the future

I've just come home from the Business Design Centre where the second Source Event was held. This is a science career fair of sorts, organized by naturejobs.com, Nature Publishing Group's career and jobs portal. I had attended the inaugural event last year and been quite pleased with it. There were three sets of talks directed at, respectively, graduate students, traditional post-docs, and those ready to leave academia. Attendees were free to switch between the streams depending on their interest in a specific talk. Surrounding the whole operation was a career opportunities exhibition with universities, companies and Switzerland handing out information, pens and assorted goodies. The best thing I got that day was a seed for a chili plant from Nature that, over nearly nine months, grew, took roots and sprouted three chili peppers, only to die when I didn't water it during my summer vacation. Best of all, the entire event had been free.

A few months later, I received an email from the organizers inviting my for a feedback session at NPG's headquarters near King's Cross. This was the closest I've ever got to Nature, and besides drinks and sandwiches during the afternoon, I received, as a compensation for my efforts, a free six-month print subscription to Nature, which I've really enjoyed. I'm happy to read scientific papers on the screen most of the time, but to leisurely browse through a journal, I'd like to have it in front of my in paper. Additionally, surveying the job advertisements is so much more efficient in print than online.

Scanning job ads and reading the Futures section on the last page were the two things I always did first upon receiving a fresh issue. Sadly, the subscription has expired now, but I'm hopeful someone in Nature's offices will remember me and invite me for another brain storming session. I'd certainly have something to tell them.

In contrast to last year's event, this years wasn't free. Far from it. Attending the talks cost the stiff sum of 45 pounds. For this, one got the exact same setup like last year, three streams and all, albeit in a much nicer venue. The career opportunities exhibition was much bigger than last year and the hall vastly more spacious. However, entry to the exhibition was free.

Attending the exhibition only would be the way to go if the format is retained next year because there is no way the charge can be justified. Alternatively, you work at Imperial whose well-funded and very proactive career development unit funds events like the Source Event for all interested students and staff. That's how I got in, and if I hadn't been able to freeride, I'd have really regretted the day.

With someone else's picking up the tab, I enjoyed the day without remorse. To me, and that certainly reflects how I picked the talks, the dominant theme was writing. A current editor of Nature Cell Biology described, under the theme of "Getting published", what work on the other side entails and a former editor of Nature Reviews gave a very insightful presentation on how to get one's foot in the door.

There were two take-home messages, generously reiterated. Firstly and most importantly, make the right contacts. Get to know people and, crucially, get people to know you. I certainly won't miss another Nature Network pub night and will remind the organizers that there hasn't been one in months. Secondly, write. I've been doing this on and off for the last three years but without much focus or dedication. My website has been deprived of new content since I moved to London, and my blogs goes through phases of activity and hibernation with monthly seasonality.

This will change, and this post is the stepping stone. From now on, I'll post at least four times a week. The reason I haven't always done that is that I have never assigned sufficient priority to blogging. It has always been an activity that I did when everything else was done and in total obscurity.

Very few people read this blog – in part because very few people know about it. I have never told anyone, and I've never used blogging as an excuse for being busy. Not anymore. I am officially a blogger now and maybe, just maybe, one year from now I'll be working as an editor at Nature Structural and Molecular Biology. Wish me luck, keep reading, and tell your friends.