Being a PI ain't all unicorns and rainbows…just like most actual jobs

Hoo boy. Dr. Becca has a live one over at Fumbling Towards Tenure Track.

I am got the dream got at a Tier 1 institution. It is what I expected but in reality it sucks. want to find a way out. Be careful what you wish for.

Trends

Linear, sigmoidal, arc and exponential.

I’m certain you can find career paths of biomedical research PIs that can be so described. You can think of the dependent variable as a conglomerate measure of lab size- people, funding, space, collaborations and vigor.

I used to see a lot of sigmoids in my subfield peers.

A slow start, struggling to land that first major funding. Hard to find or hard to fund postdocs so making do with techs, undergrads and maybe a grad student who don’t know any better.

Eventually things click, the grant clouds pour down direct costs rain and the postdocs come a-running.

A successful career launch.

It feels as though I’m seeing a lot more interruptions lately. Peeps who I thought were, and should be, on the steep part of the curve suffering an interruption of some sort. Not always sure why…after all it’s kinda rude to front your colleagues about perceived slowdowns. Unless you are the Chair, I suppose. I tend to assume it is because the grant dice just aren’t coming up. And there is very little room for error in the current funding environment. Very different from when I was just getting started in my independent phase.

Watching the people that I like take a hit in what should be a time of scientific vigor in their career path is unpleasant.

This moment

We have some great stuff in the hopper.

Immediate data flow is rocking, I get PI crack updates every few days that are fun and fascinating.

Middle term, the projects themselves are on track and doing what they are supposed to be doing, I.e. turning up unexpected leads for more studies. Moar! I say!

Long term we have almost a programmatic effort going on at least two things I’ve been working on for a couple, three years.

The last is my *job*, of course. That’s what the PI is supposed to be doing. Getting the several year plan harmonized into a program of investigation. Lining up the people, of course. And the funding. And wrangling the local institution into doing what you need it to do.

The data-crack is undeniable. It is a powerful and immediate reinforcer. So are new hypotheses and unexpected results that need to be figured out, investigated and nailed down with more data.

But the *programmatic* successes?

Sublime.

I like my job quite a lot today.