Multiple matching
You are going to read an article in which five former research scientists explain why they changed careers. For questions 1-10, choose from the sections (A-E). The sections may be chosen more than once.
Leaving the Laboratory
Five people who trained as research scientists explain why they changed careers
Marisol Vega, now a science teacher
I always assumed I would spend my life in research, and for eight years I did. What ended it was not disillusionment with science but with the way it was funded. I calculated once that I spent more time writing grant applications than doing experiments, and most of those applications failed. Teaching was meant to be a stopgap while I decided what to do next. Eleven years later, I'm still here. The salary is lower, but I no longer lie awake wondering whether my contract will be renewed. What surprised me most was how much I had to unlearn. In the lab, admitting uncertainty is a virtue; in front of thirty fourteen-year-olds, it can be fatal unless you handle it with great care.
Which person denies that financial reward was the main reason for leaving research?
Which person appreciates the greater job security of their current work?
Which person has learnt that it is necessary to accept compromise?
Which person received criticism that proved valuable but was hard to accept?
Which person values the fact that people outside their field now respond to what they do?
Which person says that a quality admired in research can be risky in their new job?
Which person accepted a new job without much reflection?
Which person changed career after seeing their own research misrepresented?
Which person had come to find working on a very narrow subject unsatisfying?
Which person describes a feeling of completion that research never gave them?
0 of 10 answered