Re: Interesting Article on Generational differences in the Lab
Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2019 5:52 pm
At 31 years old, I'm solidly in the "millenial" generation. I have a masters in analytical chemistry, and work full time with the job title of "scientific instrument specialist."
With that said, I THRIVE on learning the ins and outs of how stuff works. In fact, I have a particular affinity for instruments like the HP 5890 because pretty much anyone who understands chromatography can figure out what's going on inside one.
This doesn't just apply to chromatography, though. I do a lot of FTIR, and I open up one of our older Mattson instruments and can show the fixed mirror, moving mirror, beam splitter, etc. When I open up the 10 year old Perkin Elmer FT-IR, I can't see anything other than the laser.
In addition to just maintaining instruments, though, I also spend my days doing method development and advising on how best to approach a problem(chromatography isn't always the answer
) .
As a side note, I don't want to tip my hand too much by I do currently have an application in, and have gone through some very preliminary stages, as a field service engineer with my favorite instrument maker....I don't know what will happen but I'm really excited about the opportunity to hopefully learn the ins and outs of current chromatographs in ways that I can't on my own.
With that said, I THRIVE on learning the ins and outs of how stuff works. In fact, I have a particular affinity for instruments like the HP 5890 because pretty much anyone who understands chromatography can figure out what's going on inside one.
This doesn't just apply to chromatography, though. I do a lot of FTIR, and I open up one of our older Mattson instruments and can show the fixed mirror, moving mirror, beam splitter, etc. When I open up the 10 year old Perkin Elmer FT-IR, I can't see anything other than the laser.
In addition to just maintaining instruments, though, I also spend my days doing method development and advising on how best to approach a problem(chromatography isn't always the answer
) . As a side note, I don't want to tip my hand too much by I do currently have an application in, and have gone through some very preliminary stages, as a field service engineer with my favorite instrument maker....I don't know what will happen but I'm really excited about the opportunity to hopefully learn the ins and outs of current chromatographs in ways that I can't on my own.
