Pros: interesting work that i could really get my teeth into
Cons: sometimes long hours working at home
During my time as a research assistant at the University, no 2 days were the same. There would be the standard tasks of replying to emails and telephone calls etc but the core daily activities would vary between, desk research, field research (surveys etc), researching for papers, seeing students, writing journal articles and project reports in addition
– more... to attending meetings and conferences. I learnt an awful lot about the subject area through the research but also through attending some interesting conferences. For the majority of the projects that I worked on I was the principal researcher so, as a result I learnt how to work effectively in order to meet strict deadlines. This frequently meant I had to work a lot at home and well into the early hours. Unfortunately with a young family this became quite challenging at times. The most enjoyable part of the job was learning about such a fascinating industry, and the sense of satisfaction on completing a project, report or a journal article. – less