Science & Research

What is your merit increase for 2025? Ours is right around 2.5% which is roughly what it’s been the last several years. Not great but it’s something. Are you happy with yours?

My team is doing a reorganization where half the team is going to swap managers. How would you feel if you had to swap managers next week? (your old manager is still in your group you just don’t repor… more

People hired from outside at my level are getting better offers than those of us promoted internally. Same stage, different pay and support. It honestly makes staying feel like a mistake. Did anyone e… more

Do you think it’s true that you shouldn’t be friends with your coworkers? I feel like it’s not true at all because no one understands what you’re going through more than them.

Has anyone else stayed at the same institution for years and then realized it actually makes you harder to hire elsewhere? I’ve done a lot here, but outside places seem to prefer people who moved arou… more

I am officially burnt out and have scheduled my first vacation. How long does it take you to get burnt out? I will say it takes me about 2.5 months.

Has your boss ever insinuated that you should be grateful to have a job? This seems to be the trend around different industries

Just had a meeting with my client and had to present the normal timeline for a project. They have an extremely expedited project so I spent most of the meeting going “well it’s normally 12 weeks but f… more

While still in academia, I tried to build “industry-relevant” experience through collaborations, internships, and side projects. It helped, but it also added extra workload. Looking back, I’m glad I m… more

How do you deal with difficult coworkers? Most of the people on my team are great but in my role I have to go between a lot of other groups and that has me in contact with a lot of difficult people th… more

Who has been an important mentor or supporter in your career journey?

What do you think is worse, having a boss that is a micromanager or having a boss that panics under pressure. I would say micromanager is worse.

I’ve turned down or hesitated on certain roles because of location, even when the job itself was interesting. Balancing personal life, family, and career opportunities hasn’t always been straightforwa… more

There’s a difference between being done working and feeling done working. I’m bad at the second one. What helps you create a clean break? For me it’s stepping outside even for ten minutes.

I am currently deciding between two paths and would really value perspective. One is a senior scientist role in biotech at 165k with stock and strong resources. The other is a tenure track faculty off… more

Today was supposed to be all day training but I couldn’t stay for more than 30 minutes without getting pulled away. Anyone else have days like this?

I’ve noticed that timing plays a huge role in career moves, from funding cycles to hiring freezes to personal life events. Sometimes great opportunities appear at inconvenient moments. Learning patien… more

Based on your personality type do you find other people are surprised or not surprised when you tell them your profession? I will say most people are surprised. I usually get that I am a nurse.

When I first started applying to industry jobs, I struggled to convert my long academic CV into a concise resume. Deciding what to cut and how to translate publications into business value was challen… more

👀What are some signs your boss dislikes you?

I hate that Sundays feel like countdown days now. By Sunday afternoon I am already thinking about meetings, deadlines, and inbox volume. It makes the weekend feel half gone. What actually helped you s… more

I am honestly scared about finishing my PhD right now. Everyone ahead of me is struggling to secure postdocs and faculty roles are scarce. I love research but the path looks unstable. How did you deci… more

For a long time, I worried that leaving academia would feel like “giving up” on my original goals. Talking to people who moved into industry, policy, or consulting helped shift my perspective. I’ve realized… more

Is anyone else planning their entire career around grant odds instead of science curiosity? I am shaping projects toward what reviewers might like rather than what feels most important scientifically.… more

Those of us who are bonus eligible: how’s your bonus looking for 2025? Our business result was incredibly low, which was very surprising to me. I’m happy to get any bonus but it’s looking much smaller… more

Is postdoc pay supposed to plateau this early? I am in year three making 63k and NIH scale increases are only about 2k a year. Meanwhile rent in my city jumped like crazy since I started. How are peop… more

Happy Valentines Day!! How is everyone celebrating?? I’m doing a sweet dinner and gift exchange with my daughters.

Have you ever had a great experience during an interview and were surprised you didn’t get the job?

Anyone in NY/NJ work for Abbvie? Do you know if they allow work out of the NYC satelite office? Mainly sale people work out of there.

My first interview for an industry position felt very different from academic interviews. There was more focus on teamwork, timelines, and business impact than on publications alone. It caught me a bi… more

What is the first thing you look for when you go to apply for a job? Do you check to see if pay is listed? Or do you dig into the company’s rating by employees? I usually check to see what recent revi… more

I’ve been so caught up in my projects that it wasn’t until just now I realized Monday was a holiday. I didn’t even realize it I went to schedule a meeting on Monday and was told by an invitee. Anyone … more

I used to only apply for jobs where I met nearly every requirement, especially on the technical side. Over time, I realized that might be limiting my opportunities more than helping me. Now I’m trying… more

Hello, I’m serious about research and I’d like to learn from this space.
I hope you don’t mind me connecting.
I’m a public health practitioner working toward UKPHR registration and I’m intentionally building… more

My group is about to change the entire setup and go from a functionality split to one based on the project regulatory state (early vs late stage). When you’re siloed do you prefer it being the people … more

Have you ever worked at a place where you were the only gender there? I have been and now that my field is mostly women I do wonder how the men feel.

Is burnout just baked into PhD training at this point? My doctoral student logged 62 hours in the lab last week and still feels behind because experiments failed twice. We have weekly meetings, but I … more

Networking has never come naturally to me, especially in academic or technical settings where conversations can feel forced. I’ve improved over time, but it still takes effort to put myself out there.… more

I am so frustrated with these reviewers. We submitted to a top tier journal with a 12% acceptance rate and waited 4 months for feedback. One reviewer wrote a single paragraph and asked for an entirely… more