{"id":616,"date":"2007-04-25T21:26:44","date_gmt":"2007-04-25T21:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/2007\/04\/25\/in_which_i_leap_into_the_void\/"},"modified":"2007-04-25T21:26:44","modified_gmt":"2007-04-25T21:26:44","slug":"in_which_i_leap_into_the_void","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/2007\/04\/25\/in_which_i_leap_into_the_void\/","title":{"rendered":"In which I leap into the Void"},"content":{"rendered":"

All scientists joke about going ‘over to the Dark Side’ \u2013 in other words, leaving academic research for an alternative career. And these days the transit is pretty common. After all, far more scientists are produced than there are permanent positions in which to house them, or grants to fund their experiments. In parallel, the taboos that used to make even mentioning<\/em> leaving academia a mortal sin have gradually dissipated. University-trained scientists no longer need feel ashamed to reinvent themselves as patent lawyers, biotech team leaders, investment consultants, science writers or editors \u2013 it’s all pretty humdrum stuff these days.<\/p>\n

\n\"\"<\/p>\n

\nCompletely adrift<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nBut what about the opposite direction? What about ex-scientists mired over on the Dark Side who decide to go back to research? How common are they?<\/p>\n

\nOr maybe I should be more precise and rephrase the question: how common are we<\/em>?<\/p>\n

\nYes, it’s true. I’m leaving science publishing to go back to the lab. Eleven years after earning my PhD and four years after hanging up my trusty pipettor forever (or so I’d assumed), I’m staring destiny in the face. And destiny is an up-and-coming genetics lab at University College London whose head somehow, miraculously, does not mind that I’ve been handling manuscripts for the past few years instead of composing them, that I’m not getting any younger, that I do weird things on the side like edit LabLit<\/a>, work freelance in science journalism and write laboratory novels. Nor does he mind that I’ve never had Nature<\/em> paper (except in the Books and Art<\/a> section), or that the only grants I’m eligible for these days are those designed largely for mothers returning to work. Admittedly, he might have weighed the advantages of having my editorial skills on side to help him navigate his lab’s papers to suitable homes, but that’s a small price to pay for the priceless gesture of being given a chance to return to a career I used to love and never really wanted to leave.<\/p>\n

\nHalf of me is terrified, and the other half doesn’t quite believe it’s real. Am I actually abandoning my comfortable permanent position and salary for a universe of uncertainty? Apparently so, for I have accepted an offer, handed in my notice, and have one month left in publishing.<\/p>\n

\nAfter that \u2013 the Void awaits.<\/p>\n

\nI’ll keep you posted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All scientists joke about going ‘over to the Dark Side’ \u2013 in other words, leaving academic research for an alternative career. And these days the transit is pretty common. After all, far more scientists are produced than there are permanent … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}