• Question: what advice would you give someone that aspires to have a similar job to you?

    Asked by Nathan W11 to Natt, Andy, Dwaine, Priya, Tatiana on 15 Jun 2015. This question was also asked by ben.holmes.
    • Photo: Natt Day

      Natt Day answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      Hi Nathan,

      Firstly– I’d definitely research what area of science and topic area excites you the most! Not only will narrowing it down help you make sure you’ve got an appropriate and focussed skillset but if it’s something you love to do it will help keep you motivated and dedicated– something that’s key to being a successful scientist!

      Secondly– when it comes to school, work hard and again do some research! You’ll need fairly consistently decent results throughout GCSE’s, A-Levels and University to get in to a position where you can either go for a PhD or go in to an industry job– but, at the same time, don’t believe you have to be a genius to be a scientist! And when I say research– I mean look up what results you need to get to go to college and do the courses you want/need to. When choosing your college courses/A-levels you need to look at what universities typically want for the courses you’d be interested in doing. Typically most uni’s will want at least 2 science A-levels (from Chemistry, Biology and Physics– and some universities count Maths as a science too) so just double check so you don’t end up shooting yourself in the foot!

      Thirdly– get yourself experience. This is something a bit more long-term and you might not be able to do until more college/uni but it’s key to keep in mind. For lab-based jobs (and PhD’s), you’ll be in a much better position if you have experience when you apply. You will be able to get some basic lab experience in practicals at university, but whilst in these get talking to the demonstrators/lecturers and express an interest at doing more! They may be able to offer you volunteer lab experiences over the holidays which are absolutely invaluable! You may also be interested in sandwich year degrees at university if you’re looking at going into industry labs (again more research!)

      Finally: never give up! Science in itself is a job that needs you to be really resilient and so keep on going and aspire to those heights and you will get there!

      Hope that helps– good luck!

      Natt

    • Photo: Andrew Scott

      Andrew Scott answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      Work hard and take the opportunity to get any experience that you can. Read and understand as much as you can.

    • Photo: Tatiana Trantidou

      Tatiana Trantidou answered on 16 Jun 2015:

      Hi Nathan,

      my advice would be first to do a lot of research to find out what you really like to do as a job. If you are excited about something, you will be very good at it. And this is the whole point for me; to love your job and excell in it. Then of course, you’ll need to work hard, study a lot for your final exams, carefully choose the best university for your studies and go for it. At the university, you will experience a whole new world. Earn as much experience as you can, take advantage of all opportunities to learn new things, find out about all possible career pathways. If you stil love science and you want to learn even more, you can then continue with a master degree to specialise in a particular field that you like the most. After this, if you still want to actually do science, you can do a PhD at a university that is top in the field.

      Most importantly, try not to give up, keep your standards and goals high and believe in yourself that you can achieve them!

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