Autumn has arrived and during breaks from work it has been amazing to see the colours of some of the trees here in the West Country! My postdoc position is now in full swing and October was my first full month. It has taken a little time to adjust myself back into a proper working schedule but I think I’m now there.
For previous monthly updates see here: Beyond the PhD Series.
How I spent my time in October
Here are all the things I spent my time on in October which I categorise as productive: either immediately useful or could improve my life over the next year:
Now that I have a full time job it is hardly surprising that I’m spending my time on a more narrow set of tasks! Nevertheless, I’ve been able to work towards some online courses as part of my postdoc so they’ve been combined into one category rather than appearing separately.
Let’s dive into these categories, plus a few more fun things which aren’t included.
Academic work
Publications
This past month a colleague of mine from Imperial has been preparing a paper which I contributed to, so I spent some time giving feedback before submission to the journal. Hopefully next month I may have some good news for this one!
In terms of my own papers, I’ve not made any progress with the final paper from my PhD. After spending ages the last couple of months on papers (which both got accepted) I’m in no rush! I’m now not planning to work on it until finishing the postdoc at the end of March next year.
There is little risk in delaying publishing and if anything I think it’d help my career to have a 2021 paper or two. I need to chase a paper which has been with a journal now since about April to check that it’s progressing, otherwise we may be best to try sending it elsewhere.
Finally, I’ve had a paper on the backburner for years which I want to get finished straight after the postdoc. It was a big study I led from my final job before even starting my PhD – so over four years ago. As always I’m keen to get the science out into the world, hopefully I’ve not left it too late with this one!
Postdoc
How it’s going
I’m now six weeks into my postdoc: about 25% of the way through the six months already! It’s been a little difficult in places because of my lack of practical experience coding, but every day I’m making progress! A lot of my time has been spent on stackoverflow, GitHub and everywhere else useful I’ve found when searching for answers to the many things I’ve been stuck on!
Last week I finally got something working nicely, so I’m relieved to have the foundations laid for the rest of the project. We’ll soon have access to some (anonymised) patient data and I can’t wait to try it with the method I’ve been working on.
My supervisor is really supportive and despite the short project length has been keen for me to pick up new skills. In October I paid just under £20 and whizzed through this Python for Data Science and Machine Learning Bootcamp on Udemy which was useful in places.
Working as a postdoc during a pandemic
I’m very lucky to have a project not requiring any lab work at all and I can work from home without too much trouble. Working as a postdoc, or PhD student, and requiring lots of lab access during a pandemic would be a very different story and I sympathise with people who are having trouble at critical points in their projects.
The main issue has been that I’ve been waiting to get a computer which still hasn’t arrived. This has meant that I’ve been using my own laptop which isn’t ideal in terms of productivity, computational power, and gaining separation between work and home life. Hopefully this issue is now sorted and I should have a computer very shortly.
I’ve not actually been onto the campus once, or ever met any of the team including my supervisor. It’s certainly been a bit weird but virus-wise it’s probably for the best. Even so, it would be useful to have face to face meetings every so often.
Overall I don’t have any complains at all about the project and I’m so thankful I applied for it.
The Savvy Scientist website
New posts
Five new posts went live in October:
- Beyond the PhD: October 2020
- My favourite cheap and healthy student meals on a budget
- How to Write the First Draft of an Academic Research Paper
- The Student Guide to Matched Betting: Make Easy Money Online
- PhD Profiles: Jenniffer, Final Year Student in Molecular Biology at Pan African University, Kenya
I had been putting off the matched betting post for a long time, it’s a bit contentious plus it seemed overwhelming to write. Nevertheless I feel it could be very useful for a lot of people so finally it’s live, all 6700 words of it!
It was great to get Jenniffer’s PhD Profile live: the first profile of anyone working outside of Europe or the US!
New layout
In October I also spent a little time to change the homepage layout to better guide readers to related topics. The next job will be to ensure every post sits neatly within a category and make sure none fall between the cracks and cannot easily be reached.
November task: check the categories of each post on the website.
