Category Archives: career

Tribal Knowledge

Posted on August 21, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

In my industry position I heard a lot about the dangers of “Tribal Knowledge”. This is a situation in which everyone in a group (or tribe) knows how to do a certain task, but it is not actually written down … Continue reading →

Posted in career, grant wrangling, rants | 6 Comments

Everyone needs furniture, right?

Posted on August 20, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I’ve just been told that I’m “part of the furniture” here. This familiar phrase followed a very familiar conversation along the lines of “you’ve been here less than a YEAR??!! No way! It feels much longer than THAT!!” I seem … Continue reading →

Posted in career, personal, silliness | 11 Comments

I just realised that I really miss one thing about industry

Posted on August 13, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Free food. I just wandered down the stairs to my nearest kitchen and found free sandwiches and black forest cake, left over from some meeting or other. I suddenly realised that this hasn’t happened to me since I left my … Continue reading →

Posted in career, food glorious food, silliness | 2 Comments

Corporate creativity, or lack thereof

Posted on August 7, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

From GraphJam, here’s a visual description of the Ugly side of my last job in marketing, as I described it on the Alternative Scientist blog: No further comment required!

Posted in career | 3 Comments

w00t! Part 2

Posted on August 6, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Remember my stressful February, in which I worked on five grants that were submitted to the same competition – writing large parts of two of them – and helped with another three grants for a second competition that closed a … Continue reading →

Posted in career, grant wrangling, personal | 10 Comments

Blog roll…

Posted on July 1, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Mad Hatter’s new brain child, The Alternative Scientist, is now up and running! The blog will focus on alternative (i.e. non-traditional, non-tenure track) careers for scientists. You may spot a familiar name or two in the contributing authors list… While … Continue reading →

Posted in blog roll, career, science | 3 Comments

Expertise: the first few steps

Posted on June 5, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Being a newbie SUCKS. I mean, it’s exciting and fresh and new, but you have to depend on other people all the time, which I hate. I’ve badgered colleagues in my department (and in others) with endless questions, my supervisor … Continue reading →

Posted in career, grant wrangling, personal, silliness | 10 Comments

Post-grant wind-down

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Aaaaahhhhh. That was me relaxing. I’m drinking a nice cuppa tea and everything. Due to technical problems with the funding body’s website, last week’s grant deadline got pushed back to today. This was a good thing, because it allowed us … Continue reading →

Posted in career, grant wrangling, personal | 7 Comments

One and counting

Posted on May 9, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Today is a momentous occasion. I’m stunned and amazed that there’s no mention of it on the BBC, CBC or CNN. Maybe they’re going to run a special feature on tonight’s news instead. Yup, today marks one year since my … Continue reading →

Posted in blog buddies, blog roll, career, meta, personal | 18 Comments

Best paper EVER!

Posted on April 5, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

The most useful paper in the history of science was published this week, in a specialist journal that focuses on my department’s field of study. I really wish I could link to it, but that might give away too much … Continue reading →

Posted in blog roll, career, grant wrangling, meta, science | 4 Comments