I was close to finishing my molecular biology degree. I always had a nice quaint job in some lab doing basic stuff in mind - an ok paycheck, no big ambitions.
In the last 2 years i realized how big the “socializing” part of this whole gig is. The first years i was getting by learning on my own (i’ve always been good at that). The amount of seminars and group work where working alone was not an option anymore was suffocating for me (i was able to deal with presenting stuff as long as i could work on it on my own, but cooperation over a longer timeframe with random people was insane stress for me), and in combination with my mental issues made me drop out in the phase of choosing a project (I even already had decided on a bioinformatics project) and seeking a mentor for finishing my degree.
The amount of social competency STEM needs is very underemphasized - i am pretty sure this extends into all of STEM.
we had to collaborate alot in one of my bio classes, 1 where i had a lab partner that did all the work without consulting me, so i dint know what was going on, she dint let me do any of the measurements,or whatever. then she disappeared midway into the semester(she dint even register for the class properly and only found out halfway) so i was left alone.
then comes the 2nd partner, who was absent most of the semester herself for health reasons. she touted as being in labs for 4 years(which she used in a rant against me), she was one of the most unhelpful people out there, she did not like the slides i was doing , and i should be doing it a certain way to make “digestible” to audience, but she would not offer any help, other than saying this or that is wrong. she was saying how she went to “talks” and conferences, she knows what she is doing, but she wouldn’t offer how she was doing her part of the slide projects. as soon as she found out grades were separate for each person. she largely stopped helping(which was just criticizing) and only would get together to combine said slides.
later down teh line, i was thinking this btch was cutthroat asf, is biotech industry have people like this worried about thier perceived reputation so much, they would sabotage the group for thier own ends, also the PI/instructor was no help, but he has own problems, having an attitude. all the other groups in class dint have this much abrasiveness, and dint have interruptions like i did. losing 1 partner due to her being absentminded, and then gaining a btchy one.
I had mostly luck in my labs, outside 2 occasions: a lab partner (an exchange student - luckily his english was passable, because he had no local language skills) who was utterly unable to work under sterile conditions and KEEPING them sterile, scratching his head while holding the tools in in that hand at the same time. it was infuriating to watch, and gently telling him did not result in behavioral change.
The other one was a professor for an organic chemistry lab course that had obvious problems with me being overweight, including fucked up comments in front of the class. I was already over 30 and had my share of rude costumers beforehand when i started, so outside of being pissed at him i ignored him as far as possible. Imagine being 19, still not really an adult and getting disrespected like that in front of the class by the person who should be the last to be guilty of such an behavior.
The seminars which required long term close cooperation, especially outside the lab or class itself, were where things truly fell apart for me. I wasn’t able with the constant, long term social noise in my life at all - the separation between private and work practically vanished with those.
I was close to finishing my molecular biology degree. I always had a nice quaint job in some lab doing basic stuff in mind - an ok paycheck, no big ambitions.
In the last 2 years i realized how big the “socializing” part of this whole gig is. The first years i was getting by learning on my own (i’ve always been good at that). The amount of seminars and group work where working alone was not an option anymore was suffocating for me (i was able to deal with presenting stuff as long as i could work on it on my own, but cooperation over a longer timeframe with random people was insane stress for me), and in combination with my mental issues made me drop out in the phase of choosing a project (I even already had decided on a bioinformatics project) and seeking a mentor for finishing my degree.
The amount of social competency STEM needs is very underemphasized - i am pretty sure this extends into all of STEM.
we had to collaborate alot in one of my bio classes, 1 where i had a lab partner that did all the work without consulting me, so i dint know what was going on, she dint let me do any of the measurements,or whatever. then she disappeared midway into the semester(she dint even register for the class properly and only found out halfway) so i was left alone.
then comes the 2nd partner, who was absent most of the semester herself for health reasons. she touted as being in labs for 4 years(which she used in a rant against me), she was one of the most unhelpful people out there, she did not like the slides i was doing , and i should be doing it a certain way to make “digestible” to audience, but she would not offer any help, other than saying this or that is wrong. she was saying how she went to “talks” and conferences, she knows what she is doing, but she wouldn’t offer how she was doing her part of the slide projects. as soon as she found out grades were separate for each person. she largely stopped helping(which was just criticizing) and only would get together to combine said slides.
later down teh line, i was thinking this btch was cutthroat asf, is biotech industry have people like this worried about thier perceived reputation so much, they would sabotage the group for thier own ends, also the PI/instructor was no help, but he has own problems, having an attitude. all the other groups in class dint have this much abrasiveness, and dint have interruptions like i did. losing 1 partner due to her being absentminded, and then gaining a btchy one.
I had mostly luck in my labs, outside 2 occasions: a lab partner (an exchange student - luckily his english was passable, because he had no local language skills) who was utterly unable to work under sterile conditions and KEEPING them sterile, scratching his head while holding the tools in in that hand at the same time. it was infuriating to watch, and gently telling him did not result in behavioral change.
The other one was a professor for an organic chemistry lab course that had obvious problems with me being overweight, including fucked up comments in front of the class. I was already over 30 and had my share of rude costumers beforehand when i started, so outside of being pissed at him i ignored him as far as possible. Imagine being 19, still not really an adult and getting disrespected like that in front of the class by the person who should be the last to be guilty of such an behavior.
The seminars which required long term close cooperation, especially outside the lab or class itself, were where things truly fell apart for me. I wasn’t able with the constant, long term social noise in my life at all - the separation between private and work practically vanished with those.