Last week I think Dr Ong asked me if I ever felt like giving up during the course of my studies and the answer was definitely yes. And then today I had a chat with my colleague who emphasized the importance of having passion for what one researches on. If passion is lacking, then it's not worth it. An interesting example was a church friend of his who's working at XXXXXX and doing sideline as a stock broker as well. A Ph.D holder too.
So, once again just when I think I'm moving in the direction I desire, I pause for a while to ponder how to take the next few steps of my life. "Don't compare salaries", that's one important thing to bear in mind. For amount of brain juice we put in, I think we don't measure on par with the commercial sectors but we are paid to find questions to interesting questions in life (rather than working on profits) and I still hope it'll serve as the basic motivation in my future career.
Ok update : just found an interesting article on Life Scientist salaries. And I think we are really cheaper than assay kits which can easily cost a few thousand bucks to purchase.
And here are some comments by those who have gone through it... :
Those who suffered:
"We live in a world where 25 year old hedge fund analysts are paid six/seven figure sums for stuff they say is not "rocket science". At 25 I was working 14 hr days in a lab making $17,000 to get my PhD. Talented scientists and people like *********** have let themselves be exploited by the system, working for next-to-nothing for the greater "noble cause". Let me tell you, nobody cares about the Post-doc that worked on the Science or Nature paper.
I went to a top business school and am now working as a Biotechnology analyst at an investment bank. I still love the science and will always be a scientist, but not at the expense of being exploited by the system. "
"I think we need to move past the silly notion that ?passion? should drive the scientist forward. Passion doesn?t pay the bills. This is particularly true when you live in an ?ownership society? such as ours. Letting ?passion? lead every decision that you make could well lead the scientist to the wrong side of the poverty line. These are EXCUSES offered by principle investigators and the higher-ups at the NIH that contributed to the glut of post-docs. They have benefited handsomely from the logjam of post-docs that has resulted by creating high-tech sweat shops. This situation has ruined many a promising career ? when financial reality bumped up against ?passion.? It?s past time to start talking about parity ? if we don?t start we will find that our brain trust has done what I was forced to do ? abandon science for business and a decent income."
Those who loved it:
"I did postdoc for several years and now teach in private university. I thought a postdoc was the worst (job if we call it). Now, I think assistant professor is the worst. But, still happy. Why?
Financially, I am not getting paid what I am worth. However, there are big rewards that students that I taught come back and say thank you years later. My wife working in the biotech industry is getting paid more than twice. I still cherish what I am doing.
In my conclusion, it is a personal choice and preference, driven by education. I never had chances to think about other choices during my education. I do confess that I sometimes long for other professions, but for different reason from finances. My wife, on the other hand, wants to trade all financial compensation for college job.
It's hard to understand both sides at the same time."
Sometimes it would have been better if we didn't progressed so much, I think plucking coconuts for a living is much more fun than sitting in an office. We have to now wake up early, squeeze into the train, get infected by someone sick in the train or infect someone yourself (guilty), run after bus, sit down in office and tap my fingers on the keyboard, eat lunch, work, squeeze into homebound train, speak to your family for less than an hour, sleep and repeat. Maybe I should start planning an emergency exit plan someday.
