Venting Thread- Vent about anything.

[spectastic]

if the same rationale applies to congress, we need to jack up their salaries pronto.

[GCool]

if the same rationale applies to congress, we need to jack up their salaries pronto.

 

Definitely. I'm sure the rationale should apply; I know too many STEM students who seem to be in it only for the payout after graduation. The joke's on most of them when they actually get to their jobs, but then they go back, get an MBA, and do relatively menial management work for a fat check.

[Crucial BBQ]

I have prof that I really want to write LORs for me who has yet to respond to my emails.  He wrote them for me last year and only sent me two emails during the entire process:  once to confirm that he would indeed write them, and once to tell me that he had submitted them all. The second email was about three months after the first.  This guy will definitely write me a strong LOR, but I have three others lined up for this exact reason.  

 

Definitely. I'm sure the rationale should apply; I know too many STEM students who seem to be in it only for the payout after graduation. The joke's on most of them when they actually get to their jobs, but then they go back, get an MBA, and do relatively menial management work for a fat check.

 

I knew full well that even with a Ph.D. I won't get paid squat.  I'm not pursuing it for the love of money.   On the other hand my GF works in a bio lab at NIH and makes more money than anyone I know of my age group/friends. She only has a BS.  

[shadowclaw]

It's 8:50 PM on the east coast. Three of my applications are due tonight. One recommender still hasn't submitted. I reminded him yesterday. I think he's working down to the wire.

[mswhopeful2015]

I hate my job right now

[ERR_Alpha]

Eating and gaining weight ---> feel like crap because you're overweight ---> tired so you don't want to work out ---> repeat

[ERR_Alpha]

double post, curse you horribly slow Comcast wifi.

Edited December 2, 2014 by ERR_Alpha

[spectastic]

I have prof that I really want to write LORs for me who has yet to respond to my emails.  He wrote them for me last year and only sent me two emails during the entire process:  once to confirm that he would indeed write them, and once to tell me that he had submitted them all. The second email was about three months after the first.  This guy will definitely write me a strong LOR, but I have three others lined up for this exact reason.  

 

 

I knew full well that even with a Ph.D. I won't get paid squat.  I'm not pursuing it for the love of money.   On the other hand my GF works in a bio lab at NIH and makes more money than anyone I know of my age group/friends. She only has a BS.  

how????

 

btw I was totally kidding about hiking up salaries - i thought you were joking. you can't cure complacency with higher salaries. 

[spectastic]

but I agree graduate school isn't about money. it's about fulfillment 

[spectastic]

I hate my job right now

high five

[shadowclaw]

Eating and gaining weight ---> feel like crap because you're overweight ---> tired so you don't want to work out ---> repeat

 

This.

[Page228]

On the way to FedEx Kinkos to fax a transcript request this morning, I noticed that the coolant light was on in my vehicle. One errand turned into an hour in one auto repair shop (who quoted almost $900 worth of repairs) and then over an hour in a second auto repair shop (who quoted almost $800... Of different stuff).

The two agreed that a transmission mount needed to be replaced, but place A said both engine mounts were broken as well. Place B said the engine mounts were fine, but there was a broken sway bar, old spark plugs, a "marginal" battery, and a filter which could all use fixing.

Place B seemed more trustworthy. They also said that I needed some coolant, even though place A had supposedly checked all fluids a few hours prior.

The coolant light never came on again, and neither place found any problems with that system.

:/

[Crucial BBQ]

how????

 

btw I was totally kidding about hiking up salaries - i thought you were joking. you can't cure complacency with higher salaries. 

NIH moved away from the GS pay scale for awhile and experimented with a different pay scale --I believe they tried what the Health Services uses--in order to compete with and attract scientists from the private sector.  For those not familiar with the GS scale, the way to get promoted upward through the GS ladder is through certifications and qualifications and not necessarily experiences. You can move up the GS scale based on years of service but eventually will hit a ceiling.  The Fed Gov being the Fed Gov, your promotions are automatic and do not necessarily have to do with experiences or actual expertise. Anyone who can hobble their way through a Master's or Ph.D. program will automatically start at a high GS level no matter how bad they did in grad school or how much their research/thesis/dissertation sucked. By simple fact that someone got the Ph.D. the Fed Gov says they are guaranteed to make $X.  The thing with the GS scale is that everyone eventually hits a ceiling, which is why the Fed Gov is not very attractive to STEM.  No matter how good you are at your job or how many years you have in you will never move up in GS scale until you move into a new/different position.  And in order to do that requires more certification and/or qualifications.  Of course you can move laterally with yearly step increases (COL increases) and bonuses. But if your certs and/or qualifications places your ceiling at say GS 6, you will never move into the higher pay rate of GS 7.  Never.  Unless of course you pay to get the certs, degrees, etc..

