End of the first year

The end of my first year is fast approaching. I got here June 3 last year and started moving things around, even though my first official day wasn't until July 1.

To be honest, I was greatly dreading the first year, since so many people told me it was the absolute worst year of their lives. No one I talked to was positive about it in retrospect.

I really liked <a href="http://scientopia.org/blogs/drbecca/2012/04/26/the-semester-that-almost-ate-me-alive/">this post</a>, which described the feelings pretty well. I like it because it has balance, yes there's a lot of running around like a chicken with head cut off, but there's a lot of satisfaction.

I would describe the first year as feeling like being on a boat that is rapidly springing leaks. You are pulling around a wheelbarrow full of wood scraps, and you have a hammer and bag full of nails. You are running around trying to keep the boat from sinking and meanwhile you have to recruit passengers to help and then train them to help too.

I can see why some people hate it and miss their post-doc days. So far though, I vastly prefer it. I like being able to make a call, and have that mean something. I like being able to run four projects at once. I like that I dont have to analyze data anymore.

Maybe it's just positive hindsight bias. Maybe it's just that many things went my way due to luck. But it wasn't the worst thing in the world. But I'm still glad it's over, and looking forward to year 2.