I would encourage people to think deeply about what they really want – if you truly wish to be an academic, that’s wonderful, but there is no shame in deciding on a different career, even if you have been successful in academia so far.
I had heard that industrial science can be quite restrictive, that you don’t have the freedom to follow interesting science as you do in academia. It may be that I have been lucky in my role, but I have had quite a lot of freedom to investigate what I believe may be interesting biology.
My motto is ‘always choose the hardest battle, never stop looking for the unbeaten path’.
As much as I enjoyed my PhD, towards the end of it I started hearing a little voice in my head that made me doubt if my long-term career was going to be in academia.