 

Anyways, what NIH did was experiment with hiring and paying employees based on job performance, experiences, years of experience, and so on like the private sector does.  In essence, pay rates and increases became based on performance and not simply because you put in X number of years and it was you turn up the ladder no matter how lazy you were.  

 

It was during this experimental phase when my GF applied for, and got, a lab management position. When the experiment was over and NIH went back to using the GS scale she bumped up the GS ladder like crazy, because of her new position, and got that pay.  She is at her ceiling, though, and will never move up the GS ladder in her current position.   

 

The irony is that under the GS scale she does not qualify for her current position even though she applied to and got that position under the experimental system based on her experiences and years in that lab.  If she went to the FDA or USDA or Reed or where-ever she would not be hired at the same GS level she is at now.  She would take a dramatic reduction in pay. 

 

So that is it.  She got lucky.  The good thing is that she runs the lab, writes the training syllabi, and trains new hires/fellows/etc.  and wrote the manual and protocol for a particular piece of new equipment that is now being adopted by other labs and universities.  

 

Complacency...no comment.  

[VulpesZerda]

It's 8:50 PM on the east coast. Three of my applications are due tonight. One recommender still hasn't submitted. I reminded him yesterday. I think he's working down to the wire.

Did yours get in? Mine went in at like 11pm. I hope I never have to be that annoying again.

[shadowclaw]

Did yours get in? Mine went in at like 11pm. I hope I never have to be that annoying again.

 

Haha during my last application cycle, I was definitely annoying to this particular writer. I routinely e-mailed, texted, and popped into his office harassing him to get it done... but he told me to be a pest to make sure he didn't slack off and forget. I backed off on the annoying reminders this time, and this is what happened.

 

He did get them all in. At about 10:00 pm he submitted two of them, and then called me to tell me he couldn't find the e-mail with the link to the application system for the third school plus one that's due tomorrow. I resent both e-mails, and he got the third one due today done. Turns out he did have the e-mail (which was for WUSTL), but thought it was for U of W because Washington was in both subjects. As of 10:45, all 3 were done, but he still didn't have the e-mail for UNC yet (which is due tomorrow). I resent the e-mail yet again, so hopefully I won't be sitting here tomorrow night going through this again.

[mswhopeful2015]

Today is my first deadline. One of my letter writers waited until 11:55pm to submit her letter.

I can sleep peacefully now.

[GCool]

I was totally kidding, for the record. I hate my job too!

[spectastic]

let's hate our jobs together

Edited December 2, 2014 by spectastic

[spectastic]

NIH moved away from the GS pay scale for awhile and experimented with a different pay scale --I believe they tried what the Health Services uses--in order to compete with and attract scientists from the private sector.  For those not familiar with the GS scale, the way to get promoted upward through the GS ladder is through certifications and qualifications and not necessarily experiences. You can move up the GS scale based on years of service but eventually will hit a ceiling.  The Fed Gov being the Fed Gov, your promotions are automatic and do not necessarily have to do with experiences or actual expertise. Anyone who can hobble their way through a Master's or Ph.D. program will automatically start at a high GS level no matter how bad they did in grad school or how much their research/thesis/dissertation sucked. By simple fact that someone got the Ph.D. the Fed Gov says they are guaranteed to make $X.  The thing with the GS scale is that everyone eventually hits a ceiling, which is why the Fed Gov is not very attractive to STEM.  No matter how good you are at your job or how many years you have in you will never move up in GS scale until you move into a new/different position.  And in order to do that requires more certification and/or qualifications.  Of course you can move laterally with yearly step increases (COL increases) and bonuses. But if your certs and/or qualifications places your ceiling at say GS 6, you will never move into the higher pay rate of GS 7.  Never.  Unless of course you pay to get the certs, degrees, etc..

