• Question: is it hard to become a scientist

    Asked by anon-353999 on 7 Mar 2023. This question was also asked by anon-359861.
    • Photo: Emmett McKenna

      Emmett McKenna answered on 7 Mar 2023:

      Not really, There are alot of different fields and routes to go into science.

      For most it’s through a university degree after leaving school. But there are also apprenticeships available at 16 or 18 and starting in a factory and moving into a science role as you gain more experience and can do a qualification later in life.

    • Photo: Alice Martin

      Alice Martin answered on 7 Mar 2023:

      Absolutely not!

      There are so many different ways you can get into the sciences, directly from school, from university or from an advanced degree. People from any background can get into science, and often the best teams come from a group of people with very different backgrounds.

    • Photo: Arno Kraft

      Arno Kraft answered on 8 Mar 2023:

      Not really. It might look hard from a distance, but if science is what you are interested in and what you are good at, it’s easy.
      When I was a student at University ages ago (last century ..), we had 25 hours of labs each week, about 10 lectures, a class test or oral exam every 2-3 weeks. At first, it sounds like a lot to do. I actually enjoyed every minute, even took on some extra classes (programming, French, Physics, Maths) because I had some gaps in my timetable. Later, this became very useful. During my PhD, I wrote a long programme to solve a difficult problem that my supervisor asked me to look at. As a lecturer, I still write the odd programme, for example to create an interactive simulation for the virtual learning environment we use for teaching support. And Physics: the fact that I dabbled into this subject got me a job as a postdoc at the University of Cambridge where they were looking for someone who was good at chemistry and also new a lot of physics.

    • Photo: Graeme Dykes

      Graeme Dykes answered on 8 Mar 2023:

      There are many different areas of science and different levels of job with in each.
      Typically, you might be able to get a basic level job, leaving school but probably now, you need at least a degree.

      Anything which you don’t enjoy, is going to be a struggle.

      Science is a lot of things to remember but is is also about how to think about problems.
      It does require effort and discipline just in the same way that musicians have to do a lot of work to become successful.

    • Photo: Martin McCoustra

      Martin McCoustra answered on 8 Mar 2023:

      I don’t think it’s hard but it’s not for everyone. You need to be committed as it takes 4 or 5 years to get your first qualification – your degree. Then if you want to do research – you will need a PhD. Think of that as the first part of your apprenticeship. That takes 3 or 4 years. After that you can try and follow an academic pathway but that usually means a few more years to doing science for someone else before, if you a very good and lucky, you get your first academic position. Alternatively, after your PhD you can go and work in industry. You might even end up as a company director as one of my contemporaries at university did.

    • Photo: Nathalie Oguntona

      Nathalie Oguntona answered on 9 Mar 2023:

      No, it’s not. Science is really varied: there are so many things you can do and nany different entry points

    • Photo: Christy Sadler

      Christy Sadler answered on 13 Mar 2023:

      Not really! It can be difficult when experiments do not work but it’s a really rewarding job. There are so many different fields within science so there is always something to learn!

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