A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
Rules
This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.
Free swag, free food.
Last defense contractors expo I went to (for free) they had yo-yos, rubicks cubes, vacuum flask water bottles and lanyards. I took a bunch and sold them for a dollar each at the local swapmeet.
I kept the 3D printed metal submarine keychain though.
My favorite loot is an NSA-branded webcam cover
Lmao, I get so excited over stupid stationary. I usually keep everything digital these days, my pile of conference notepads make me feel like a hoarder lol.
It's disheartening to watch it, but heartbreaking to participate in it:
"Hi we're about to graduate and were wondering if there were any jobs available?"
"Uhh, yeah, just check out our website and our Linkedin to see if anything comes up..."
(Everyone's face drops.)
You know the lie, they know the lie, everyone feels ashamed.
BUT YOU'VE GOT TO PROJECT GROWTH AT ALL/ANY COSTS, OTHERWISE OUR COMPETITORS WILL THINK WE'RE WEAK
It's also full of "networking opportunities", i.e. you spot the people that you usually only see at conferences, check in on them and then proceed to not even think about them until the next conference. As a bonus, you can also have conversations with new people who are going to ignore your follow-up emails!
One of my PIs when talking always mentioned the people he worked with and their job status. So he'd basically
this work was made in collab. with all of these... The names in Black are permanent, ignore them, the ones in blue just got new postdocs, they are ok for now. The names in green: they will be applying! Keep an eye out for them!
While I’m here collecting free swag at the vendor booths.