• Question: How long do you have to work a day on average?

    Asked by markus15 to Joel, Kristian, Tim, Venus, Zachary on 8 Nov 2013. This question was also asked by aerospace123.
    • Photo: Kristian Harder

      Kristian Harder answered on 8 Nov 2013:


      We normally have contracts that specify a completely normal number of working hours. Mine for example is for 38 hours a week. And there are times where I am really not working more than that. (Ok, sometimes even a bit less, in compensation for what I’ll mention next.)
      Quite often though, we spend a lot more time at work, basically every free minute we have. I’ve spent months working 80 hours a week. If there is a problem with the experiment, it needs to be fixed asap. A particle accelerator not running, or an experiment not recording data, is actual money lost from our limited funding. (And it’s taxpayer money!) So then we’ll work around the clock to get things fixed. Or if there is a major conference ahead, or your PhD thesis due, or … or… , things can get a bit out of hand. 🙂 But the thing is, we usually *want* to work this much. For most of us, being a scientist is not just a job. It’s a mission. A hobby. It is so exciting to make this incredible experiment work, to see data coming out, to dig through them to find something nobody ever knew before, that sometimes you really just can’t stop.

    • Photo: Venus Keus

      Venus Keus answered on 10 Nov 2013:


      I haven’t actually ever checked how many hours I’m supposed to be working. As long as you are publishing good papers and attending seminars and conferences and collaborating with your colleagues, the bosses are happy with you, but again I’m a theorist, I can have my own schedule and I can work from anywhere.
      In any case, the work is so interesting that I’m sure I’m working more than a normal 8-hour day and who benefits from this the most? Me, I’ll have more interesting papers and get famous 😉

    • Photo: Zachary Williamson

      Zachary Williamson answered on 10 Nov 2013:


      I have no strict working hours, as long as I get my work done then everybody’s happy. You generally have to be very self motivated in this line of work because nobody’s breathing down your back to get stuff done.

      I can spend as little as 4 hours at work, or as much as 36 (that was a bad week…), it really depends on what needs to be done.

    • Photo: Joel Goldstein

      Joel Goldstein answered on 11 Nov 2013:


      My days vary a lot, depending on what’s going on with my teaching, research and family life. Fortunately, as an academic scientist, it is largely up to me both to motivate myself and to decide when and for how long I will work.
      On a typical day during term time I spend 8-9 hours in the department, but I may need to catch up on research from home.

    • Photo: Tim Hollowood

      Tim Hollowood answered on 11 Nov 2013:


      That’s an interesting question. Typically I’m in the office 9-5 but sometimes when I’m not lecturing on that day I work form home for the peace and quite. I think scientists usually are always thinking about their work on and off. So even in the the evening I’ll be writing an email to one of my colleagues in Spain or the US and maybe reading something.

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