5 ms·

I agree with you. Being a scientist has become worse (although I would argue that is true for many other jobs as well). A PI nowadays really works like the lead

• timr 4y ago
  > A PI nowadays really works like the leader of a small startup constantly looking for money to keep the ship afloat without the prospect of a big payout at the end. I said exactly the same thing when I first left academia for tech, and people would look at me suspiciously and ask why I'd ever do such a thing. I looked at every PI I knew, and saw a task essentially identical to running a startup, but with no financial upside -- and the downside risk of being jobless and adrift if you don't get tenure.
• Fomite 4y ago
  This. I am a PI. What I spent my day doing was dealing with managerial tasks, fiddly stuff for funding applications, etc. I got to actually code for a whole day last week, and it was marvelous. It was also only possible because it was an all-hands-on-deck, everything else can wait situation.
  • killjoywashere 4y ago
    I spent like 10 total hours writing analytical code in 2020; maybe another 100 hours of analytic design. The rest was meetings, politics, coordination. I got a national award and millions in funding. I would trade it for more time playing with the puzzles. Do I feel good that my people got published and covered rent, hit major life goals (marriages, home purchases)? Yes. But, man, do I wish I got to do more science…