Thread by @chronicleflask

I’ve been asked to make a post about my twisty-turny career for #YoungScientistNetworking, because not all PhDs end up in academia. So, here goes… 🧵
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I finished my chemistry PhD in 2000, at Nottingham University (home of @periodicvideos!). I briefly contemplated working for Bio-Rad, because I’d done a lot of infrared spec, but instead I joined UoN’s web design team (it was a pretty new thing, then)
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After two years I decided I missed the science. So I left to complete a teacher-training course. I’d go on to teach secondary science, particularly chemistry, on and off for nearly twenty years
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Towards the end of that period I was doing more and more writing. Honestly, written communication has always been my thing. (My thesis was praised for its brevity and clarity, and I passed with no corrections. I never could do academic waffle 😉😆)
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For a while, I worked freelance, picking up writing and editing work as well as the odd bit of A-level tutoring. My attention to detail, strong pattern-recognition & ability to spot errors make me a good editor, it turns out. Chemists often have a good mix of skills
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And now I work as a medical editor on the payroll of a large company. I’m not a medic, of course, but my scientific & mathematical understanding, ability to read a scientific paper, tech savvy and, again, fierce attention to detail make me well-suited to this job
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(I’ve said attention to detail three times now, so there will almost certainly be typos in this thread. It is the way. Perhaps if I send the demon Titivillus his regular sacrifice he will be kind…)
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I had no idea, as a PhD student, what I would end up doing. I certainly could never have predicted I’d end up here, since most of what I use to do what I do didn’t really exist in the 1990s.

Point being, develop your skills, keep learning, stay interested x

Good luck!
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