• Question: Do you ever get fed up of your job and wish you were doing something different?

    Asked by idontwanttobehere to Debbie, Glyn, Jon, Kat, Nicola on 11 Mar 2013. This question was also asked by louisekempxo, sophtheloaf, u11bradshawt.
    • Photo: Debbie Crockard

      Debbie Crockard answered on 11 Mar 2013:

      Sometimes if I’m in meetings all day and not able to get outside or do some of hte work I want to be doing. But to be honest I would still want to be doing marine biology I’d just be dreaming about doing it outside instead of on a computer 🙂

    • Photo: Jonathan Stone

      Jonathan Stone answered on 11 Mar 2013:

      I find it pretty hard sometimes when I come back from being away looking at volcanoes. When I come back, I have to do a lot of hard work to make sense of the things that I have discovered…and I don’t like how cold England is. However, there really is no alternative in life to doing the thing that makes you most happy, and nothing could come close to studying volcanoes for me personally.

    • Photo: Nicola Fletcher

      Nicola Fletcher answered on 11 Mar 2013:

      Not really, I love my job. Sometimes I’d like to work somewhere nice and hot, I am not a big fan of the cold. But I don’t think i’ll ever want to leave science.

    • Photo: Glyn Barrett

      Glyn Barrett answered on 11 Mar 2013:

      Yes I do! In a laboratory there is a lot of repetition and it can get reallllllllly!! boring!! And sometimes it feels like I’m not getting anywhere or that what I’m doing is pointless and not going to help in any way.
      I am really interested in loads of things and sometimes I do wish I was doing something else.
      The thing with science is that it is quite flexible and you can take the skills and knowledge you have gained somewhere and take it somewhere else.
      I have lots of hobbies outside of my work like photography or gardening or biking keep me happy to do my work. Its good to do loads of different things as there is so much available. You shouldn’t restrict yourself.

    • Photo: Kathryn McMahon

      Kathryn McMahon answered on 11 Mar 2013:

      Oooh yes. Science can be very hard work at times. Often, you have to repeat an experiment several times to get it to work, and it can very frustrating. Its also very hard to get money for research at the moment, so that can be quite stressful as you are never quite sure how long your job will last for, and whether you will get to finish your research. Finally, although I hate to admit it, being a scientist isn’t very easy if you have young children (which is one reason why you see very few women professors). The long hours you have to work, and unpredictable experiments can make it quite difficult if you have to get home to pick up your child from their nursery or school.
      I very often think I would like to do a different job, but the reason I haven’t is that I find my work absolutely fascinating, and am not sure that I would find any other job so interesting!

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