My Path
Offline Been asking for opinions all over the place.
Long story short, the college i'm attending has discontinued Computer Information Systems, and besides it's very easy to break into the industry with only technical certifications (Network+, MCSE, etc).
I'm considering a change of horizons because of my math skills. The college I am attending as a freshman this Fall (Florida Institute of Technology) has a very good Astrophysics/Astronomy program under the Space Sciences department, and i'm fascinated with space and the universe, including relativity and mainly propulsion concepts. I'm thinking of doing my undergrad in this, leaving my skills with computers as a fallback in case I get screwed out of the R&D industry.
Before graduating high school (next month) I will have completed college taught Calculus 1 and 2 with A grades and my english core requirements.
I know Y#5 is a scientist, i'm just wondering how the life of a scientist really is. Do you have time for hobbies? Is success mainly luck? Any wisdom would be appreciated.
"Character is higher than intellect... A great soul will be strong to live, as well as to think."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
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the life of a scientist has a very broad definition. It all depends what you want to do. I'm not sure where Y#5 works, but I can tell you that life as a scientist from my perspective can be boring, repetitive, very beaurocratic and low wage...OR..it can be exciting, ground-breaking and lucrative. It all depends.
If you are trying to get into research, you'll have to go on and get a PhD so that you can place your self on a tenure tract position at a university where you are pretty much in control. However, most departments require publishing on a regular basis which will keep you very busy with both research and grant writing.
If you choose not to follow that path, you may be hired in the private sector for a pharmaceutical company or another such company; either as a lab rat...blah...or a research scientist where your ultimate goal is not really science but...making the company money, as we've seen you may run into ethical problems here both personal and social. But this route is also very lucrative.
Or you may choose to not get a graduate degree and you'll end up working as a lab tech..making 25,000 a year, doing very repetitive, boring work.
Or you may choose to work for a governmental agency, full of beaurocracy but the benefits are excellent and depending on what agency the pay as well.
The other big issue is, what kind of science are you trying to get into? If you're trying to get into astronomy and astrophysics, you may end up working at NASA which would be exciting I think, but still beaurocratic. My advice to you is this...get into a field you know you won't get tired of...and get a part-time job or even an internship at an institution or a laboratory where that work is being conducted..that way you'll get a feel of what that carreer would really be like. The best way is to experience it first hand. I highly recommend you get into some kind of independent study in a laboratory that deals with what you want to do. This will give you insight and preparation for a graduate-type of work. Remember...any 101 class you take of science in college is 80% lies... as you progress you get less and less lies...it's only when you get into graduate work that you see what real science is..bench to beurocracy.
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