• Question: How has your workload chnged ver different jobs?

    Asked by Geoff Shreeves to Andrew, Lizzie, Nick, Sonia on 23 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Elizabeth Kapasa

      Elizabeth Kapasa answered on 23 Jun 2015:


      Hi Geoff,
      I guess I’m just starting out in my career so the other engineers probably will be able to answer this question better than me.
      Although I can say that your workload changes during your degree and is different from undergraduate to postgraduate degree level. In general the workload increases. But I think at postgraduate you have more control on how you manage your workload for yourself.

    • Photo: Andrew Phillips

      Andrew Phillips answered on 24 Jun 2015:


      Hi Geoff,

      My workload has certainly changed the further through my career I’ve gone. I now supervise a large number of people, including PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, as well as undergraduate and MSc projects. It’s great because it means that as a group we get more done than I could alone, but it does mean I have taken on more responsibility (which I don’t mind). I also have to split my time between research and teaching. I enjoy both, and quite often find explain things when you are teaching can help you think about things that you might want to do in research. I also have to think about how to win funding to do the research, including the funding to employ PhD students and researchers.

      I’d say the biggest change from being a PhD student is that I have to see how a lot of different projects fit together, and make sure that they are all progressing. I tend to plan 5, 10, even 15 years ahead, which I didn’t earlier on in my career.

      It sounds quite a lot when I write it down! But it’s made enjoyable because I’m working with really good people who are as enthusiastic about the projects as I am. Lots of good engineers!

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