As ever, please let me know if you have any feedback or suggestions for content. I’m slowly making progress through my list of drafted posts!
Website traffic
Traffic was down in October, both in terms of page views and the number of users.
I mostly include this content in case anyone finds it interesting, don’t worry I don’t read into it too much. Since I’m not great at sticking with social media I’ve mostly aimed for organic search traffic and it takes a while to start ranking on searches. Thankfully I’ve produced loads of content over the last six months which is now starting to slowly pick up organic traffic, so things should go up again soon.
Learning new skills
Machine learning
I’m using machine learning (deep neural networks) as part of my dayjob, which is great and means I’m practically required to learn exactly what I want to be learning because I need it for my job. It’s a great situation to be in.
As mentioned in the academic work section, in October I completed a Udemy course, partly in my own time and partly during work hours since it is so useful for that too. Also, I’ve found myself referencing some of the content from the Coursera course I completed last month, which is now making a lot more sense having gained some practical experience.
Finally, I’ve been spending time digesting loads of videos on YouTube, such as this series, to deepen my understanding.
Video production & editing
October task: Get a YouTube video online.
This was the main goal I set myself for October and again things have slipped!
My excuse is that it took me more time than I hoped to find a work-life balance with the new job. This has meant spending more time outside of the normal 9-5 on my dayjob than I should have done. The knock-on effect has been dipping into the bank of ready-to-go posts I had for this website. Even doing so I fell behind and had to spent more time than planned writing from scratch just to keep up.
My partner has suggested dropping down the post frequency, which I’ve been toying with. There is just so much content that I’d like to get out into the world. Maybe I need to be more mindful to spend less time per post and write shorter content? This is all a very long winded way of saying that although I’ve made progress with the video, it wasn’t quite live as of the end of October as planned.
Should I feel bad to have occasionally taken a break when I could have been working on this video? I think the right answer is: probably not! It’s important to not burn out so although I’d love to be able to always put more effort in to everything I do, ultimately sacrifices have to get made here and there. Next month I’ll have it ready to share!
Chin-ups
I’m pleased to be able to say that progress has been made towards my goal of being able to do a set of 10 chin-ups by the end of year. Chin-ups are a fantastic exercise so I want to build up volume on them, plus they’re just a pretty cool thing to be able to do a lot of. It helps that I weigh less now than I have done in the past!
In my final session of October I managed three sets of 8 so I’m feeling pretty confident with two months to go. I’m writing this on 1st November and last night a new national lockdown got announced. I go to a local park to my chinups (and dips) and hopefully these won’t be affected but of course I’ll be sticking to whatever the rules are and continue to be meticulous in hygiene before and after the exercises.
Spanish
On the spur of the moment I signed up to Duolingo in October and started learning Spanish. I’d never studied Spanish in school and I’m far from good but it’s amazing how quickly you can get the gist of things.
Why did I decide to start learning a language? Here are a few reasons:
- For fun. Duolingo does a great job at gamifying learning, and it’s addictive!
- Good for my brain.
- It’s another skill. I want to go and work abroad and Spanish is a very prevalent language so could be useful to know.
Even if I never use the language skills, I still think it’s not a bad use of my time. I’m now averaging about 20 minutes a day on there. If you’re interested in trying Duolingo you can sign up (for free) via a personalised link here which also gets me 1 week of access to their paid-for tier. No financial incentive for me but for good measure my affiliate policy is here.
Time off
We’re fortunate to have woodland within walking distance of where we live and it’s been lovely to get out into nature without needing to travel further afield. Time in nature is always well spent in my opinion!
Media I’ve consumed
Books
In October I finished reading:
- Peter Pan. I’d never read it before nor could I remember the details from any films. Peter is pretty different to how I had expected. Worth a read.
- The Secret Garden. Nice lighthearted read which I enjoyed.
I’ve signed up to Goodreads and will add all of the books I’ve read there. You can find my profile here if you’re interested.
