Tag Archives: advice

From Doctorate to Data Science: A very short guide

Posted on by

Moving from a PhD into data science can be rewarding, but might be a bit of a culture shock

Are you one of the many PhDs considering a career in data science? I completed a PhD in neuroscience at Stanford three years ago; now I’m a data scientist at Uber. During my time in industry, I’ve found that the skills we develop in graduate school, such as analytical thinking, statistics, communication skills, and – oh yes – tenacity in the face of adversity, make us a great fit for the role.

smaller

The co-authorship network of 8,500 doctors and scientists publishing on hepatitis C virus between 2008 and 2012. {credit}Andy Lamb/ Flickr{/credit}

Continue reading →

Ageism in academic jobs in India

Posted on by

Farah Ishtiaq shares her experience on how age and success are linked in acquiring faculty positions in India

India has recently been portrayed as a land of abundant opportunity in academia, investing seriously in research and development to attract skilled scientists. The government has introduced several attractive funding opportunities, with the aim of bringing back scientists working abroad to establish a long-term career here, and improving the overall research infrastructure. Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance (WT/DBT) fellowships, for example, have no age or nationality restrictions, relying on qualifications, research experience, career trajectory and the candidate’s determination to establish their own independent research.

A Nature special issue in 2015 explored some of the unique opportunities - and the unique problems - of working as a scientist in India

A Nature special issue in 2015 explored some of the unique opportunities – and the unique problems – of working as a scientist in India

Continue reading →

Five rules for starting up in synthetic biology

Posted on by

Building a synthetic biology startup is tough – but stay the course and it’ll be the most rewarding struggle of your life, says James Field.

Since the advent of life 3.6 billion years ago, the survival of all species has depended on rapid innovation at the genetic level. As a consequence, our planet has grown rich with evolved technologies.

Traditionally, the dream of harnessing these evolved technologies has been confined to thought experiments and science fiction. Now, the emerging field of synthetic biology is giving engineers the tools required to tap into evolution’s code-base.

forest-1245951_1280 Continue reading →

Scientific presentations: A cheat sheet

Posted on by

Scientific culture and insufficient training in public speaking leads to dull, text-heavy talks. Put more effort into presentations, say Andrew Gaudet and Laura Fonken

As postdocs with a combined 20 years of experience in neuroscience research, we’ve attended hundreds of talks and delivered dozens of presentations. We’ve realized it is imperative to perform your best every time you present — whether at a weekly meeting or at a job interview.

Your preparation and organization will help the audience understand your main points, and this professionalism will boost your reputation, which could lead to further opportunities. Ultimately, a presentation is one of the ways of influencing how others perceive your science and your competence. Here, we’ve put together some ideas for creating polished presentations.

presentation-1559937_1280

Continue reading →

What’s something you wished you had learnt earlier?

Posted on by

We ask speakers at the Naturejobs career expo, San Francisco, what they wish they had known earlier in their careers.

https://youtu.be/SvNX335-4dg

How to approach a PI when you have misgivings about data

Posted on by
Reply

Scientist can feel defensive when hard-earned data are questioned, so careful planning is required when approaching them with misgivings.

magnifying-glass-naturejobs

{credit}Design Pics/Thinkstock{/credit}

The scientific community is paying close attention to published work, and it means retractions are becoming more frequent, despite the careful pre-publication scrutiny. Retraction Watch publishes the depressing news of retractions almost daily. Although outright fabricated data is rare, mistakes do happen because scientists want to turn a blind eye to unwanted results, want to avoid being scooped or use inadequate experimental tools .

As a scientist, any work that you publish or data you collect becomes associated with your work or your lab. Thus, several reputations hang in the balance if retractions do occur. Rigorous experimental planning, data collection and analysis are paramount. But what happens if, for reasons outside of your control, these things don’t happen?

Unfortunately, early career researchers are often at the receiving end of non-reproducibility when moving into a new laboratory or taking on a new project. If you do believe that you’ve been caught up in a piece of work that doesn’t meet the high standards science demands, how do you approach your supervisor to voice your concerns? Continue reading →

Ask the expert: How do I figure out what value I have to offer non-academic employers?

Posted on by
Reply

Being open-minded and entrepreneurial in a personal analysis can help scientists understand their value propositions.

Contributor Alaina G. Levine

Allow me to get right to the point: as a STEM-educated professional, you have seemingly infinite career opportunities. Organisations beyond academia recognise your value and they covet you for it. They see you as a strategic and necessary element of advancing the mission of their company, and as such they heavily recruit you and pay you well for your talent.

Most STEM professionals erroneously believe that the entire composition of their value is only related to their discipline. But your scientific prowess is only one piece of the intricate tapestry that is your value. The rest of what you have to offer comes from a number of different sources, but they all share one thing in common: you gained these abilities in the process of becoming a scientist or engineer.

So let’s discuss what your value is. First of all, you are a problem solver. This is not something to be taken lightly, because the purpose of every job in every organisation is to solve problems. So whether you work in big data, entertainment, or biotech, you will always be solving problems. And since scientists and engineers are the ultimate problem solvers, you have a competitive advantage in this arena. You have been trained to find solutions where others see only a brick wall. You know how to ask why and you don’t stop until you find an answer. Continue reading →