Science Stinks

Science it's cool and interesting to see, read about, or study but it's miserable to do.

I'm not taking about doing independent resurch or something I don't know what that's like, I'm talking about your basic crappy lab job.

I've always loved Science. I love learning about it. I think living things are the most fascinating thing in all creation, that's why I got my degree in Biology, but with that I could only find temp work testing water (amazingly more boring then it sounds).

So I went back to school and got a degree in Clinical Lab Science. This qualified me to work in hospital/medical labs. Those are miserable places. I spent 4 years in a Blood Bank being alternately board out of my skull and stressed out of my mind. It seemed like over half the people in the field were nearly as miserable as I was.

Now I’m unemployed and terrified of going back to one of those stinking places, but feel trapped because there all I’m qualified for. Worse sill I feel guilty for getting kids interested in science because the might end up like me.

edited 28th Dec '11 5:43:39 PM by HistoryMaker

I dunno. I had a summer job in an environmental lab once, and it rocked face, even though I was doing nothing but mounting samples on slides all day.

You gotta be the head researcher. That way you get a bunch of slaves, also known as "lab assistants".

I'm... sorry about your job prospects?

Not completely sure what we are suppose to discuss here.

Get a teaching degree and go somewhere other than the US to try and get a teaching job. Apparently Canada is looking for teachers of math and science...

Hah. I admit to thinking something similar to this after a particularly boring genetics prac. "They said science was exciting," I told my brother. "They lied. Science is hanging around for two hours, so that you can look at a blurry photo of some black and white lines and write 'Results inconclusive' in your lab book."

But I guess no job is all glamour.

edited 28th Dec '11 6:36:32 PM by LoniJay

Sorry, I guess that was really more of a rant than a conversation starter. I guess I just wanted to know if anyone agreed with me and/or disagreed strongly enough to try to prove that I’m wrong or an isolated case or missing something.

edited 28th Dec '11 6:42:16 PM by HistoryMaker

You've gotta learn office intrigue real fast: That's what makes or breaks academics and researchers in the real world.

Depends on the kind of science. With respect to labor-intensive disciplines requiring expensive equipment, that is probably the case; but, at least as far as I can see, theorists can generally get to choose much regarding their own direction of research and so on.

For example, in my case, my contract mentions a general topic. Inside that topic, I can pretty much do anything that I feel like doing. I have a supervisor, who can in theory fire me if he thinks I am not doing enough, but he does not order me around — at most, he mentions some open problems that I might want to look at, and of course he is available for suggestions and advice if I have trouble.

That's not to say that it cannot be frustrating at times; but it's not the "gah this is boring and leads nowhere" kind of boring, but rather the "gah I spent months working on a paper and one of my fundamental premises is entirely wrong" one.

What's so boring about testing water?

Shit stinks everywhere. The only difference between yours and most jobs is that you were probably paid more.

Generic science is just as much "MWAHAHAHA I'LL SHOW THEM" and "YES! YES! BEHOLD THE SECRETS OF NATURE" as, say, archaeology is running through dungeons and cracking a whip.

I dunno man, the wetland and wildlife preserves around here treat their eggheads pretty well.

I still think there should be a union for mad scientists.

I'm with Chainy on that.

Yeah, depends your field. I'm sure the social sciences are a lot more fun.

...

Wait, they're not social in that way?

I am told somebody already started a sexology school with practical exercises, if that's what you had in mind.

I'm majoring in Geology right now and hope to become a Paleontologist one of these days, but for now I think I should do a couple years as a geologist because they are in high demand and they can make a lot of money. (Hell I live near Marcellus Shale)

Really? I didn't know that. It's to do with finding resources for energy production, right? (*looks up "Marcellus Shale"*)... Yeah, seems so. I hope the fossils there aren't harmed by exploration (and exploitation.)