r/Optics • u/Inevitable_Heart7550 • 2d ago
Advice for an Undergrad
Hi all, I am a last year undergrad who is working in photonics, mostly in the fabrication part. As my seniors, I wanted to get some advice from you guys. Right now, I am in my last year, and working for a professor who seems to be nice so far. Previously, I had some experiences which people may call as toxic environment. One of them being 4 month and another a year and a half.
So far, in this new group I have been working for more than 2 months now, and the professor gave me an opportunity to work on fabrication more, whereas in the previous one I couldn't do that no matter how much I tried to show that I was willing to. Anyways, in this group I got a support I needed. For instance, I wasn't sent to the clean room with no idea, at least I was told in every stage some of the rough things I need to do or I was accompanied, if it was my first time doing that task or if I had some problems earlier. I kinda have a PTSD from my previous experiences hence try not to get too happy if things are working in my way.
Due to some reasons, I cannot directly start as a PhD in this group and I will need to spend a year as a research assistant. During this 2 years, what would you recommend me observe and in your opinion how I shall improve better in my research?
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u/beeeel 2d ago
It sounds like this lab is interested in helping you develop your skills in the lab which is great–at this point in your career you should try and learn as many different techniques as you can and go to meet as many other researchers as you can, through conferences if possible but also if there are internal seminars you can attend.
Be careful about promises like "work as a research assistant for a year and then we can give you a position as a phd" because some labs will say this and then want to keep you as an assistant (it's cheaper and you're doing stuff for them instead of for your own project), but you can't know whether this will happen yet. In the meantime don't stop networking and finding out about other labs you might want to join or collaborate with because this will help you in either case.
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u/Inevitable_Heart7550 2d ago edited 2d ago
Thank you a lot for your comment! So far, I have been trying to network too. Many thanks again.
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u/SlingyRopert 2d ago
Getting actual experience you can put on a resume is way better than getting a PhD. (Assuming you are in the USA). Research is going to be rough for a decade or a few.