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Asked by espy532type6 on 15 Dec 2025.
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Liam Herringshaw answered on 15 Dec 2025:
I guess it depends on lots of different factors – how much you like science, what kind of job you have, what kind of job you might like to have. Most scientists I know work very hard, but most of them are also doing a job they love, which can make it easier. It’s very important to have a balance though – scientists are humans, and need to have other interests and do other activities. Working too hard on one thing can actually be bad for you. Always remember to take a break, and give your brain a rest!
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Martin McCoustra answered on 15 Dec 2025:
That’s quiet a difficult question to answer as the effort put into being a scientist varies from person to person. The key issue is basically whether you want to be a scientist. There are many levels at which you can enter science and pursue a career. Some points of entry may not even require a degree! Although for most sciences at least a degree from a university will be needed. In some sciences such as chemistry and physics, research technical and professional training beyond a degree to PhD level is often required to enter the more complex scientific jobs. For example, to become an academic in chemistry I needed to have a BSc and PhD in chemistry. That took me 7 years but today it’ll take typically 8 or 9 years. So you need to have some patience and persistence to become an academic scientist.
Once you have your job, what you get out is it is often determined by what you put in. Generally, the more effort you put into your job the more rewards will flow your way!
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Jonathan Mound answered on 15 Dec 2025:
It depends. Some jobs need lots of qualifications and specialised training that take years of study. Some jobs require long hours in the lab or weeks out in the field making measurements. But being a scientist can also mean being curious about the world around you, asking questions, and thinking carefully about the details of both the questions and the answers – and that is something that everyone can do.
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Caroline Ratcliffe answered on 15 Dec 2025:
It depends on the job really, some days are hard but other days are more just interesting or enjoyable so it doesn’t feel hard.
I have trained a lot to do my job, so that felt hard, but I did it over a 10 year period of time so it felt more manageable. -
Nicole Dunn answered on 15 Dec 2025: last edited 15 Dec 2025 12:07
As other people have said, it depends on what type of scientist you want to be. A lot of science related jobs will require at least an undergraduate degree, and you are likely to need to do post graduate study (masters, PhD) to get into quite a few different science-related industries. So that takes a lot of hard work! I work as an Ecologist and I ended up having to work as a volunteer for a while after I graduated from university before I managed to get a paid job. But I also know other ecologists who managed to get a job straight out of university (and some who didn’t go to university at all!).
Nowadays I would say that I work fairly hard, but I have a contract that says that I only have to work 35 hours per week, so if I work more than that then I can get my time back. It also depends on what I need to do at the time – some weeks I’m working very hard and using my brain a lot, whereas other weeks are much quieter.
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Cora Uhlemann answered on 15 Dec 2025:
As many have said, hat depends on a lot of aspects. As for day to day work, as a lecturer or professor at the university one might not even have defined working hours. I really appreciate the freedom that comes with this, even if I tend to work more than the average person. As a theorist, I don’t need to stand in a physical lab or go collect data, but I do need uninterrupted time for thinking, analysing data, research literature and exchange with peers. How fast my work progresses depends a lot on whether I can come up with the right ideas and realise them together with my team. Coming up with good ideas is the ‘hardest’ (and most unpredictable) part, but also the most creative one – so it needs both enough working time as well as time off.
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Millie Race answered on 16 Dec 2025: last edited 16 Dec 2025 11:53
Great question! I think in my career there have been times when I have worked really hard but not all the time, and I think every job has ups and downs. As the others have said, we have certain contracted hours and we are encouraged to take breaks, holidays, exercise and do hobbies. At my workplace they have a yoga class every Thursday for staff! I worked very hard at times during my PhD to do as many experiments as possible before I had to start writing up my results but I also got a trip to Portugal to a conference paid for by my work where we had a lot of fun! Overall, I think in your career you can choose how hard you want to work and there are so many types of scientists.
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Lorelei Robertson answered on 17 Dec 2025:
I agree with what everyone else has said, It very much depends. I find that sometimes it’s really easy! When i’m working on something that’s really exciting or something that I’m curious about then it can be a lot of fun and I don’t find it’s hard at all. on the other hand, when you’re working on experiments that keep going wrong, or wokring to tight deadlines, then it feels like you’re having to work hard.
You can get into science job in lots of different ways, all of which can be hard but in different ways. Going to univeristy and getting a master’s or PhD is one way, or going through apprenticeships, or getting a job straight a way is another option.
As long as it’s something you want to do and enjoy then the hard work is always worth it
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