• Question: is it hard being a scientists?

    Asked by rhisakhate to Tiffany, Hitesh, Hywel, Mae, Nik on 8 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by kayelloa, nmarie123.
    • Photo: Hitesh Dave

      Hitesh Dave answered on 8 Jun 2012:

      not as hard as a word ‘scientist’ means….me and my all collegues are very super cool…most of the time we work in the lab with music on…

    • Photo: Tiffany Taylor

      Tiffany Taylor answered on 10 Jun 2012:

      I think it’s easier than a lot of other jobs because it is fun! You do it because you love it. Sometimes of course it is hard, but so is any job.

    • Photo: Mae Woods

      Mae Woods answered on 11 Jun 2012:

      It is challenging that’s for sure! As an applied mathematician, during your undergraduate you learn techniques like probability theory, dynamical systems, number theory etc.

      All these subjects have usually been around for a long time and have well know theorems and proofs. However, when you are doing research quite often there are conflicting arguments leading to puzzles that remain to be solved. Additionally you may rely on conjectures (things that are thought to be true but remain to be proven).

      So, to make progress you have to read lots of different peoples ideas, try and think of your own and use the techniques you have studied to complete you argument.

      Working together in teams is a good way to make it a lot easier being a scientist

    • Photo: Nicola Ibberson

      Nicola Ibberson answered on 11 Jun 2012:

      It is hard sometimes – you have to use your brain on days when it just wants to go to sleep, and in my particular science, I have to give terrible news to families when we get a bad test result. But it is also challenging, and I think having a good group of colleagues helps, as you can brainstorm tricky things together, and support each other if things get a bit emotional.

      Most of the time it isn’t hard- you’ve already spent time studying all the things you need to know at school and uni, so your background knowledge is there. It can be fun, boring, fiddly, exciting, traumatic, tense, emotional….so many things, ‘hard’ is a very small part of it!

    • Photo: Hywel Owen

      Hywel Owen answered on 11 Jun 2012:

      No-one starts in their job as an expert, so everyone finds what they do hard to start with. But once you start working you learn a lot – more than you learnt at school and University – and eventually you get enough experience that you know what you’re talking about. Hopefully… 😉

      Even when you’re an expert in your own area, you will still be working on things that you don’t understand from one end to the other, and with people who know things you don’t, and where you know things they don’t. That’s what teamwork is all about! The hard bit is maybe figuring out what is the right question to ask the others that gives you the answer that helps you the most in what you’re doing yourself.

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