Vision of LIFE - Volume 17 - No. 1

17
The best thing I can hear is: “ooooooh, now I
get it!”. In the last two years I assisted during
the Biotechnology 1 exercise tutorials, but for
this year I will also be teaching the lectures
together with Jack Pronk.
“I still hold a pipette (almost) everyday
and i still think about biotechnology
everyday.
So what has changed? ”
At the TU Delft PhD students have to follow
courses on scientific topics relevant for
their project, as well as courses on things
like team building, leadership and project
management. While sitting on the other side
of the classroom, as a PhD-student you get
to work on soft skills that are useful in your
project, but definitely required later in your
carreer.
Of course you’re also a researcher when
you’re doing a PhD-project. It’s the first time
that I get paid to think, to learn and to figure
things out. Because that is my favourite way
of working, I enjoy the research a lot. By
definition getting to a result is always slower
than expected. At times that’s frustrating,
but the thrill of finding something new or
achieving something of importance for the
project makes it worth all the hard work I put
in.
In the (almost) two years that I’ve worked on
this project, I have regularly been asked the
same question: what do you want to do after
your project is over?
“At times that’s frustrating, but the
thrill of finding something new or
achieving something of importance
for the project makes it worth all the
hard work i put in.”
This question sounds so simple, but I will
probably spend the next two years thinking
about the real answer. In the end it’s more
important to enjoy the project that I have
right now and aim to find something I like in
the long run. Whether that is in academia,
research in industry or something completely
different doesn’t matter that much to me. It’s
the best piece of advice that I can give LSTstudents
for minors, courses, internships and
jobs: find something you enjoy!
Xavier Hakkaart
Science