{"id":3956,"date":"2009-08-05T10:13:29","date_gmt":"2009-08-05T10:13:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/principles\/2009\/08\/05\/pnas-lucy-rogers-freelance-jou\/"},"modified":"2009-08-05T10:13:29","modified_gmt":"2009-08-05T10:13:29","slug":"pnas-lucy-rogers-freelance-jou","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/2009\/08\/05\/pnas-lucy-rogers-freelance-jou\/","title":{"rendered":"PNAS: Lucy Rogers, Freelance Journalist and Science Writer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"i-cb45496c08370f54d7a058293c225072-rogers_book.jpg\"(On July 16, 2009, I asked for volunteers<\/a> with science degrees and non-academic jobs who would be willing to be interviewed about their careers paths, with the goal of providing young scientists with more information about career options beyond the pursuit of a tenure-track faculty job that is too often assumed as a default. This post is one of those interviews, giving the responses of Lucy Rogers<\/a>, a writer in the UK.)<\/i><\/p>\n

1) What is your non-academic job?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have managed to combine my interest in all things space with parts of my portfolio career. For example, I am the author of the book ‘It’s ONLY Rocket Science – An Introduction in Plain English<\/a>‘, which explains the basics of rocket science, from the initial idea to the completion of the mission. I am also a freelance journalist and have written for the BBC, the Guardian and more specialist publications such as Astronomy Now Magazine. I have worked as an engineer on rockets for space tourism and I give talks on space, science and engineering. Space aside, I’m also a director of a computer consultancy.<\/p>\n

2) What is your science background?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’m a Chartered Engineer with the UK’s Institute of Mechanical Engineers and hold a Phd in Bubbles (Fluid Mechanics) (Lancaster University).<\/p>\n

3) What led you to this job?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wanted to work for myself and the opportunity arose to start the computer consultancy. I then diversified into writing etc. Previously, I had been sponsored by Rolls Royce Industrial Power Group, where I completed all of my industrial training during the University holidays and after I graduated. I also worked in a small firm making fire fighting equipment, where I completed my research for my PhD.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

4) What’s your work environment like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I mainly work from home, from my laptop.<\/p>\n

5) What do you do in a typical day?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Usually some paperwork for the computer consultancy and keeping up with UK and other space news. Everything else varies.<\/p>\n

6) How does your science background help you in your job?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Project management is essential in what I do, and I appreciate having learnt great techniques for this at university. When investigating a story, I try to make sure everything is covered and to look at things from different angles – the science background helps here too.<\/p>\n

7) If a current college student wanted to get a job like yours, how
\nshould they go about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Find something they are passionate about, and follow it. I made sure I had the qualifications (Chartered Engineer) before I left industry, so if it did not work, I could get back into industry more easily.<\/p>\n

8) What’s the most important thing you learned from science?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Expect the unexpected.<\/p>\n

9) What advice would you give to young science students trying to plan
\ntheir careers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are no jobs for life, so make sure you are adaptable and can do different things. Write down your five and ten year goals and work towards them.<\/p>\n

10) (Totally Optional Question) What’s the pay like? <\/strong><\/p>\n

For freelance writing: Small, specialist magazines pay about \u00c2\u00a3150 per 1,000 words.
Newspapers can pay \u00c2\u00a3500 per 1,000 words (Sundays generally pay more).
\nComputer Consultancy – Varies
\nBook Royalties – Varies, JK Rowling get lots, specialist text books a lot less.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(On July 16, 2009, I asked for volunteers with science degrees and non-academic jobs who would be willing to be interviewed about their careers paths, with the goal of providing young scientists with more information about career options beyond the pursuit of a tenure-track faculty job that is too often assumed as a default. This… Continue reading PNAS: Lucy Rogers, Freelance Journalist and Science Writer<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,57,58,59,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academia","category-jobs","category-non-academic","category-pnas","category-science","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3956\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}