 2021:

      At the moment I really enjoy my research and have no immediate plans for a career change. However, I might decide to change the setting in which I work. So, instead of working in a University or Research institute (often referred to as academia), one day I might decide to work in a research lab in a Pharma or Biotech company (or in industry-related roles). These decisions are often fluid and are dependent on available opportunities, funding, contracts etc as well personal situations like what might work best for my family and me, whether I would like to live in another city/country and so on.

    • Photo: Becky Cohen

      Becky Cohen answered on 15 Nov 2021:

      At the minute I still feel like I’m at the beginning of a new career move! I went from doing a PhD in neuroscience within the world of academic research to starting a job in a clinical genetics department in the NHS. I’m enjoying how much there is still to learn in this new job and can’t see myself moving outside of this field anytime soon. But you never know, I always think it’s good to stay open to new opportunities and challenges.

    • Photo: Magdalena Sutcliffe

      Magdalena Sutcliffe answered on 15 Nov 2021:

      At the moment I am very happy with my job and I am not intending to change my career but if I had to chose another job it might be teaching.

    • Photo: Clara Cieza-Borrella

      Clara Cieza-Borrella answered on 17 Nov 2021: last edited 17 Nov 2021 8:28 am

      I shifted my career a bit from purely scientist to teaching science but still doing research. Apart from that small tweak, I wouldn’t change my career, I really love Science and teaching it is so amazing experience!

    • Photo: Jessica Yang

      Jessica Yang answered on 17 Nov 2021:

      I have alredy changed my career path a couple of times in my life and i would definitely consider it again if the right thing came along. You never know what will happen and it is never too late to change career!

    • Photo: Jeffrey O'Callaghan

      Jeffrey O'Callaghan answered on 17 Nov 2021:

      I think I will always be a scientist, however there are so many different careers that encompass “science” that there is always the opportunity to do science differently, whether its to branch into a company, manage other scientists or do a more coding-based job. Its good to keep your options open and always be aware what other opportunities are out there

    • Photo: Yasmin Dickinson

      Yasmin Dickinson answered on 19 Nov 2021:

      Hmmm, right now I am very happy being a scientist and getting to do exciting research! For now I have no plans to change. But the nice thing about science is that there are so many fields you can go into, so changing career is always a possibility and your previous experience will always count – so don’t think that “oh I’ve worked for so long as a scientist, if I change careers now, that will all go to waste”. In the future I see myself either becoming a lecturer/teacher or going into science journalism 🙂

    • Photo: Elston DSouza

      Elston DSouza answered on 22 Nov 2021:

      Never say never!

      Many scientists eventually do go out and try other things – some very close to science and some not. I’d eventually like to do this in the future, too!

      The great thing about learning science is that it teaches you skills that are incredibly valuable to many other disciplines some hard skills like e.g. coding or lab skills to softer skills e.g. how to begin to solve questions that no one yet has answers to.

      For example, a lot of my computational biologist friends are leading fabulous careers outside of academia, say in data analytics.

Comments