Many of the scientists in my division described my first week as a fire hose to the mouth as they continued to throw new information at me before I had a chance to digest what I had learned five minutes before.
The analogy is very true. I would learn some important Linux, or, R command and write it down, and John Ogren would already have entered four more before I had recorded the first. He always reassured me, “don’t worry you can just enter ‘h'” (‘h’ will give you a history of all your commands in a terminal so you can remember long, meticulous commands). Despite having such a helpful function, it does not discriminate from failed commands, so I often end up in a cycle of commands which did retrieve the desired output. Failed commands seems to be the path to a zenith of a working script, and four weeks ago I may have not put the effort in had it not been for the help and successes due to my mentors the first several weeks.
As seemingly impossible the tasks of programming and completing a project in the 9-week time frame were 4 weeks ago, the challenge seems surmountable now. With 3 weeks to go I am excited to have something even more tangible and helpful for the aerosols division to use in the future.
-Alex
That’s one of the single most inspiring and relatable things that I’ve ever read. I love the confidence and empathize with you every step of the way. I’m sure your project will be amazing and I’m so excited to hear about the aerosols. You’re going to accomplish a lot in the scientific world and I’m super proud to know you!