What is something you didn’t expect to learn from being a Biologist?
Ask a Biologist Monday 6/6/22
Answers from Biologists:
That it’s more about dealing with people than dealing with wildlife.
What I am (and am not) willing to put up with for the experience.
People management skills.
Leadership/conflict management. It’s not all about wildlife.
Managing wildlife is more about managing people.
I didn’t know that biology students and biologists were basically expected to work for free.
How difficult it is to land a job without relocating.
Ecotourism can negatively affect wildlife. It changed my perspective on that topic.
Dealing with people is the majority of the job.
How toxic academia/grad school can be. If I didn’t love my research so much, I would have left long ago.
How little communication there is between different departments.
How to jury rig anything with duct tape, sticks, or cord.
How to fix cars.
Making a good spreadsheet takes experience.
Extra data collection can equal new research.
Academia will use the “passion” argument to exploit you until all that is left is your burned out self.
Learning Wordpress.
Your superiors will make you do things they have no idea how to do themselves and expect greatness.
How to skin an animal.
Computer programming.
How to stand up for yourself. Before I started working in this field I was timid.
That a (dead) moose’s nose feels like memory foam.
Different shorebird species have different smelling poop.
How difficult it is to find a permanent or full-time job.
Enhanced people skills. Partnerships and collaboration is huge.
The importance of knowing different computer languages.
Spending more time with dead things than alive things.
How much working away for long periods of time impacts mental health.
That we don’t have all the answers and inter-trans disciplinary work is where it’s at.
How to build things like radio tracking towers, soft release enclosures, etc.
How much of a privilege access to library databases is.
