Time fly's when your.......

...having fun? I suppose thats one way to look at it....

Over the last year I worked harder than ever to graduate and land a dream job. I had a goal in mind and I couldn't stop till it was over. Now that I have re-entered normal society, I thought I would log on and describe how my last year of grad school played out.

Around January 2010 I decided it was time. I got my committee together in February and warned them of my antsy-ness and gave them a list of final experiments. They nodded. whew. I worked feverishly to check off each experiment. But the data did not come easily, of course. I had to do tons of troubleshooting, which yielded a few tears and shudders that I might be stuck in grad school forever...

Meanwhile. I went looking for a job. I had been keeping my eyes and ears open to numerous possibilities for a while now and it was time to make some choices. I knew that I wanted to leave academics at some point...but when? Should I do an academic post-doc...I mean after all academics are fun...or do I cut to the chase and look for an industry position....am I even qualified for a real job?? Again, more tears arrived since there were so many unknowns. I didn't know if I was even going to graduate...and the awkward feelings that I had at this time really surprised me...I should feel like I have it all together by now, right? and things are going well for the most part, right? so what's the deal? why does this step feel so daunting? Maybe its just because change is always scary...and self doubt is the worst. It seems that every step of graduate school tests your self-confidence, and leaving is just another step. boo...

But, eventually, things worked out (as they always seem to do in grad school...and in life for that matter...after all, you are doing the best ya can, right?), and I had no reason to be so stressed. I found a job. I met my future employers at a tiny career fair of all places...which just goes to show how important it is to seek out every opportunity you can. AND I got enough data that I felt comfortable to ask the big Q: Am I ready to graduate? I met with my committee again in August and they gave me permission to write. whew...especially because my new job really needed me to start ASAP and they would take me in November at the latest. A slight panic ensued. Could I get it all done in time? I had been dreaming of the moment that my committee would say "You may write" and I thought that I would celebrate for at least a week after said statement. However. I had too much to do at that point to be excited. bummer...

I had exactly 2 months to write my dissertation. I got a plan together and stuck to it with the help of countless shots of espresso and a "few" bottles of wine. This part seemed less scary for me...I knew what I needed to do. I got the whole thing written and felt pretty proud when I printed it off and gave it to my committee members in the middle of October. I even took a moment for myself in the park near my future place of employment before I walked in and met with everyone at my new job (yes, I turned in my thesis in the morning and met with them in the afternoon. Who's crazy? This girl.) None the less, I was beginning to get excited....

Two weeks later, I defended (I'll go into more detail about that here soon). One week after that I started full time at my new job at a small start-up company called Sharklet Technologies Inc. where I am 1 of 8 employees, 1 of 2 microbiologists, and 1 of 2 PhDs. Like I said its a dream job for me (I'll also go into more detail about the company here soon too).

So here I am, at the ripe age of 27, a contributing member of society. I really enjoyed graduate school and wouldn't trade the experience for anything. But damn, am I happy to be finished.