• Question: What is the worst part of your job?

    Asked by to Becky, Clara, Daniel, Simon, Thomas on 13 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Simon Albright

      Simon Albright answered on 13 Mar 2014:

      I find the near permanent state of confusion rather difficult. It’s impossible to understand everything, and the things I don’t understand confuse me, and then when I understand them I realise there’s something new that I don’t understand as a result. It’s a visious circle, but also fun becasue I like learning new things!

    • Photo: Thomas Elias Cocolios

      Thomas Elias Cocolios answered on 13 Mar 2014:

      People who do not understand why I am so passionate about what I do. It is simply awesome! I cannot turn my brain off and it is sometimes tough on friends and family, though.

    • Photo: Clara Nellist

      Clara Nellist answered on 13 Mar 2014:

      Although I get to travel a lot for my work, and normally that’s really awesome, it often takes me away from my family and friends for a long period of time. For example, I’m now living in Paris and when I moved here 4 months ago I didn’t know anyone. I’m starting to meet people now and it’s a lot of fun, but it can also be quite hard to have to start somewhere new every few years.

    • Photo: Becky Martin

      Becky Martin answered on 13 Mar 2014:

      It’s more of a character flaw of mine than a negative trait of the work, as the research itself is fascinating!

      I’m a quite impatient person and I like to get fast results, and I’ve had to learn to slow the pace down and be patient to produce good work. My research supervisor sometimes has to remind me that I’m not on emergency response for making science! 😉

    • Photo: Daniel Roach

      Daniel Roach answered on 14 Mar 2014:

      For me, the politics and competition are things I could do without. I just want to be left alone to do what I do, then be able to explain what I am doing/have done and see if people can ask sensible questions. This happens some of the time. I like to work carefully, and this takes time, but some people are in a hurry to get an answer, they tend to rush just so they can be first, and the can often find themselves presenting work that doesn’t really work properly. So you have to argue with these people, and they don’t like it when you point out the mistakes they’ve made in their mad-cap rush to get something. Then it can get a bit unpleasant, and people get upset.

      But this process is all part and parcel of the scientific process.

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