• Question: Do You Get Paid Much?

    Asked by carriee to Andrew, Aggelos, Eileen, Naomi, Shane on 13 Nov 2012. This question was also asked by hashtag.
    • Photo: Andrew Jackson

      Andrew Jackson answered on 13 Nov 2012:

      I get paid enough at the moment to be happy with the amount. At the beginning of many jobs, you get paid very little, and i found science to pay a bit less than friends who were working for banks or as engineers in companies etc… But, i really love my job and so am happy with how it has been. I would not like to work in a bank or for a company at all, so im completely happy.

    • Photo: Eileen Diskin

      Eileen Diskin answered on 14 Nov 2012:

      Hahaha, no! I’m a Phd student, and like Andrew says below…at the beginning, you get paid very little.

      But also like him, I really like my job. I love that I get to come up with a scientific question and then try and figure out ways to answer it. So many people in their jobs, they’re just told what to do every day. I like that I have some control over it!

      Also, I have tons of friends in here, and we have great craic. Theres about 10 PhD students in the building where I work, and we do cake mornings, and go out in the evenings together…and sometimes we play pranks on each other! It’s a great working environment, so even if I don’t make too much money, I’m happy 🙂

    • Photo: Aggelos Zacharopoulos

      Aggelos Zacharopoulos answered on 15 Nov 2012:

      @carrie
      Salaries at universities are satisfactory or good but being a scientist is definately not about the money. Some scientists have the oportinity to work directly with companies in the private sector and achieve higher salaries or boost their pay. A more important factor for a scientist is how much money are made available to you in order to carry out the research that you wish to do. Will you get ehough money to buy the equipment that you need? Will you get staff to work on your project? This is more important I think than your the actual salary because it will be a decisive factor for your success as a scientist.

    • Photo: Naomi Elster

      Naomi Elster answered on 15 Nov 2012:

      I get paid €14,000 a year. It seemed like a lot when I was offered it (at the time I had no income), but it really isn’t much when you have to pay rent in Dublin and pay all your own bills. But I’m young and I have no family to support, so I manage to live on it. I’m young and I will be paid more as I get more experience but the truth is that scientists don’t get paid much. I don’t mind because I have a job that interests me and money isn’t important to me. But I would recommend that you think seriously about money and how much it means to you before you start a career as a researcher.

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