• Question: do u work for a big commpany or do you have your own commpaney ,or do you work inderpendanle

    Asked by buthie1 to Amy, Grant, Martin, Shawn, Usman on 8 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Amy Tyndall

      Amy Tyndall answered on 8 Mar 2013:

      Well, it’s sort of a mix for me! Technically, I don’t work *for* anybody – for people like me studying for a PhD, you are offered funding for up to 4 years to study a particular topic, usually based at a University… So it’s a cross between being a student and being in a paid job! But you don’t have lessons like you do as an Undergraduate, you work on your particular project every day. No work in science is ever entirely independent, as you always have people working on a similar topic to you that you talk to and get help from, or some people even work as part of a big research group (sometimes an international one) to start with.

      During my time here in Chile, I’m sort of ‘on loan’ from Manchester to gain more experience working within ESO. ESO is a separate company again – it is not associated with a University, but is rather an inter-governmental organisation with 15 member countries taking part (of which the UK is one) to help run one of the biggest telescopes on the planet. So there really is a wide variety of options for working in astronomy!

    • Photo: Grant Kennedy

      Grant Kennedy answered on 9 Mar 2013:

      It’s a mix for me too! I was hired by my boss to do science and officially I work for the University of Cambridge, but a lot of the time I do things that were my idea so there’s a lot of independence. I also get to choose what time I go to work which is very nice!
      g

    • Photo: Shawn Domagal-Goldman

      Shawn Domagal-Goldman answered on 12 Mar 2013:

      I work for NASA, which isn’t a company but is a HUGE government agency in the United States.

      That said, a bunch of my friends work for themselves. That’s becoming more and more common as time goes on. So if you want to be a scientist, you’ll have a choice! You could work on your own, for a university, for a company, or for the government. They all work. 😀

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