Feeling like a real scientist
With the year coming to a close, I thought it would be a good time to start blogging so that I can document some thoughts in slightly longer-form.
It has been an eventful year. I must say that I am extremely proud of all that I have achieved professionally this year! I published my first first author paper this May, passed my qualifying exams in August, got invited to review my very first paper last month, and got cited for the first time (lol). All in all a very exciting time.
Yet… I can’t help but feel sad that it took a string of achievements for me to finally feel like a bona fide scientist. Have I slid into a downward spiral of measuring my worth as a researcher by the number of papers and citations I have?
Maybe this is the product of my pragmatism fuelled Singaporean upbringing … or the scientific milieu … or my undying need to prove something to myself. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that I start reminding myself that I am a scientist because I have been trained to think critically and problem solve and not because I’ve written some musty papers.