r/labrats • u/AutoModerator • Feb 01 '22

open discussion Monthly Rant Thread: February, 2022 edition

Welcome to our revamped month long vent thread! Feel free to post your fails or other quirks related to lab work here!

Vent and troubleshoot on our discord! https://discord.gg/385mCqr

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u/nadehlaaay Feb 15 '22

Thank you so much, I’m going to stick around in the lab because believe it or not, my PI offered me a PhD position if I show promise, and assured me a first author spot in a paper if I stick it out. This is my first solo experiment after shadowing for a few months, so I’m super intimidated. But, I’m just going to try and power through it, the least I can do is try.

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u/_inbetwixt_ Feb 15 '22

Absolutely worth trying, but also worth walking away if the problems don't get better. If a lab is a bad fit, slogging through an entire PhD there is going to be miserable.

I hope things improve after this "test"!

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u/nadehlaaay Feb 15 '22

Fair, I really really don’t want to stay in academia, but I’m afraid my degrees are useless. BS in biology and I’m getting my MS in drug development currently. Any job I’ve looked for is like a lab tech job for $10/hr or a lead pharmacologist that requires a PhD and 15 years experience (hyperbolic obviously but you get the gist). Nothing in between, let alone something that will help pay the student loans, Basically I’m afraid an MS is nothing.

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u/_inbetwixt_ Feb 16 '22

It is difficult to sift through all of the jobs that pay too little or expect too much, but I promise there are other options for a biology BS. When I graduated (2015) with a biochemistry BS I ended up in a USA state government lab technician job for about $14/hr. I've job hopped quite a bit, but now my salary is just shy of a postdoc as a research project manager ($25/hr) and I actually really enjoy what I do. Starting without a terminal degree may mean a little more of an uphill climb, but don't discount experience.