How can you assess potential investments in your scientific career like professional coaching or online courses? Such investments could catapult you forward in your career leading to huge benefits like pay raises, promotions, or more interesting projects. Or they could be a huge waste of money. To make the right decisions you need an analytical…
As a scientist, should you get an MBA degree? The answer will be different for every individual scientist. It will even be different at different points in a single scientist’s career. Nevertheless, there are some common pros and cons to consider. This post isn’t meant to convince you one way or the other; rather, it…
Think less, act more is a recipe for success in the world of science. Action is valued more than thought. If you pause and consider it, this is incredibly obvious. No one was ever promoted, published, or otherwise rewarded for simply thinking. Rather, they had to experiment, write, meet, present, or take some other kind…
Introduction As a scientist, you need a team of independent advisors—a community of scientists—to help you navigate a complex professional landscape. Let me explain why and propose a solution. You possess the skills to do or learn to do almost anything, and that predisposition towards independence and self-determination can be detrimental to your career. Our…
Developing a practice of lifelong learning as an established scientist is essential to your continued professional development and happiness. By the time you become an industry scientist, you may have spent 25 years or more on your education and training. But you’re not done learning. To the contrary, if you want to excel, you need…
You and everyone else thinks they should be promoted. As a scientist, you were likely never taught specific strategies to navigate and excel in the corporate world. So how do you set yourself apart and get that promotion you deserve? In this article, we’ll outline strategies to get you promoted in service of your long…
Hey scientist, why don’t you have a professional career coach? You’ve probably never thought you needed one. You’ve likely never heard another scientist rave about how a career coach for scientists transformed their professional life. Maybe you think you have a pretty good mentor and a strong support structure in your peers, family, and friends….
A natural transition The transition from scientist to data scientist is achievable. As a scientist you’ve been trained to dive into the murky waters of real world data and emerge with meaningful insights. You’re an expert at assessing causality (probably more expert than many data scientists) and won’t be fooled by spurious correlations. You understand…
What is informational interviewing? Informational interviewing is simply the practice of conversing with someone with the goal of learning about their professional life, job, and industry. It is by far the easiest way to invest in growing your career. Yet, most people don’t do it with any regularity, because it takes time, it’s awkward, or…
What you thought you learned You probably spent most of your scientific Ph.D. training learning incredibly technical experimental methods. But those skills are truly not that important after graduate school. How many jobs require your stimulated emission depletion microscopy expertise? There are more jobs looking for skills in super-resolution microscopy, and more still looking for…