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This is going to be a short post, isn’t it…
I won’t miss the constant sense of looming failure.
I certainly won’t miss the mice.
I am kind of going to miss the shaming and passive aggressive signs.
Don’t worry, neither Ben nor Jean were seriously injured during their tenure in my lab.
I will miss all the empty boxes.
Shipments come into the lab daily. Some in large boxes, some in tiny ones. Some huge boxes contain nothing but tiny vials, victims of over-packaging, over-protection, and over-charging for shipping. Moving is a breeze with so many boxes around.
Handy, really, since I am moving. After long and painful deliberation, I decided to accept a job as a senior analyst at a science policy consulting firm in DC. I will be moving there at the end of next week, and starting my new job on June 8. I don’t yet know what I will be working on*, but I was told to read up on the front content of the Economist in order to get an idea of the current science policy issues facing the United States. I do know that I will have my very own office, along with my very first set of business cards, and a business laptop. My new apartment in DC has a roof-top deck with a giant grill and a view of the Capitol dome. Taken together, that means I am now just one dog and one washer/dryer unit away from acquiring everything I consider necessary for full adulthood.
As I turn away from lab (yet again) I feel no nostalgia, no longing, no regret. It’s time for me to move away from bench science, back to enjoying science my way – by reading and thinking about it.
Now I have to get back to packing and finishing lab work. It took eight years for me to build a happy life and home here in Boston. It will only take a week to take it all apart and start again, from scratch, in a new city and a new industry. Wish me luck. And air conditioning.
*Another reason I don’t yet know the exact projects I will be working on is that the job requires a government security clearance. Eeek. I hope that security clearance is not as dark and sinister as it sounds.
Good luck Anna! If I may give some advice from my father… he once told me that my job out of graduate school (whatever that may be when I finish) doesn’t necessarily have to be my dream job (though, that would be great). We are still young and have a lot of career paths/changes in our future.
Please keep us posted on how it goes! I am interested in hearing how you like it.
Good for you, Anna! Best of luck.
I am glad you are taking this exciting step – enjoy the adventure.
Good luck – this seems to be a good time to be getting into science policy in Washington! Will you be able to keep blogging?
\o/
Best of luck Anna! As Steven asks, will you be able to keep blogging?
Good luck!! Enjoy the adventure (sounds amazing from your post!) and hopefully we will see you in the near future!
Thank you! I am pretty militant about my personal freedoms, specifically when it comes to blogging. I don’t know how much depth I will be able to go into about the work I am doing, but I am almost certain that I will keep blogging. I can’t imagine that my new company can allow dogs and torn T-shirts in the office, but not blog. Though, yea, this is a conversation I need to have with my future boss!
Certainly this is not the job. There are not many people who have their dream jobs. I hope this will be a step toward other things for me!
Two words Erika: P. H.
The RSC can’t spell my name either! ;-)
Good luck! It sounds extremely interesting.
I saw the new head of the EPA on the Daily Show last night, and she was saying how excited people in her organisation are about the new administration. I hope you move into just as exciting and dynamic an environment!
Congrats Anna on the new job!
Good luck with moving and all the exciting changes to come. I do hope you’re able to keep blogging!
I wish you luck. And air conditioning. I wish you health, and more than wealth, I wish you love. These crossroads are always very hard to take, but now you have started stepping forward again, I am confident that you will find both success and happiness in your new position in Washington.
Congrats, and good luck! I too hope you can keep blogging – it would be a shame to see you go.
Security clearance could be anything from a cursory glance over your criminal record, to a thorough trawl through the criminal records of all those who comment on your blogs. Sorry.
Anyway, good luck – it sounds enormously exciting! There’s too much politics in science, but never enough science in politics. Hopefully you’ll start to redress the balance.
Congratulations and good luck!
That sounds fascinating. Do you think your NN activities helped in any way? Had they read any of your blogging before they interviewed you?
Well done, congrats etc.!
A good friend of mine recently started as a policy analyst at the NIH, and another begins an AAAS policy fellowship in Fall. As soon as my greencard comes through i shall be joining all of you in DC :) In fact do well at your new job because I’ll be looking for work in about 18months :)
Congratulations!! And good luck with the move and setting up a new home and all.
My new apartment in DC has a roof-top deck with a giant grill and a view of the Capitol dome. wow. I am envious. Sounds absolutely fab. Did you get to keep the soul? ;) I hope so! And enjoy life outside of bench. I am sure it will be a big adventure if nothing else!!
Congratulations Anna!! Sounds fantastic :)
Oh, and like Mike said: how thorough the security clearance check will be depends on the level – I understand that ‘top secret’ clearance involves the FBI interviewing people you’ve met briefly years ago and whose name you can barely remember… but I’m sure you don’t need that level. Right? More here, because it’s intriguing stuff ;)
Hey, congrats & good luck with the new gig! Sounds like it could be interesting.
Years and years ago I had a buddy who got a job as some kind of computer analyst for a hush-hush Govt agency, and had to be security cleared for top secret info. This was back when there was still an Iron Curtain, and people doing his job weren’t allowed to take any flight that so much as overflew an Eastern Bloc country’s airspace. Anyway, all his friends (including me) signed something agreeing to be interviewed by the security services about him. But they talked almost entirely to his school (i.e. high school) and family friends, pre-age 18. We used to joke that this must mean that if you had been recruited as a sleeper agent then you would already have gone “underground” by the time you reached University.
I don’t know how much my blogging contributed to getting the job per se, but the experience I gained during my NN internship certainly helped. There would have been no internship without the blog, so I guess it’s all related.
Job was never advertised, so count me a contact, Ian! I have a feeling that science policy jobs are difficult to come by without someone on the inside.
I don’t think my security clearance is going to be of the really scary variety. I am hoping for a mild “you are not really that important” sort of clearance. Another one of my friends in a similar position to my own suffered through the full barrage of interviews and such. Complete with a visit from the men in black for me.
Ian said:
_ In fact do well at your new job because I’ll be looking for work in about 18months_
I think what he meant was: “do poorly in your new job and get fired 18 months from now so I can have it”. ;)
Congratulations Anna! Well done, hope the move was ok.
Best of Luck in the swamp, Anna! Since I myself am certainly inclined towards science policy et cetera, I’ll be keen on following your progress. Perhaps if I make it down there I’ll look you up.
Best of Luck in the swamp, Anna! Since I myself am certainly inclined towards science policy et cetera, I’ll be keen on following your progress. Perhaps if I make it down there I’ll look you up.
Here’s a biomedical policy idea for you, Anna. How about de-funding NCCAM (the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine) and re-routing the money saved to the mainstream bits of NIH? NCCAM was a political brainchild in origin (especially of Sen. Tom Harkin), but has grown fatter by the year, spending well over a billion dollars so far.
If you want to see just how far into the realms of new-age fantasy NCCAM has gone, try their “backgrounder” page on Energy Medicine. Your tax dollars hard at work…
P.S. I forgot to mention the things I miss about working in the lab:
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