{"id":16525,"date":"2018-01-26T13:00:23","date_gmt":"2018-01-26T13:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/?p=16525"},"modified":"2018-01-23T11:42:55","modified_gmt":"2018-01-23T11:42:55","slug":"dummy-no-more-when-to-accept-youre-no-longer-a-beginner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/2018\/01\/26\/dummy-no-more-when-to-accept-youre-no-longer-a-beginner\/","title":{"rendered":"Dummy no more: When to accept you\u2019re no longer a beginner"},"content":{"rendered":"

You won\u2019t always be a student, trainee, or beginner. Expertise comes from knowing your skills and constantly trying to improve, says Atma Ivancevic.<\/h2>\n

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Last year, a friend of mine was applying for highly competitive PhD scholarships at Oxford<\/a>, Cambridge<\/a> and EMBL-EBI<\/a>. She spent countless hours filling in applications, going through interviews, getting rejected and trying again. This process was tough \u2013 especially because she almost always made it into the final round. It was a learning experience for all of us.<\/p>\n

One day, she bounced into the lab, half-dancing from excitement. Her interview panel had told her, as part of their feedback, that she should \u201cthink bigger \u2014 you won\u2019t always be inexperienced\u201d. She saw herself as a PhD applicant; they saw a leader, volunteer, programmer and scientist. They saw her potential, not her position, and were eager to find out what she would achieve. She hadn\u2019t realized that would factor into the interview.<\/p>\n

As a student, it\u2019s easy to see a gap between yourself and your supervisors. You think, \u201cthey have years of experience\u201d, \u201cthey know what they\u2019re doing\u201d, or worse, \u201cthey never make mistakes\u201d. It\u2019s a safety blanket of sorts: you\u2019re allowed to seek guidance and rely on more experienced colleagues to make important decisions. There\u2019s something oddly reassuring about knowing that you don\u2019t really know much at all<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But this \u201cbeginner\u201d mentality can make it hard to move onto the next phase of your career. Last year, I came to the startling realization that my time as a student was finally over. Postdocs<\/a> are expected to drive the lab by bringing their own trademark of local expertise. It\u2019s a surreal feeling, speaking as the \u201cexpert\u201d in a room of accomplished scientists when internally you\u2019re accustomed to being a novice. This feeling is so common it has a name (and a hashtag<\/a>): Imposter Syndrome<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A large part of becoming a scientist is realizing that yes, you do know things<\/a>. Your opinion should count. Accept the fact that you do have skills, and it took a lot of hard work to get to where you are now. Are you the best in the world<\/a> at what you do? Probably not. Will you ever be the best in the world<\/a>? Maybe, maybe not. Regardless, your very particular set of skills<\/a> can set you up nicely for a fruitful career<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the spirit of making New Year\u2019s resolutions<\/a>, take a moment to evaluate your strengths and look for tangible ways to quickly improve. You know better than anyone else what you excel at. How can you build on existing skills? For example:<\/p>\n

Skill #1
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I can write. How can I write better?
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