 

Anyways, what NIH did was experiment with hiring and paying employees based on job performance, experiences, years of experience, and so on like the private sector does.  In essence, pay rates and increases became based on performance and not simply because you put in X number of years and it was you turn up the ladder no matter how lazy you were.  

 

It was during this experimental phase when my GF applied for, and got, a lab management position. When the experiment was over and NIH went back to using the GS scale she bumped up the GS ladder like crazy, because of her new position, and got that pay.  She is at her ceiling, though, and will never move up the GS ladder in her current position.   

 

The irony is that under the GS scale she does not qualify for her current position even though she applied to and got that position under the experimental system based on her experiences and years in that lab.  If she went to the FDA or USDA or Reed or where-ever she would not be hired at the same GS level she is at now.  She would take a dramatic reduction in pay. 

 

So that is it.  She got lucky.  The good thing is that she runs the lab, writes the training syllabi, and trains new hires/fellows/etc.  and wrote the manual and protocol for a particular piece of new equipment that is now being adopted by other labs and universities.  

 

Complacency...no comment.  

what were her qualifications as an undergrad/researcher? and how come she didn't go to grad school?

Edited December 2, 2014 by spectastic

[maelia8]

At the end of this week, everything significant is due for this semester. Hello, no sleep/forgetting to eat/wearing dirty clothes because I have no time for laundry/surviving off of applesauce and canned soup because I'm too poor to go out and have no time to cook/feeling lucky if I have time to bathe ... I will be so glad when this is over!

[Nautiloid]

Things are on the upswing for me. I'm finally over the feelings of defeat my last rotation left me with, and I'm super into what I'm doing in this one. I find myself wanting to devote all my time to the lab because the research is so interesting. 

Unfortunately this comes at the end of the semester and I'm not doing so hot in one of my courses. I don't regret taking it because it has helped me see whether or not I was really interested in the topic, but I do wish I wasn't struggling to make above a 70% on the exams. Supposedly this is normal for a school like this, but I'm not used to it. Why write a test that you know can't be passed by the majority of students? Who learns anything from that? I suppose there's plenty to be learned in failure, but that's only true when you're given a chance to contemplate it and correct yourself. I'm beginning to remember all the things I hated about classes/tests/grades in undergrad. Guess I was wrong to assume that all wouldn't matter as much in a research focused program. 

Oh well. Here's to hoping I don't fail out before I've even had the chance to start thesis work. 

[VulpesZerda]

let's hate our jobs together

 

Can I join? My job has made me dread the weekends for the past 7 years. I have like six bosses telling me to do different things. Real smart bunch I work with, too.

[GCool]

Can I join? My job has made me dread the weekends for the past 7 years. I have like six bosses telling me to do different things. Real smart bunch I work with, too.

 

The more the merrier. Do you work on weekends only or what?

 

I just started this job, and "chance of overtime" was quickly changed to "six days a week required". Fuckin stupid.

[ss2player]

Can I join? My job has made me dread the weekends for the past 7 years. I have like six bosses telling me to do different things. Real smart bunch I work with, too.

 

Do you work at Initech? (Office Space reference)

[ss2player]

Things are on the upswing for me. I'm finally over the feelings of defeat my last rotation left me with, and I'm super into what I'm doing in this one. I find myself wanting to devote all my time to the lab because the research is so interesting. 

Unfortunately this comes at the end of the semester and I'm not doing so hot in one of my courses. I don't regret taking it because it has helped me see whether or not I was really interested in the topic, but I do wish I wasn't struggling to make above a 70% on the exams. Supposedly this is normal for a school like this, but I'm not used to it. Why write a test that you know can't be passed by the majority of students? Who learns anything from that? I suppose there's plenty to be learned in failure, but that's only true when you're given a chance to contemplate it and correct yourself. I'm beginning to remember all the things I hated about classes/tests/grades in undergrad. Guess I was wrong to assume that all wouldn't matter as much in a research focused program. 

Oh well. Here's to hoping I don't fail out before I've even had the chance to start thesis work. 

 

Glad you're feeling better! And awesome that your new rotation is thrilling, it's a great feeling. I posted in another thread with ERR_alpha commiserating on barely cracking a curved B in a class (72.2 currently, class average is maybe a 76?), so don't feel alone. It actually made me not want to join the department because their teaching/testing method was so ass-backwards; I've now decided on a different, more supportive program. Basically, learn what you can and move on with whatever best grade you can attain, as one class won't matter much in the long run.