Friday 28 March 2014

Why being a scientist is COOL

I have just visited a school where I talked to students about my career and science careers in general. They asked me very interesting questions that inspired me to write this post.



BEING A SCIENTIST IS COOL BECAUSE:

You can travel the world

Scientists are always going to conferences, sometimes within their countries and sometimes abroad. Also, as a scientist you can do part of your research in another lab. For example, I did my degree in Mexico, I then travelled to the USA to gain experience in some techniques, and now I am working in the UK. I love travelling and embracing new cultures, this job has allowed me to do that.

Science is universal and has its own language

This is also related to the point above. Science follows the same principles everywhere. It doesn't matter where you get your degree, you can move to a different country and work as a scientist there. For example, my dad is a lawyer, he is great at what he does but law is different in different countries. He could not just move from Mexico to the UK and be a lawyer here; he would have to study again!

Careers in science are flexible

If being in the lab is not very rewarding or you don't enjoy it as much, as a scientist there are other things you can do. For example:

* Are you good at communication? Then you can be on TV, or write for a newspaper as a science journalist. You can also be a radio presenter or work directly with the public. 

* If you like politics you can influence politicians and science policy, you can even be an MP!

* You can work in a charity organising events to raise money for research, for example races, walks, etc.

* Do you like writing and correcting spelling mistakes? Then you can work in a scientific journal, editing the articles that other scientists want to publish.

* You can also organise the events that other scientists attend, like the international conferences.

* If you like computers you can become a bioinformatician. Or you can manage the web pages and social media accounts of the universities and research centres.

* And also, you can sell or manufacture reagents and equipment; remember research could not be done without these!


What skills do you need to be a scientist? From my personal experience, I think perseverance is one of the most important ones. Experiments in science don't work most of the time, you can't give up and you have to go on. You also have to be creative,  good with numbers and like to analyse data. And finally, you have to learn English if it isn't you mother tongue. Science is written mainly in English, international conferences are held in English, so there's no escaping this one I'm afraid!



I am sure I have missed more areas where scientists work and other skills that are also important. If you know of others why not add them to the comments? You might also want to share your experiences on why being a scientist is cool.