A student's life is never easy
Some people have once commented that it's great being a student, no worries, no hectic schedule, no demands, no worries of finances (for those undertaking the pa-ma foundation i.e. money being paid by parents) and generally a stress free life. Think again, being a student is not all a bed of roses and maybe even at times has it's disadvantages as compared to a work environment. Well here is one situation which proves my point, running experiments that requires observation of 12 hours or a culture system that must be seen to 10 hours a day (seeing that a day has only 24 hours, just imagine what waking hours you have to go through). Not getting paid is another thing to contend with and who says there are no demands in the job, try getting harrased by your supervisor to do work for his as well as juggle your own work. Think office politics are bad? Getting lecturers and researchers to cooperate would make one's blood pressure spike and the admin people are idiots. It's not always like this but when the job demands it, it can be hell.
Case in point with my collegues having to spend the night in the lab, which technically isn't too bad as there is air conditioning, free electricity, fast internet connection, security guards on watch, cleaning crew to look after the picking up after, seems like a condo living. If only they had showers shifting in permanently rent free seems a good option no?
5 comments:
Well, my student days werent that bad. I had loads of fun, not much work, and hey... I turned out fine. You guys are just taking things too seriously... Go on, enjoy life a bit like pouring yourselves some culture in to the drinking bottle (clandestinely of course). Trust me, it'll be fun!
Now now, be nice to them. Their end result would be some little book about a hundred pages thick that will gather dust in a corner. Plus they get a piece of paper to show for all of it.
Those poor souls are trudging through their work, hoping it'll give them a better life in the future, clouded with thoughts of big paying mega corporations, big money, etc.
I just like to enjoy whatever it is that I'm doing. Like I am now.
Adrian: Money is a good motivation, and for us soft science people as you term it we don't have as much options as both of your more established fields of engineering.
Jeremy: Why do we work hard for? A piece of paper. What do we expect in future? Hopefully a better opportunity of a good job and lifelihood. The end result? Well thats harder to address, maybe we'll look back and be proud of all we've achieved in publishing papers and the skills inherent learnt.
Umm yeah sure, look back and be proud that you have the skills to put 8 jargons in a 10 word sentence, pretend to understand it, and act aloof like the rest of your peers who have achieved that feat. Yeah sure. Oh yeah, the professors will nod their head in understanding and agreement too, though they probably only understand it as much as you do. Just go to UMS library and read my final year project report to confirm this is true. Plus I got an A for it...
I get my products out the door, they make money (I hope), and so far I have yet to write anything more than 5 pages long.
I dont have an engineering degree, btw. But it doesnt take a piece of paper to get the job done...
It's a never end race to publish a paper before someone else submitted the result as yours.
There are beds everywhere in my lab, and it's still not enough for everyone.
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