3 ms·

Then fund us. I'm about to leave science because I can't find a position.

• btrettel 6y ago
  I'm almost done my PhD (defense next week) and I'm starting as a patent examiner later this month. That was the only job I was offered, and I applied overwhelmingly to research positions. There really aren't enough research positions out there. (And before someone asks: I worked in a very practical area of engineering.) With that being said, increasing total funding can only go so far. A bigger problem to me is that the available funding is not allocated well. When certain professors make $300K+ per year yet can't find money for postdocs and their students make less than $20K per year, CERN asks for billions that could be spent on more important projects, and universities take a huge percentage of grants as overhead (often without clear justification), it seems obvious to me that there are plenty of ways to improve the situation without increasing funding. I could go on. I think the research enterprise is incredibly inefficient, and not by necessity.
  • pnw_hazor 6y ago
    Good luck at the USPTO. I worked with some former examiners (patent attorneys now). The early years are a grind to say the least.
• nickthemagicman 6y ago
  I feel like there should be funding devoted to scientist just starting their career so that they can prove what they're capable of.
  • btrettel 6y ago
    That's what PhD fellowships like the NSF fellowship are supposed to do as far as I know.