Career in Science - What they don't tell you in advance

There are many things I wish I knew early in my career in Science. I thank God for a few good mentors who did teach me along the way, but the earlier the better, so some things do not need to be learnt the hard way. A few words of advice:

1. You need perseverance - lots of it. You do experiments all day, and over 90% of it will fail. And even when experiments do work out and you have a nice story to tell, 90% of your journal submissions will fail the first time round. Talk about being critical about our science. And it doesn't stop there. The success rate of NIH grant applications is <20%, and that includes competitors from the largest and most famous labs out there. 
2. Do not be afraid of the unknown. Because you will be uncovering the unknown. That's exactly what science is about!
3. Be bold. Dare to ask. Having a PhD doesn't mean you should be expected to know everything. In fact, you could possibly know the least since you have spent the bulk of your life studying a single problem. Don't be embarrassed to ask question. 
4. Rejection is an ever present companion in science. Says Andrew Hendry in a recent interview by Nature Journal (Nature 2015. 523, 381-382)
5. You will not earn big bucks. At least, most people won't. Unless if you win a Nobel Prize, or if your work spins off into a very successful startup. 
6. You will forever be learning. Science is not about obtaining a PhD, then becoming the master of all things. The PhD is but the start of everything that you're going to learn. It is probably just an indication that you can think independently, and have spent enough years living off your family / spouse. In Science, the field changes rapidly, knowledge is constantly being created. and different fields are converging and diverging. You'll always need to work hard to keep abreast of all related work, and even more to learn about other fields of science that could be the key to bringing your science to the next level. 
7. Diversify your learning. No one told me that mathematics, physics, chemistry and engineering would be useful to a biologist. Or maybe more than useful - essential. Had I known that earlier, I would have allowed my inquisitive self to take more undergraduate and graduate courses in these areas, which I happened to excel more than in biology. 

On hindsight, although I wish I knew these things earlier, I wouldn't have wanted to know them before I started my career in Science. Knowing these would have deterred me from doing Science! And I must say, despite its challenges, I love being a Scientist :)

What is "failure" to you?

I was once having a random discussion with my PhD supervisor (I prefer to call him my mentor), when he threw me this question, "What is failure?"

That's a deep question. What IS failure? The Marriam-Webster dictionary defines it as "falling short (of intended objective)". When have we failed? When do we consider ourselves a failure? When do we feel like failures? When do others think of us as failures?

As a scientist, I get 'failed experiments' all the time. Amongst what I used to consider 'failed' experiments, were actually 'negative' data that were opposite to what I had expected or hoped for. These, my mentors used to tell me, were not bad. Negative data is still data, they told me. And they helped to build the puzzle we were trying to solve. Learning to embrace negative data was a tough road. Not just because they are counter-intuitive, but also because negative data is still not widely accepted for publications -- something that is needed for a scientist's career to progress.

Regardless, I did not embrace "failure". Falling short of my own high expectations, and comparing with my genius peers who were all stars in their respective fields, was not helping. Being trained to be critical of everything around me and of myself, I seemed to be "failing" all the time.

It wasn't until I met a whole network of entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley, that my perspective began to change. 99% of start-ups fail, but everyone in Silicon Valley still wants to start a new company, or work for a start-up. Nobody cared that most start-ups don't succeed. People here embraced failures. In fact, they were proud to have failed. Failure was not something negative, on the contrary, it's something great! Chip Conley (founder of Joie de Vivre hotels) calls these, "noble experiments".

I remember my mentor ending our discussion, commenting that everyone fails at some point of their life. The question is, when? The earlier you experience failure, and learn to get back up, the greater your chances are at success in the future. If you've always been successful all your life, and one day stumble into failure from a high point, it's going to be painful, and very difficult to climb back. So don't be afraid of failing. Embrace them!

Why Can't Scientists be Entrepreneurs?

It's not the first thing people associate together -- Scientists and Entrepreneurs. Why? Because of the many (stigmatic) differences between the two.

1. Scientists are practical; Entrepreneus dream big.
2. Scientists are analytical; Entrepreneurs are creative.

3. Scientists are conservative; Entrepreneurs are risk-takers.

As I went through business school, majoring in entepreneurship, I constantly struggled with these thoughts, of whether I, with a science PhD, would fit in with the business crowd? How would I have to adjust to be an outstanding entrepreneur? Am I an oddball?

Through the process, I realized (to my joy) that there are actually many qualities of a good scientist that makes a good entrepreneur:

1. Passionate and motivated. It takes a whole lot of passion and motivation to do research, when you're the only one who knows (or believes) it will work, when many other researchers are trying to prove the opposite, and when all other life's entertainment has to take the back seat. Entrepreneurs have to dedicate their life to their business too, because otherwise no one else will.

2. Never give up. A PhD is not an easy route, and it takes a lot of grit to get to the end. The same goes for business, when many times you only have yourself and your business to believe in. It all boils down to faith.

3. Used to the notion of "first winner takes all; second gets nothing". In science, it is a race to publish. If your competitor beats you to publishing the same discovery/invention, the novelty in your work is completely lost, and there is no more value in everything you've dedicated your life to the past few years. The same goes for many start-ups, where the first start-up to deliver the product to market (provided it is of good quality) captures a huge market share, gains critical traction, and no competitor can fight them. (Think facebook...)


So, if you are also a scientist, and have secretly desired to start your own business but never dared to voice out the "ridiculous" dream, stop keeping it a secret now! Be brave, go ahead, and shout to the world. You've got what it takes! :D