• Question: Is it hard doing all the things you have to do?

    Asked by jessy63 to Daniela, Mark, Ian on 16 Jun 2013. This question was also asked by cerysgreenfield.
    • Photo: Daniela Plana

      Daniela Plana answered on 16 Jun 2013:

      Hello Jessy!
      Some of the things I do are hard, especially when I’m learning something new or trying to figure out a difficult problem. But once you do learn it or figure it out, it feels really good and worth the hard work!
      Some of the things I do are easy and fun, though…
      Hope that makes sense?
      Daniela

    • Photo: Mark Hodson

      Mark Hodson answered on 20 Jun 2013:

      Hi Jessy63,

      yes it is. Mainly because there is so much to do – students to teach, research to do, meetings to go to. I sometimes wish I could invent a time machine to have time to fit everything in. Some of the stuff I do is also difficult so it is hard to do those things in another sense. For those things, tricky experiments, you just have to keep trying and usually it goes well eventually and then you get a real feeling of achievement.

      cheers

      m

    • Photo: Ian Wilson

      Ian Wilson answered on 20 Jun 2013:

      Hi Jessy63 and cerysgreenfield,

      Yeah it can be pretty tough sometimes! There are a lot of different things to be getting along with at any one time. So, at the moment I’m:
      1) Comparing gene sequences from 4 different species to see how they have evolved.
      2) Running a computer program that will tell me what individual genes do
      3) Getting DNA from 2 species ready to be read by a sequencing machine.

      Things can get pretty hectic and the computer work, in particular, is quite hard to do sometimes. But the thing to remember is that if it wasn’t hard, it wouldn’t be worth doing 😉

      My PhD tests me – I sometimes struggle to work out how to make something work on the computer or cells die on me for no good reason – but eventually I get things done. As the others have said, you get a massive sense of achievement when you manage to do something you’ve been stuck on for ages. The problems are always worth powering through! And there’s always someone to ask so you’re never on your own.

      Hope that answers your question,

      Ian

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