Doubting my career
throwaway just in case
last year, i completed my masters degree and achieved a distinction. honestly, it was quite hard to motivate myself in the last half of it and i put that down to being burnt out. i went straight into a masters from undergrad and for both degrees, i worked on the side to help with finances. the project was pretty cool and i really enjoyed doing the experiments and analysing data.
i started applying jobs but couldn't find anything so worked in retail for a few months before securing a position as an RA at my local university. i've been in this post for 5 months now and i just don't really feel much enjoyment from it. our project is very clearly defined and the lab is great (both facilities and people).
again, i really like the experiments and handling data, but i realised that i don't actually care as much as the other lab members about thinking about the science. i know that sounds bad because why else would i have gone into research, but i think i prefer executing the experiments instead of generating new ideas.
in our lab meetings, or just when a post-doc comes over to talk, they're all so invested and shows papers that they found last night that's relevant. when i get home, i don't give a second thought to the project other than planning my to-do list for the next day.
so maybe i should redirect myself and go for technician roles or qc or do the nhs training programme.
at the same time, while this job is interesting and all, it doesn't fit entirely with my own areas of interest. my friends told me that if you spend a lot of time doing something, you kind of learn to like it, but that hasn't happened.
i have another 1.7 years left in my contract. should i speak to the PI? it feels so cowardly to go from this person who showed so much enthusiasm in the interview and lab tour to this uninterested, lazy, person who doesn't want to think