Well I am glad I became (/was?) a scientist; I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't...which is skint and bootstrapping a couple of start-ups! I spent four y

Well I am glad I became (/was?) a scientist; I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't...which is skint and bootstrapping a couple of start-ups! I spent four years doing my PhD in biochemistry and it was those four years (maximum UK time allowed) that made me, but you should only do it if you love the science. If you don't love the science, being a post-grad can be incredibly tough, slow and soul destroying. I started my PhD because of a love of science (especially lab work), but things happen and times change, which has now led me to detest lab work. I still enjoy the science, however. And now, because of the things that have put me off lab work, I plan to get a start-up off the ground that will help other researchers be more efficient and effective through the organisation of biological data. As for there being too many people for the number of jobs available, here in the UK, getting a PhD can sometimes be a piss-take. The number of idiots that can't even hold a pipette, let alone use one, who get PhDs is shocking. Most of them should have failed, but it's too much effort for the examiners to re-examine someone or they don't want to offend their "buddy" by failing their student, so they just let them through. Therefore, I blame the examiners. I think to become a professor can partly be because of luck. You have to be doing the right science at the right time X the 'sexy' science of the moment that will get published in high impact journals, because it's all about the publication record. My advice: become a scientist if you love the science and can do the science you love, and not because doing a PhD will buy you more time until you can figure out what you really want to do. If you come to love something else (like trying to be an entrepreneur in my case), then you can always apply the skills you have learnt to that...although, knowing how to use a pipette has yet to prove its worth in business!