• Question: is it fun to be a scientist?

    Asked by gars499bed on 20 Feb 2024. This question was also asked by axes499bed, hear499bud, puma1aft, term1saw, arms499pan, week1sum, cassandrab, gate1sap, vast1sap, prisha, mia, dav1d, Ben.
    • Photo: Erin Pallott

      Erin Pallott answered on 20 Feb 2024:


      It is! Your day can be very varied and you make new discoveries.

      Is the job fun ALL the time? Not really, there are some tasks I find really boring or repetitive which I just have to do.

      But overall I find it fun and enjoyable!

    • Photo: Martin McCoustra

      Martin McCoustra answered on 20 Feb 2024:


      Yes… most definitely! Except when I have to do paperwork!

    • Photo: Andrew McDowall

      Andrew McDowall answered on 20 Feb 2024:


      Sometimes, particularly if things go very right (or very wrong).

    • Photo: Rachel Edwards

      Rachel Edwards answered on 21 Feb 2024:


      Yes! That’s why I do this job 🙂
      Obviously it can’t be fun the entire time, but overall it’s a really interesting job.

    • Photo: Tia Fletcher

      Tia Fletcher answered on 23 Feb 2024:


      Yes! I have a lot of fun. I am still doing my PhD so sometimes I still get a bit stressed out when I have to meet deadlines. But overall, my job is very varied and always keeps me on my toes.

    • Photo: Estela Gonzalez Fernandez

      Estela Gonzalez Fernandez answered on 23 Feb 2024:


      Definitely! As a scientist you manage do very interesting experiments, meet lot of interesting people who share you interests, attend workshops and other training courses, or meetings abroad. As other mentioned, there are some boring parts, such as paperwork, but usually is not that bad and the enjoyable part compensates 🙂

    • Photo: Rouzana Pulikkal Thumbayil

      Rouzana Pulikkal Thumbayil answered on 23 Feb 2024:


      YES, It depends on the situation. If you are getting everything that you want then there is no fun in your life. Science or more specifically research is all about Challenges. You will be facing new challenges everyday. That is really fun

    • Photo: Alexander De Bruin

      Alexander De Bruin answered on 26 Feb 2024:


      Overall, yes. There are times when the exact task is not exciting, but it is a fulfilling career.

    • Photo: Michael Schubert

      Michael Schubert answered on 26 Feb 2024:


      It’s a lot of fun! I love my job. It’s so varied, I learn so much, and there are always cool new things to explore.

    • Photo: Kevin Burke

      Kevin Burke answered on 26 Feb 2024:


      Yes it is – and fun is a really important aspect to any career – life is so much easier if you enjoy your job

    • Photo: Nicholas Brusby

      Nicholas Brusby answered on 5 Mar 2024:


      One of the main things I love about being a scientist is how fun it is! If you enjoy what you do, it doesn’t feel like work!

      Science is so varied, that I believe there really is something for everyone, and fun to be had everywhere.

    • Photo: Ai-Lan Lee

      Ai-Lan Lee answered on 6 Mar 2024:


      Yes! I have an interesting job. I get to be creative, design new experiments and train a new generation of scientists too.

    • Photo: Richard Birch

      Richard Birch answered on 6 Mar 2024:


      Fun is relative. Some people would not find it at all FUN to set amphibian traps in a pond – and especially not emptying them at dawn in late March or early April, when its freezing cold, you’re tired because you had to be up early and bloody Hell! There’s a hole in your wellies you’ve only just found out about!
      …and then you find the larva of an Emperor Dragonfly in one of your traps, or the larva of a Great Diving Beetle (both quite horrifying: like something from a science-fiction film) and that’s fun for me! Or it might be a lovely male Great Crested Newt in full breeding finery: with a crest like Godzilla and a blue flash on the tail, and an orange belly with black spots. And all the while there’s a Blackcap singing in the bushes, or the buzz of a Grasshopper Warbler, and you know that if you didn’t have to get up and do this job, you’d never have seen or heard any of these things.

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