Issue link: https://resources.nanotempertech.com/i/1201881
8 You get your education and you learn a lot of science and that's fine. Then, you have to start a lab and you're like, 'What does that mean?' There are a lot of things you learn as you do them. There's a lot of things happening in the background that postdocs or students in the lab are not aware of. Many times you think 'What's my PI doing? They're never here!' But there's so many things you have to do! Everybody is extremely nervous and under a lot of pressure in the first year. You're so scared about the possibility of not succeeding. It's a very stressful period where it seems that you're not doing anything but waiting, for equipment to arrive, to hire people, to start your research. And while people keep telling you that this phase will pass, you just don't believe it. But trust me, it really does pass. Nikolina Sekulic It's really tough to think how someone could be prepared for starting a lab because there are many things that you don't expect. All of a sudden you go from being a lab member to becoming the boss, and you need to decide what kind of boss you're going to be. That is difficult and I wish I had some training. But to be fair, some funding agencies are starting to take care of this issue and some grants provide management training and tools to build the so skills scientists sometimes lack. I just wish I had the opportunity to do that earlier; simple things like a little bit of patent law and people and time management. Michal R. Szymanski " "