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Asked by susey13 to Shane, Sue, Richard, Craig, Anna on 23 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by 10msvon, 10mtnap, 10mjkod.
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Shane Pennington-Cooper answered on 15 Jun 2011:
Hello Susey,
I wanted to become a forensic science teaching mentor as I have always had a fascination into forensics and I knew how hard studying forensic science was, so I wanted to use my past experience to help other students through their education reducing any stresses and strains which they may be presented.Who better to teach you than something has been through it. The satisfaction of knowing you are helping someone, for example I had a university student who was dyslexic and stressed out about her work at all times, she was very upset and depressed that what she was doing was not good enough, I sat her down and asked her what she found difficult and I changed my teaching style so she could understand it, she is now in the final year studying Forensic Science is has gone from 42% average mark to 67%. That made me feel so happy and appreciated.
What do you want to be when your older Susey?
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Sue Carney answered on 21 Jun 2011:
Hi susey13,
I was fascinated by DNA when I first learnt about it at school, and I love that my job gives me the chance to use DNA for a worthwhile reason to help solve crimes. My favourite part of the job though, is going to court. It’s a bit scary standing in the witness box in front of everyone, but when I’m there, I know that I’m the person who knows the most about forensic science in that room, and it’s my job as an expert witness to explain the science that’s been used in that case, so that everyone else in the court understands what it means. That’s very rewarding.
There are lots of other aspects to my job that I love too. At the lab I used to work at until recently, I was a quality lead. That meant that if anything went wrong, I was one of the people who sorted it out. Sometimes it meant that I had a queue of people at my desk wanting to discuss things, but that was very satisfying too because I worked with a brilliant set of people and it felt good to be someone they could come to for advice and help.
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Richard Case answered on 23 Jun 2011:
Being able to help solve crimes is an absolute honour and a privilege. It is very rewarding to know that you have helped somebody get justice and that you are making the world a better place……
But I also love the people I work with…. Forensic scientists are not sad geeks who spend all day looking into a test tube…. nor are we the cool dudes in a thousand dollar suit that you see on CSI tv shows… we are regular guys and girls who enjoy socialising and have a shared interest.
I also like getting paid 🙂 . There are a lot of people out there at the moment (and I know quite a few), who are finding it very difficult to get a job; or the one they are in is under threat…. so I am very grateful not only to be doing a job that I love… but just to have a job.
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Anna Williams answered on 23 Jun 2011:
Hi 10msvon, 10mtnap and 10mjkod,
Well, where to begin?
1. I love the fact that I am doing an unusual job, so that whenever I meet new people and they ask me what I do for a living, I can tell them and they seem a little bit amazed and a little bit jealous, and always very interested.
2. I love that I am doing something that not all people can – I don’t think everyone has the right personality or strong stomach to do it, so it makes me feel a bit special doing it.
3. I love the fact that my job helps people – the information I can provide about a body or a skeleton can help to identify it, which then means that the relatives and family of the dead person can get the body back, and know 100% that it is the right body. This is very important to get right – can you imagine how awful it would be if the family got the wrong body back? Getting the right body back means that the family can properly begin to grieve for their loved one, give them a proper funeral, and say goodbye properly. If we didn’t do that, the family would never know for sure if their relative was still out there, and possibly alive, and it would be devestating.
4. My job also helps people by giving information to the police that might be useful in solving a crime, so it helps to make convictions, and send guilty people to jail. This is important, because then ordinary people can feel safer in their houses, knowing that more murderers and psychopaths are locked up. It enables communities, including children to feel safer.
5. I also love my job because it involves teaching. I really enjoy teaching students who are bright and enthusiastic (like you!), and keen to ask questions. It makes me feel that all the days that I don’t enjoy, and the worse sides of my job are all worth it! I like the feeling that students know more when they leave my classes than they did when they came in, and that they enjoyed learning.
6. I also love the research aspects of my job. I get to think up (sometimes silly) ideas, and I have freedom to test them and experiment and see if there’s anything to them. If they don’t work, it’s a bit frustrating, but I can go on to something else. If it does work, then I may genuinely have found out something that can help solve more crimes in the future, or help identify more people, which feels fantastic!
7. Like Richard, I love getting to do things like IAS. If I wasn’t a scientist, I would never have heard about this, and would never have had this brilliant opportunity to “meet” lots of really interesting, intelligent students, and answer some absolutely fantastic questions. It has been marvellous! 🙂
Comments
susey13 commented on :
i dunno exsactlly what i want to do when iam older but at 1 point i did want to become a crime scene investigator but tht chaged when i wanted to work with children i want to be a sociall servicer worker or a flighht atteendant and atm iam currently studying art but thts what i want to achive in life x