In article <1992Dec17.181139.3264 at news2.cis.umn.edu> diqui at pathogen.med.umn.edu (Diqui
LaPenta) writes:
>...My problem is not my adviser or even my project. My problem
> is that the very thought of getting my Ph.D. only to devote my life to sitting
> at a lab bench and wrestling for grant funding has become truly depressing. I
> have discovered, at this late juncture, that I am not well-suited to bench work. During
> ...
> I suppose it would be beneficial to any others with the same dilemma to post
> responses, but you can also reply to me via e-mail at:
>>diqui at lenti.med.umn.edu>> Thanks in advance for any suggestions and feedback,
I think you have already seen a number of stimulating responses and I thought I would add
my own experience to the discussion.
I find myself now at the age of 45 trying to wrap up the completion of my Ph.D. that I
started in 1973. Almost twenty years and 3000 miles later I may actually attain this
thing. My problem in the early years, and I'm sure many others, was my personal need to to
do the "definitive" experiment. Of course science doesn't really advance that way but
rather the little pieces put into place by all of us. And not being satisfied with what I
had done in the lab I left with the M.A. in the middle of writing my thesis. Well three
years later, after doing other things - sort of not science, I found myself unemployed and
desperate enough to apply for a lab tech job. I called a well known scientist at UW who
works in a field with which I was familiar. After introducing myself and asking about tech
openings he asked me if I was the "Adler" from a particular paper. This was one of the
papers from my earlier graduate work. I was "shocked" that he knew this paper and
proceeded to tell me it was a nice piece of work - I was still operating under the
assumption that I had not done that definitive expt. and anything less was pretty
uninteresting. Well to bring the story forward rapidly, he didn't have any jobs but he
told me about a new faculty person down the hall, also working in the same area, who just
had their tech quit on them. Two weeks later I was hired; and now ten years later and
lot's of productivity - i.e. I've added a few more pieces to the puzzle, I am actually
going to go in the front door.
Of course their are the practical concerns you mention. Getting grants is harder than it
used to be and will consume your time and energy. Getting a real job is not that easy
either. And deciding to do research as a career is not for the folks who need immediate
reward on a daily basis (on the other hand good expt results, even if they are once every
few months, induces in me one of the most euphoric feelings). Your concern about bench
work is not necessarily troublesome since many successful scientists don't end up doing
much bench work - their grad students, postdocs, techs do it. You need to weigh how much
you want and need the intellectual challenge of research. And as others have said their
are many career paths to which to apply your experience OR maybe you want to do something
totally different.
My advice to you is to find a quiet place away from the lab and let your inner self tell
you things. I've often suggested fantasizing to others contemplating these important
decisions - i.e. let yourself wonder what you would really enjoy doing if
anything/everything was possible.
(Patti Smith says it "...the sea of possibilities...see the possibilities")
Good luck imagining
David
BTW: I didn't realize this was going to go on this long - so my apologies especially since
I have one of those funny little chromosomes, my partner refers to as the mutant one,
that seems to have several socially undesirable traits mapped to it and this is really a
group for the XX's.
