Well really as a PhD student I’m still in training!
After my GCSEs I did A-Levels for two years, then went straight to university without a gap year. I did a MSci degree which meant it was 4 years long, and in the last year of it I did a long project in a research lab.
After that I applied to some universities to do the PhD program that I’m on now!
0
Georgia Orton
answered on 11 Nov 2019:
last edited 11 Nov 2019 12:21 am
Quite a lot! I did four years at university doing a master’s in chemistry followed by four years doing a PhD in chemistry. I am working as a researcher now but there is always more to learn to get better at my job so the training doesn’t really end. I get to do training to teach me how to use new machines/programs etc. I actually just did a training course to learn how to control a powerful X-ray beam in Oxford from my laptop in Nottingham! This will also me to study very tiny crystals to see what they are made of.
I am trying to teach myself to code as well but that isn’t going so well..!
After school I did 6 years of university and I’m still doing training at work – you never really stop training in science because things are always advancing!
I did 5 years of university to get my Masters degree and after I did 3 years of PhD. So, it is 8 years in total but for me the PhD was not really like being a student. It was more like my first job.
In my current day to day life, I am still regularly training because the science is always advancing. The way I train is however very different from university. I go to very specific courses with companies manufacturing equipments or I follow webinars on my computer. It is always good to learn new things!
I did four years of undergraduate university and four years of PhD, which is 8 years of only chemistry training. If we add on GCSE and A level then 12 years of chemistry training!
We did a lot of experiments over the years!
My first experiment at university was very simple. We just mixed two things together to get a colourful molecule that formed a nice powder and then filtered it off. I remember that it took half a day to do. Now I would probably do the same thing in 20 minutes!
Each experiment during your degree is meant to teach you a new skill. The skills start easy, like calculating the right amounts of chemicals to add, to much harder, like how to use chemicals which set fire in air.
During a PhD you are doing research so you have to learn whatever the research needs you to know!
I enjoyed most of my degree, and most of my current training (besides the training which tells me how to fill out my lab book – that is boring). But recently my training has more focussed around how to apply my skills at lab scale to helping keep my coworkers in the plant safe. If we add a material at lab scale and get a temperature rise of say, 4 degrees, that isn’t a big deal and we may not even make note of it – however if we scale that up to tonnes and tonnes of material then that can be a much bigger problem!
Comments
anon-226999 commented on :
Amazing was the training hard and fun?
anon-226999 commented on :
Did you have fun?
anon-226999 commented on :
What experiments did you do in the training execerises?
Georgia commented on :
We did a lot of experiments over the years!
My first experiment at university was very simple. We just mixed two things together to get a colourful molecule that formed a nice powder and then filtered it off. I remember that it took half a day to do. Now I would probably do the same thing in 20 minutes!
Each experiment during your degree is meant to teach you a new skill. The skills start easy, like calculating the right amounts of chemicals to add, to much harder, like how to use chemicals which set fire in air.
During a PhD you are doing research so you have to learn whatever the research needs you to know!
Aimee commented on :
I enjoyed most of my degree, and most of my current training (besides the training which tells me how to fill out my lab book – that is boring). But recently my training has more focussed around how to apply my skills at lab scale to helping keep my coworkers in the plant safe. If we add a material at lab scale and get a temperature rise of say, 4 degrees, that isn’t a big deal and we may not even make note of it – however if we scale that up to tonnes and tonnes of material then that can be a much bigger problem!