Last Monday, June 16th marked the beginning of a new phase in my life. One June 16th, I officially moved out of the lab and into the real world, by starting my internship at Nature Network Boston. If you think I am being dramatic, you are probably right, and I don’t mind.
All of a sudden, I am an awful lot like everyone else. I take the train in to work at 8AM, read during the commute (while listening to the most inane conversations imaginable from my fellow commuters), wear cute-ish outfits, fill out time sheets, and take short lunch breaks. It’s weird, people. It’s just weird.
The differences between lab life and office life are numerous and striking. First off, the office is silent. It’s kind of like working in a library. There is no one dropping reagents or equipment, no loud curses when things go wrong… just muted keyboard clicks and the occasional dull thuds of printers. The hours at the office are much more structured than in lab – most people are in by 9AM and begin to file out at 5:30PM. Compare that to my old lab, which was continuously occupied from about 7AM to 3AM (not always by the same person). Dress codes are dramatically different as well. Hardly anyone (ok, no one) wears bleach-splattered jeans and Wescodyne-stained shirts. I can’t say that I miss that.
My new desk, with my favorite hula girl cup, pass to get into the NPG kingdom office, office phone (I have my own phone! It’s the little things) and obligatory cup of coffee.
I do miss some things about lab, not the least of which is a beer-stocked fridge. Turns out, I kinda miss science (emphasis on _kinda_). Shocking, I know. An office mate started a conversation with someone about cell signaling in human cancers. I heard “cell signaling” and my head popped up from my keyboard like one of those prairie dogs coming out of its hole in the ground. I guess I still have some science left in me. I am going to have to figure out how to fit it into my life. I don’t want it to be my life, mind you. Not again. I just want it in there somewhere, vaguely.
To that end, I couldn’t resist bringing a piece of my old science life with me. The P2 pipette in the picture is an anniversary addition (50th anniversary of DNA structure discovery, 1953-2003), complete with a gilded ejection thingie. It has my initials on top of the plunger button thingie (how do I still not know the names of pipette parts?), so it’s mine and you can’t take it away from me. It serves as a small reminder of where I came from and what I bring with me to the desk every day.
I never thought I would see my P2 sitting calmly next to a coffee cup, but there you go. I have gotten a few chuckles, an “Eww” from my Dad at home, but otherwise there has been no reverse discrimination – here, unlike in lab, people are ok with coffee cups and pipettes coexisting in peace and harmony. And that’s how I like it.
Last updated:
Tuesday, 24 Jun
2008 - 02:32 UTC
At least you’re in an office where people actually talk about cell signaling. I imagine most places aren’t like that =)
Are you going to sip your coffee… in multiple doses of 2uL each?
Eva – People do talk about cell signaling! Especially when I make them :)
Massimo – I am afraid I need a much more effective coffee delivery system than a 2uL pipet. That’s just not going to cut it for me. 30mL syringe would do, maybe :)
Anna, that’s a wonderful post. You voice my biggest worry about leaving the bench. What if I miss “science”. I know for a fact that switching to a 9-5 for the first time ever is gonna be really wierd!
Hmm, I will have to have a word with those Bostoners about their office hours, they are letting the side down!
In London, I am in by 8 a.m. and I am not the first. I leave either at 5 p.m. if I am on parental duty or around 7 p.m. if it isn’t my turn. And I’m not the last out. (But, just in case you were worrying, they aren’t the same people in our office either, Anna!)
Of course, I don’t have lunch, coffee or tea breaks, unless I am meeting an author, other scientist or occasionally a colleague or ex-colleague, for lunch. Although as Henry mentioned in the Ask the Editor forum, there is a free canteen in London, it is not good for the waistline.
Ian – Thanks! It’s weird. It’s totally weird. Not bad, just weird. There is always the risk of missing science (or the benefits of a researcher’s lifestyle, at the least), but I think there are now more roads back than there were before. I hope that people in academia are now less refractory to taking people who ventured outside of hardcore science for a little while. I hope no decisions are irreversible… within reason, of course.
Maxine – D’oh. I knew someone would pick up on the hours. I don’t mean that the hours here are lax. They are not. I am typing this at 6PM on a Friday and the office is full. No one is even drinking! This would be unheard of in my old lab. (We would drink and come back to work, of course). Everyone eats lunch at their desks, which was also shocking to me. I understand why it’s necessary, but it doesn’t do much for personal interaction in the office. People put their hours in. There is no doubt about that. And they are very concentrated hours, at that. All work, no goofing off.
I was teasing, Anna! I know the Boston guys work as hard as everyone else at NPG, it is amazing how we are all still alive, with our total dedication to our jobs.
In London there is a bit of a bimodal distribution on the lunch — some people go to the canteen every day (eg a team goes together to have a catch up), whereas others always take their lunch back to their desks. Strange.
I was teasing, Anna! I know the Boston guys work as hard as everyone else at NPG, it is amazing how we are all still alive, with our total dedication to our jobs.
snff snff
is that…sarcasm? :)
;-)
Sounds a bit like the life of a professor when everyone else has gone home for the day.
I for one, seem to spend lot of my day trying to find time to write in a quiet room with my favorite cup (which carries a lake berryessa 2 mile swim image) nearby.