Re: some experimental work



On Thu, 22 Dec 2005, drocillo wrote:


Straydog wrote:

My current supervisor invested a few thousand dollars into my
attendance of a training course. It was highly relevant to the
experiment which I did, and highly relevant to the computer modelling
which I am supposed to conduct.

Was it his idea or yours to take the course? 

Yes, it was the boss' idea that I go to the training course. He himself
went and took almost everyone from his team. I think he brought me
because: (i) he wanted to use this very good opportunity to train me so
that I could produce scientific results for him; (ii) the very training
of me was the product in itself -- he showed to his bosses that he
cared about the development of the lab's people.

That may be a "surface" justification. There may have been some excess unspent money somewhere and they just had to spend it.


Recently, I wrote an email to the 
senior administrator informing him that I have completed a chunk of
work which signifies that I am a competent worker, and I pointed out at
the fact that my current supervsior cannot give me any long-term
projects to do because I am in a temporary employment.


Its good to submit progress reports and in any off-handed way remind them
as you did that you can't take long term b/c temporary. However, it can
also prompt them to cut your position and make someone else's temporary
position permanent to take long term. However, on the whole, its a good
idea.


Well, here is what happened. I had written the email to the top
administrator that I completed the project, and pointed out that a
permanent position was necessary for me if they wanted to give me
long-term projects. This was my plan -- to remind the boss about my
need in the off-handed way. I learnt that several days later the
management had a regular meeting, and the question about organising the
position for me was in the agenda. There are two bosses who want to get
me into their projects. The decision was that the bosses would discuss
what projects they want me to do (i.e. who gets me). However, it is
Xmas time now, and also is the time of summer holidays. People
traditionally extend their Xmas holidays (24 Dec - 3 Jan) by a couple
of weeks of recreational leave. One of the bosses told me that he would
come back by the end of January, and start preparing the case for
getting a position for me. This is a good start... in theory. First of
all, after such a long holiday the boss will forget that they wanted to
do paperwork to bring me on board, and they will have no motivation
left. The second thing is that this boss is the new guy... therefore he
is proactive in assembling a good team, but he does not have an
established laboratory and funding. I think I'd better stay with
another (the current) boss who is established.

My concern over the past half a year was (and still is) that an
economical crisi will occur in the world's (local) economy. The
government is likely to respond to it by freezing employment of new
hirees (or even by cutting the exisiting headcount). A few months ago,
my older semi-retired colleagues told me that I'd better secure a
permanent position in the coming year. They told me that the management
can have the best intentions regarding me, but nevertheless they may
fail me just for the reasons just described. The matter can easily get
out of their hands beyond their control. It's all politics, politics.


....and budgets and budget cuts.

You should think about submitting a budget for their approval. Surely you
can justify (unless the work is proprietary or classified) going to a
conference. So, put into the budget some money for that. Also, maybe books
and periodicals (if they are not available in a local library), and
anything else in the media that might help you.  Computer upgrades?
Subscriptions to databases, mailing lists? Think about it. Ask for $4,000
and be happy to get $2,000. Make sure you write some progress report on
what this helps you do, how it helps you get better results, etc.


It is easy for an accomplished numerical modeller to prepare a body of
research within few months and write it up and submit it to a
conference. Not so in experimental science. We traditionally have teams
of people working on projects. I cannot do anything without their
participation. And the rate of work is such slow that I can produce
enough of material for a small paper in one year or even longer than
that. Now you see that it is hard for me to go even to the conferences
which is a main networking tool. (Forget about collaboration with
colleagues from other organisations/countries which would earn me a
reputation among the practitioners in the field and thus I could easier
get a job with them if I wanted).

Do you have priviledges of publishing in any journals? or do you have in-house reports only?

The main reason why the management do not want to give me resources and
a budget is because I am a temporary employee. If I was a permanent
employee just like everyone else, the funding and responsibility for a
small project(s) would come automatically to me.

However, I like this idea. I have to be proactive. I have to come up
with an idea for a small project which I can complete alone. I have an
indication that they may fund it. And the completion of such a small
project will give a tick in their book against my name.

You have to think about what kinds of ideas "sell" to them. How do they decide what kinds of projects to do. Who controls this?

OK, at the moment I have nothing else left but to relax and wait. 

Good luck.

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