How long have you done your jobs.

Question: How long have you done your jobs.
- Keywords:
  career
Asked by anon-255873 on 29 May 2020.
- Luke Hillary answered on 29 May 2020:
  
  I’m in the third year (of four) of my PhD at the moment. Research scientists in universities can change jobs every few years as projects finish and you move onto the next one. Sometimes you stay in the same place but work on different projects. Once you become a lecturer, or “principle investigator”, you tend to stay in the same place for longer and manage your own group of researchers. This involves applying for money to fund your research, supervising other research scientists and teaching undergraduate students.
  
  Although I’m technically a student, I treat it like a job, and I’m lucky that I also get paid. I don’t have any lectures or classes to go to and spend most of my time on research. Not all of that time is spent in the lab. I work on soils so some days I’ll be visiting farms to collect soil samples. Other days I might be analysing data at my desk or writing up experiments. Occasionally I’ll get to conferences or training events at other universities.
- Bethan Hindle answered on 29 May 2020:
  
  I’ve been in my current job for nearly a year and a half now (though it feels like barely any time at all – I still think of myself as new!). I’m currently working as a lecturer at a University on the edge of Bristol. Before that I was in Sheffield for nearly five and a half years. I did a PhD for four years there and then stayed on, mainly in a University teaching job, for a just over a year afterwards.
- Rehemat Bhatia answered on 29 May 2020:
  
  I’ve been in my current role for just under a year. I work as a programme manager for the Natural Environment Research Council. It is quite different than what I was doing before, but it is a good learning experience for finding out how funding is allocated and the processes grant proposals go through before they fund science.
- Sarah Marley answered on 29 May 2020:
  
  I started working with dolphins 13yrs ago, when I was doing a university project on dolphin aggression in the Moray Firth. Since then, I’ve had a lot of different jobs that have involved studying dolphins. I’ve been a Field Assistant helping collect data for research projects. I’ve been a Research Assistant helping to examine data and run statistical tests. I’ve been a Project Coordinator to run my own research projects and train people to collect data. I’ve also done a lot of jobs talking about dolphins, marine biology and science in general – for example, working as a Science Communicator doing live science shows or Marine Naturaliste on whale-watch boats. I’m now a Lecturer in Marine Biology, a job I started in 2018. It is a perfect combination of doing science and telling people about science, because I get to do my own research as well as teaching university students.
- Helen Roy answered on 29 May 2020:
  
  I completed my PhD in 1997 and began lecturing at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge – I had a wonderful 10 years with the University. I particularly enjoyed taking students on field trips – whether day trips or residential visits in the UK and overseas. Teaching ecology in the field is fantastic – everywhere you look there are examples of ecological interactions playing out before you – it as though the text book comes to life! In 2007 I began working at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology as a full-time research ecologist. Leading and contributing to large projects on environmental change. I love science communication though – in all its guises – so I still give visiting lectures at a number of Universities. I try and make the most of any opportunity I have to get involved with public engagement in research – contributing articles to magazines, sharing my excitement through the media, giving talks and more … recently in the mornings I have been chatting with dog walkers over my garden fence about the moths I have been finding!
  
  So the short answer is 23 years! I still love it – everyday is different.
- Steve Wroe answered on 30 May 2020:
  
  My career has been in two halves. When I graduated as a Chartered Surveyor I went to work in Antarctica for over two years where I was involved in polar research. I have also worked in a number of countries including Argentina, Uruguay, Peru and Algeria as a surveyor.
  
  Having returned from two years working in Algeria, I took a one year teaching qualification before getting a job as a university lecturer, where I taught a range of subjects including environmental science to students training to become architects, surveyors etc. I also spent some time as a visiting lecturer at Ovideus University Romania.
- Adam Peters answered on 1 Jun 2020:
  
  I have been in my current job for nearly 13 years now, I worked at the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) for about 4 years, and the Environment Agency for about 2 years before I started in my current job. The work that I do has been fairly similar in all of these jobs.
- Gareth Mason answered on 1 Jun 2020:
  
  I have been an Environment Ranger for 5 years, and have been working in the forest industry for 7. Before that I had lots of jobs…gardener, barista, tea merchant, au pair, usher, chef, barman, to name a few!
- Jessica Gomez-Banderas answered on 2 Jun 2020:
  
  I started my PhD exactly one year ago yesterday! I can’t believe that a whole year has passed already!!
- Emily Goddard answered on 3 Jun 2020:
  
  I’m in the last year of my PhD, so have been doing this for just over three years. (Well, it’s probably my last year anyway! With the pandemic and not being able to do any lab work it looks like I might get a bit more time.)
- anon answered on 5 Jun 2020:
  
  I have only worked in my current job building a nuclear power station for a few months, but worked in my last job in the railway sector for 2 years. I wanted to move from London to Bristol and I wanted to work in energy which is why I left my last job.
- Emily Cheek answered on 8 Jun 2020:
  
  I have been in my job for just over a year now, although I am still referred to as one of the ‘newer’ members of the team! I have learnt so much in the time and the team I work with made me feel so welcome from day one – I love it!
- Ana Filipa Palmeirim answered on 11 Jun 2020:
  
  I am now a researcher for about 10 years. It is crazy how the time goes so fast! During that time, I did my Master, then I did a couple of internships, the PhD (doctorate degree) and I started working as a postdoc (researcher after the PhD). I am already on my 3rd postdoc position but the first last for 6 months, in Brazil, the second last for 18 months, in China, and now my current position will last 2 years, so I still have 18 months to enjoy being in the UK 🙂
- Natasha Scott answered on 24 Jun 2020:
  
  I have been in my role (engineering geologist) for around a year, and hope to be in my role for many more.

Comments

Krishna commented on 2 Jun 2020:

I’ve actually moved jobs a few times since completing my PhD, I have a very wide range of interests and enjoy trying out new challenges and so have moved nearly every year!

Log in to Reply

Question: How long have you done your jobs.