• Question: How hard is it to do your job or is it easy?

    Asked by Baptiste Setsuko to Nicholas, David, Eva, Kate, Rachel on 7 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by EvilMadScientist, pharrell, 1ewis penguin.
    • Photo: Nicholas Pearce

      Nicholas Pearce answered on 7 Nov 2015:

      Hello,

      That’s a great question!
      I’ll have to be honest and say there a quite a few days when it isn’t that hard at all. I spend a lot of time doing chemical reactions and the work that involves is a lot like baking a cake – you measure out some ingredients, mix them up and heat them for a few hours.

      The hardest part of the job is understanding why you’re doing it: why did I make that particular molecule/cake? What do I make next? What experiment can I do to make sure that this one is better than others? If something goes wrong, why did it go wrong and what should I do differently next time?

      The answers aren’t always easy to find, so when (or if) I do solve a problem, it’s rewarding and that makes the work feel fun and worthwhile!

    • Photo: David Nunan

      David Nunan answered on 10 Nov 2015:

      Great question, thanks.
      It’s challenging but I don’t mind a challenge! If it was too easy I’d be bored.

      Some bits are better than others. For example I like seeing doctors and patients I work with benefit from understanding scientific evidence about treatments for their health.

      The students I teach are all future doctors or currently work as doctors so they ask really hard questions. Sometimes I don’t know the answer and have to say “I don’t know”. But you should never be afraid to say you don’t know something. It’s part of being a scientist. What i do though is make sure that I find out the answer so that next time I do know. This is one of the great things about my job, I’m always learning.

      There are a lot of admin tasks which are quite boring but on the whole my job is fun and rewarding.

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