Six years ago, my brand-new university degree qualified me to apply for a Ph.D. program studying strange stuff in strange places.

We have all heard about the importance of friendships. The value of an extended network of colleagues and collaborators is often recognized as an essential part of success. Just ask The Beatles, who sang about getting by “with a little help from my friends.” Or if you need a more recent reference point, go listen to Taylor Swift’s “It’s Nice to Have a Friend.”

It was a warm Thursday morning, and the toasty smell of coffee was spreading out over the OPEN venue in Norwich along with floating bits of chaff - this is how I remember walking in the room full of doctoral candidates.

Scientist. If the first image that popped into your head was an older man with wild hair, surrounded by bubbling test tubes, and perhaps donning a white lab coat, you’re not the only one — the Einstein-like “mad scientist” is still a prevailing image in popular culture. But in the real world, scientists are so much more! And they do incredibly cool things on the job, like simulate Mars missions, track birds with sensors or, in my case, study spider venoms.

As a grad student aspiring to finish within a year or so, I find it scary to be constantly reminded of the ruthlessness within academia.