Worm food!
Looks like I could be headed to a worm lab next. I've worked with fruit flies, bacteria, and giant smelly fish, so this'll be a nice next step (assuming I get it). I still haven't worked with a mammal before, worms are cool, and the webpage of the lab's PI has all sorts of awesome computational stuff on it. I have a feeling I'll be asked to work on a program if I get the position.
Should I be happy? Of course. This is what I like to do. However, I might insist this time that I'd rather do a bit more benchwork that I did at my last job. It's been well over a year and a half since I last did any serious benchwork, and I worry that I'm going to be pigeonholed into a person is is really good for the mathematical content but not necessarily all that good at doing experiments. And while this might be TRUE to a degree, it's also a bit of a feedback cycle. The more I do math and neglect benchwork, the better I'll get at the former and the worse I'll get at the latter (relatively speaking, and maybe even in absolute terms if my skills become rusty, though I suspect they'd come back pretty quickly).
Not that I mind being a mostly math person. After all, that's what my degree is in, and that's what my (future) advanced degree(s) will be in. Also, if you're going to be pigeonholed as something, it might as well be as the type of worker in high demand in the current environment. After all, anybody can be trained to do benchwork (and I'm proof of that!). Math is a bit harder.
Should I be happy? Of course. This is what I like to do. However, I might insist this time that I'd rather do a bit more benchwork that I did at my last job. It's been well over a year and a half since I last did any serious benchwork, and I worry that I'm going to be pigeonholed into a person is is really good for the mathematical content but not necessarily all that good at doing experiments. And while this might be TRUE to a degree, it's also a bit of a feedback cycle. The more I do math and neglect benchwork, the better I'll get at the former and the worse I'll get at the latter (relatively speaking, and maybe even in absolute terms if my skills become rusty, though I suspect they'd come back pretty quickly).
Not that I mind being a mostly math person. After all, that's what my degree is in, and that's what my (future) advanced degree(s) will be in. Also, if you're going to be pigeonholed as something, it might as well be as the type of worker in high demand in the current environment. After all, anybody can be trained to do benchwork (and I'm proof of that!). Math is a bit harder.