37 signals publient de temps à autre des extraits de sites exemplaires ou inspirants à leurs yeux, comme cette perle (en anglais) sur les choses à savoir avant de postuler dans le labo du professeur Sönke Johnsen. Délaissant le discours corporatif traditionnel ennuyant et les clichés, Johnsen s’adresse aux étudiants comme un mentor humain. Elle dresse le portrait d’un superviseur potentiel qui sait aller au-delà de ses intérêts de chercheur pour tenir compte des intérêts personnels de ses étudiants. Dans la langue originale :
In many ways you will turn into your advisor. Advisors teach very little, but instead provide a role model. Consciously and unconsciously, you will imitate your advisor. You may find this hard to believe now, but fifteen years from now, when you find yourself lining up the tools in your lab cabinets just like your advisor did, you’ll see. My student Alison once said that choosing an advisor is like choosing a spouse after one date. Find out all you can on this date.
Finally, have your fun now. Five years is a long time when you are 23 years old. By the end of graduate school, you will be older, slower, and possibly married and/or a parent. So if you always wanted to walk across Nepal, do it now. Also, do not go to a high-powered lab that you hate assuming that this will promise you long-term happiness. Deferred gratification has its limits. Do something that you have passion for, work in a lab you like, in a place you like, before life starts throwing its many curve balls. Your career will mostly take care of itself, but you can’t get your youth back.
If, after reading this, you want to apply to this lab, we would love to hear from you.
Combien de professeurs de l’UdeS se sentiraient inspirés par cette lecture?