• Question: what it hard to get to where you are now, as in training/studying? Did it take a long time?

    Asked by xfarfarx to Adam, Geoff, Rob, Sheila, Suzie on 15 Mar 2011 in Categories: . This question was also asked by sufyantalib, shujahat.
    • Photo: Suzie Sheehy

      Suzie Sheehy answered on 15 Mar 2011:

      Thanks for your question, you’ve made me stop and think a bit about how I actually got “where I am now”.

      I really only finished being a “student” last year! It took me from 2002 when I started my first undergraduate degree until the end of 2010 to get a degree in Physics, a 1 year Masters by research (called Honours in Australia) and then a PhD in Physics.

      You don’t have to do all of that to be a scientist, but you’d probably at least need an undergraduate degree. But after that there are lots of options. At the lab I work at now (the Rutherford Appleton Lab) there are graduate training programmes for people who have finished an undergraduate degree, who then have a permanent job at the lab while learning new skills as part of the training scheme. Some of those guys also do a part-time PhD so they end up with the same qualifications as me, but with probably a lot more work experience!

      I’m not going to say it was easy to get where I am now, there were some really tough times. During my “honours” year in Australia we all ended up working 10-15 hour days at least 6 days a week because it was SO competitive to get the marks you needed to get into the PhD programme on a scholarship. I had NO social life which for me was tough! In the end I worked really hard at it and got offered a scholarship but turned it down (!) because I was also accepted at Oxford and decided that broadening my horizons would be a good thing. But that was the ultimate achievement, as I’d always thought Oxford was out of my reach… but it turned out it wasn’t 🙂

      It’s never easy moving country – I probably took the decision a bit too lightly! But at least Australia & England are quite similar culturally and the language is (almost) the same. Of course I miss my family & friends in Oz but go back once a year to visit. So for me, probably the hardest part has been the personal side of sacrificing the lifestyle that I had in Australia in order to fulfill my career ambitions. I still hope to (one day) head back to the land of sunshine and pursue my research there, but at the moment there are more opportunities over here.

      I hope I haven’t gone on too much… do let me know if you have any other questions!

    • Photo: Sheila Kanani

      Sheila Kanani answered on 15 Mar 2011:

      It has been both easy and hard, I’ve had my ups and downs! I did the usual route until I was 18 then took a gap year, then did a physics undergraduate course at uni for four years, then another gap year, then my phd is four years too. So it has taken a long time, but it has been really worth it!!

    • Photo: Adam Tuff

      Adam Tuff answered on 15 Mar 2011:

      I don’t think there’s any doubt about it, Physics isn’t the easiest thing to understand all the time – even I have found certain things difficult (I really, really hate doing anything involving magnetics!). You do need to spend quite a lot of time learning new things, and sometimes concepts and ideas are difficult to understand. It’s been hard, and I’m still really training and studying, but I think I will be doing that for the rest of my career as things in science are constantly changing and we learn new things all the time! I’ve spent 7 years at University now, which may seem a long time, but I have honestly really enjoyed my time here – University isn’t anything like school because it’s a lot more fun and independent for you, you meet more people who are like you and interested in the same things and it’s really down to you most of the time how much time you want to spend on things – eventually it doesn’t become hard work – it becomes something you love doing!

    • Photo: Robert Simpson

      Robert Simpson answered on 15 Mar 2011:

      It has taken a long time but it doesn’t feel like it. I did my first degree 2000-2004 then my PhD 2006-2010. I did my A-Levels 1998-2000, which was more than a decade ago. That might scare me but it hasn’t felt like a long time.

    • Photo: Geoff McBride

      Geoff McBride answered on 15 Mar 2011:

      It took me 4 years. It was difficult but I really enjoyed it. If thing are too easy I get bored very quickly.

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