Research Scientist Reviews - Page 10

Do not do a part time PhD, it gains you nothing, takes longer and the public sector views it as "a credit to themselves as employers" that they let you do one as opposed to a credit to you for achieving a PhD while working full-time for them. No account of this achievement will be taken when you look for promotion.

I also thought science would have less politics and would be about the facts, but it is very heavy on politics and run by a lot of egos, everyone is bright (or thinks they are) and argue often based on their opinions rather than on a logical or factual basis. Be aware of politics, you cannot avoid it. You don't have to sell your soul to be a savvy political animal, just don't be naive about it and think you can't be involved. In fact if you have ideas or "stupid" questions, speak up because often they are good ideas and good questions and if you mention them to someone else they make take credit, or if you dither then someone else will eventually think of the same thing. Idea stealing happens a lot in science so be aware of it and often being more open is better, getting your ideas out there. Perks however are tea break culture (in the hour incubation experiments!) and clever people to converse with, people in general are down to earth and nice.