Comments on: Another year older

By: wolfsrune

wolfsrune — Fri, 05 May 2006 06:16:16 +0000

fwiw, i think you should look primarily at your own needs for time off. if you don’t really need time off or can follow nancy’s advice and limit your work to regular work hours and be ok with your mental and physical health, then you can go ahead with your plans. but if you need more time off than the job would allow then you need to look out for yourself first. in this case, honestly explain the situation to the people you would have been working for. you can apologize for not anticipating the problem, but no one can expect you to sacrifice your health and well-being for a summer project. good luck with whatever you decide!

By: zaldreon

zaldreon — Fri, 05 May 2006 03:05:50 +0000

Sorry, I misread the original post. I had thought that you wrote “Can contribute to the IRA” in the “Pro” category. My mistake.

By: faerieloch

faerieloch — Thu, 04 May 2006 19:45:47 +0000

Try and keep your SRC position to nine-to-five. That way you can relax every evening, do what you want, and not feel pressure until the very end. I did that one summer and found I had incredible amounts of time to do things in like read, watch movies, cross stitch, hang out with friends, etc. It was really relaxing and made me realise the benefits of not being in academia: that until crunch time, you have all this time that is non-work time to do whatever the hell you want!

By: wyterabbit

wyterabbit — Thu, 04 May 2006 19:07:15 +0000

When I said “can’t contribute to an IRA” is a con, I meant that my pay will be the same form as last year, which is to say I don’t get a W-2 and therefore can’t contribute to an IRA. This is a disadvantage of doing paid research as opposed to say, some other job.

By: zaldreon

zaldreon — Thu, 04 May 2006 18:02:42 +0000

My suggestion would be to discuss the matter with the person for whom you would be doing work over the summer. You can ask this professor a number of pertinent questions which might make the decision easier.

First, you can ask about the nature and intensity of the summer work. You should mention your concern about needing a break, and ask if the SRC project will be particularly intense. The professor might be flexible and willing to accommodate you, to some degree.

Alternately, the professor may have some fairly easy way to get a different research worker to do the job in your place. Then you wouldn’t need to worry so much about letting that person down. The professor would probably be happier to see you go if you discussed the matter with him/her first. Most professors are nice and understanding people; I think it’s very likely that the professor will be able to say or do something to help you make this choice without sacrificing his/her respect for you.

Also, be careful about the IRA contribution criterion. You should be sure that you will be paid in a form which can be contributed to an IRA (with a W-2 form) before you count this as a pro.

By: semer

semer — Thu, 04 May 2006 17:32:46 +0000

Any way to bring it down to part-time?

By: prismakaos

prismakaos — Thu, 04 May 2006 17:32:43 +0000

take the time, you’ll be in training for staff at the end of the summer, and I’m sure that there’ll be enough people on campus that you’ll have plenty of places to crash / people to hang out with should things with your family become insanely crazy.

Finding a summer part-time job that is relaxing might also be a good alternative to 10 weeks of serious work. Would it be possible to perhaps balance the two options and work not as much as you would doing SRC , but still do the project?

And happy birthday two days late! Sorry I didn’t send you a note, but I did wish it to you in my head. ;)

By: julu

julu — Mon, 01 Jan 2001 07:00:00 +0000