My job’s biggest challenge is making decisions at a fast pace that impacts a lot of folks. So I’m always careful to balance work and progress with preventing burnout.
What advice do you have for a student interested in your industry? What skills are most crucial?
* Get a sense of what type of industry positions are out there. This self-research includes company types, size of companies, stage of companies and the departments within companies. Talk to people that are in industry and ask them what their experience has been.
* Interviewing and asking questions helps you know if you are a good fit for something and understand what industry entails. You are not wasting anyone’s time interviewing for things you are unsure about if you’re trying to get information, as long as you are prepared for the interview and you're respectful during the process.
Skills that help in industry:
(1) Collaboration: This is not just about doing experiments together. It's about making shared decisions, interpreting data together, designing the next steps together and getting endorsement for project plans where everything is shared across many stakeholders.
(2) Time management, organization, documentation and focus: You can’t just follow the science. It all has a different purpose. Sometimes it is necessary to decide to stop working on something that isn’t going anywhere.
(3) Self-advocacy: Knowing your worth and your goals for career development guides offer negotiation, promotions and merit increase.
Who is your biggest inspiration? Beyond the paycheck, why do you continue to wake up and go to work each day?
