• Question: FOR HOW LONG EACH DAY DO YOU DO SCIENCY STUFF

    Asked by to Kevin, Fiona, Darren on 26 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Kevin O'Dell

      Kevin O'Dell answered on 26 Jun 2014:

      One of the nice things about my job is that no two days are the same, so some days I work longer hours than others. But most of the people who do my kind of job work quite long hours. Certainly the ones who make a success of it probably do 50 hours or more a week.

      Of course it’s not just scientists who work these kind of hours. Anyone who wants to be successful in whatever career they do tends to work longer hours. Of course that’s not so difficult if you enjoy what you do. Which I do. Most of the time!

    • Photo: Fiona McLean

      Fiona McLean answered on 27 Jun 2014:

      This varies from day to day. In an average week I work about 40 hours a week (8 hours a day) but if I have a big experiment on then I’m in about 60 hours a week (so about 8 to 9 hours a day over 7 days). Unfortunately, you have to kind of work around science rather than it working around you.
      Kevin’s right though, lots of other jobs have long working hours. And I do usually enjoy it so I don’t notice how much I’m working sometimes. Also, scientists do get holidays too!

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