[vi.neon]

I am a student about to choose their studies at university - high school will be over by June/July - but I have many doubts about it. I would like to continue with chemistry and I would love to find a job in the future that both stimulates and encourages me to keep learning more and more, so I guess that becoming a researcher would fit me best.

My main doubt is wether I will be able to maintain a job like that or not once I managed to enter the field, because I heard a lot of situations in which people had to give up research due to a low salary to make do with a "B plan".

I only know that other options could be a job in an analysis laboratory, teaching or working with cultural goods. Naturally I have never had any experience (just a month in an analysis lab) so I can't say with absolute certainty that I wouldn't like them, but talking with teachers and reading informations on the internet I have the feeling they would not fit me, or perhaps not as a main job.

My question is if someone could tell me the probability of giving up research due to this reason, or also explain me some other aspects of a career in chemistry I didn't mention, or just an advice.

Thanks!

p.s. I hope everything is clear and that this is the right place where to ask this...

[jeffmoonchop]

Theres a very wide variety of jobs in industry which are not analyst jobs. In my experience the higher the education level the more interesting the job. As with most careers you'll start off learning the basics which can get boring, but as you move up you'll become more engaged and make more of a difference. It will be almost impossible to find a job in chemistry if you dont have a degree. Once you have a degree you'll start entry level. If you have a PhD you'll enter at a more interesting level. You;'ll get paid a lot more in industry. But if you want to be an academic feel free. Theres just a lot of hoops to jump over with very low pay before you can move on.

[vi.neon]

Theres a very wide variety of jobs in industry which are not analyst jobs. In my experience the higher the education level the more interesting the job. As with most careers you'll start off learning the basics which can get boring, but as you move up you'll become more engaged and make more of a difference. It will be almost impossible to find a job in chemistry if you dont have a degree. Once you have a degree you'll start entry level. If you have a PhD you'll enter at a more interesting level. You;'ll get paid a lot more in industry. But if you want to be an academic feel free. Theres just a lot of hoops to jump over with very low pay before you can move on.

Thank you very much, jeffmoonchop. I am absolutely intended to get a degree in general chemistry, then go on with more specific subjects and certainly get a PhD, if I will decide to go for research. Just an other question, which countries do you think are the best for this job? As I could gain mine does not support research as it should do at the moment, so it is quite a risky field. Unless the situation changes during these years, I would be willing to move foreign.

[jeffmoonchop]

I only know about the UK and north america. Out of the two I would recommend the UK for study, it takes way less time to complete, especially with the PhD. The PhD studies will be much more focused on your project too with less to worry about such as teaching labs, grading papers, etc. which contributes to the speed of completion. Then I would recommend trying to find a job in industry in North America. Industry positions will pay way more than the UK. In order of salary the highest is the USA then Canada then UK. I'm currently in Canada it allows me to have the option of transitioning to the USA when I am in demand enough.