My job, and why I love it so much, is because I basically have free reign to just research and think about unanswered, fundamental questions. Literally everyday is a puzzle, and I can spend it reading other publications, thinking of experiments which will allow me to answer these fundamental questions, or performing these experiments to see what happens. It's such a legit job, just completely problem solving and with other smart, lateral-thinking people. I think anyone who has worked with me understands I am an ideas person. I think big, and I think creatively, I sometimes gloss over the finer points, but all in the purest intentions - to arrive at something new; an idea, a kernel, a brainwave. It's a sloppy, mushy process which doesn't fit into distinct classifications. The ideas are all mixed up together, sloshing about as they zip from neuron to neuron, rejoining old connections and conducting new ones. I think I always had that, but Rob (Moore, my PhD main supervisor) showed me how to focus my creativity just as he does, and it has made me such a better thinker. A PhD really is about philosophy; it doesn't matter what your thesis topic is.
This is why I should do all I can to preserve my current research career trajectory. Science is better off with me in it, and I am lost without it. I honestly cannot think of a more blessed job. I'd like to do it for more pay, I did complete a PhD and all (not saying that makes me better, but shouldn't there be SOME kind of advantage in doing one?), but I would honestly do it for free if I didn't have to worry about money. I love working on new projects. I love thinking about different problems and trying to come up with a creative way to answer the question. What people outside science may not understand (which is fair enough as their roles may not require it) is that being a researcher, your job is to literally think about really basic questions and think of creative ways to answer them. Sometimes it's 'oh yes I can do this experiment and it will answer the question'. Those are the best. They are fun to do. Other times answering a question involves doing a massive experiment, then analysing data for a long time until you can say whether or not the experiment even worked, or if you see what you thought you'd see. Those are shit experiments because so many things can go wrong and you won't even know where to start rationally troubleshooting. I would advise any future PhD/honours/masters students from signing up to those types of outer-space tier projects as the system can punish you for it. I mean, if you are confident with each technical skill and step, you should definitely go for it, but longform experimentation is an art commonly practised, rarely executed effectively. It's also why we rarely see these types of experiments in the literature, because the priority of most labs nowadays (due to the current funding model) is to push out as much easy, non-risky science they can, just to secure future funding to keep their heads above water.
I respected my PhD project because I feel like it was something worthwhile and a legitimate contribution to science. It hasn't been published yet (for several reasons I won't go into) but I felt proud that I worked on something and provided a substantial development in the field and my lab mates around me. The project was addressing a legitimate health issue, so it feels good to work on SOMETHING which will make life less painful for at least someone, sometime in the future. I am annoyed my PhD hasn't yet been turned into publications and I know it is adversely affecting my career, but a person's experience is not always written into the public record. I am, and have been a valuable lab member in every group I have worked with. I have made numerous unmentioned (and totally unnecessarily-not-worth-mentioning-because-its-just-common-scientific-courtesy-to-teach-and-help-develop-others-and-their-projects) contributions to others and their projects. Most of us do this, and get nothing in return. But that's okay, because you can then count on that person to teach you stuff in their expertise. That is why it's such a great environment to work in. I am inspired by colleagues almost every day. By a thought they had, by a piece of machinery they use to generate meaningful science, by their approach to scientific queries.
Why would you want to work anywhere else?