I’ve come to the realisation that subconsciously I still have a goal in my head to read two books per month. That’s actually meant that reading isn’t always “time off”. Therefore I’m trying to only read books that are fun. Secondly I want to forget about always trying to be productive, especially for things like reading goals which are all in my own head. Over recent years I’ve struggled to switch off and it is is an ongoing process to reprogram myself to not feel the need to constantly be productive in some sense.
Not a book, but I read this piece this past month. Pretty crap reading about what some people, yes mostly white men, do and get away with.
Podcasts
Probably my favourite podcast is How I Built This (HIBT), especially the episodes serving a social purpose. I recently started regularly listening to the Out of Hours which is kind of like a more achievable version of HIBT.
All the projects stem from work outside of a day job. Although they’re all successful, it comes across as a lot more grounded than the stratospheric companies on HIBT which are regularly valued in the billions. I’m finding Out of Hours inspiring and I’m actively considering new ideas for projects.
Baking
Lemon cake – recipe here. We also added some raspberry jam in the middle which proved to be a nice addition.
Vegan Pizza – recipe here. Not bad for one we made on the spur of the moment with barely any proving.
Pasta – we’d never made homemade pasta before but in October made it three times! The first time was nice, the second time was rushed and didn’t work out as well, and the third time turned out the best. Pasta is much easier to make than I expected and we didn’t have a fancy pasta roller machine. Recipe here and served with butter and nutritional yeast.
Monthly finances
Income
Postdoc +£1951.96
After taxes and private pension contributions it is still always surprising to me how little extra employee wages are compared to PhD stipends. I should know better considering my post about this is the most popular on this website!
Talking of pension contributions, this month I made sure that I was on the provider’s ethical plan:
Flight refund +£663.12
Finally over six months after our cancelled trip we’ve managed to get a refund for our flights to Indonesia. The provider we booked through went bust (STA travel), my credit card company weren’t interested in a section 75 claim because apparently you’re not covered if there is an intermediary company between you and the product you’re buying and finally the airline couldn’t or wouldn’t recover our money. Thankfully our final avenue, travel insurance, got it sorted and really quickly!
Tax refund +£155.20
Always nice to get a letter saying you’ve overpaid tax and that you’re being given some back! This was for the work I was doing around the time I was leaving Imperial.
Kolabtree
I’ve had a few personalised invites for projects on Kolabtree recently. Most of them I’ve turned down because of them not being suitable, but there was one about helping someone with an academic job which I liked the sound of and have replied to. I’ll update you next month on whether or not this progressed.
Savings
Investments
Every month I make many recurring investments (dollar-cost averaging), it’s the best way to even out lows and highs and avoid trying to play the market. Here are the new recurring ones I’ve made, plus a few one-off investments.
Stocks & Shares
I’ve added monthly investments in two funds to my stocks & shares ISA account. They are:
- Vanguard ESG Developed World All Cap Equity Index Acc GBP
- Vanguard ESG Emerging Markets All Cap Equity Index Acc GBP
As with all the financial stuff I talk about, please don’t take me sharing these as financial advice!
NKCE
For a second time I’ve invested in North Kensington Community Energy. I also invested in their first round of funding. Helping a community, getting 3% interest and providing clean energy: what’s not to like?! This is right up my street. The funding round is open through to mid December incase you’re interested but please do read all the documents thoroughly to understand how it works.
Abundance
I made two Abundance-related investments this last month. For anyone not familiar, Abundance Investment is a crowdfunding website for projects creating a positive change as well as being financially prudent.
Currently I’ve got 11 active investments with them ranging from green energy production and storage through to community housing. They recently started offering Community Municipal Investments (CMI) and so I put a bit of money into Warrington’s Councils new solar farm. When I say a bit of money, I mean only £25! I’m always conscious of putting too much money into one project, or even one platform, in case of problems.
The interest rate (1.2%) isn’t that enticing but I had a little money sat in my abundance account earning no interest and I like helping to fund positive projects like this. I wouldn’t suggest this be the first place to invest some money, but for me it’s certainly better than having it earning no interest while also diversifying my investments.
My second investment was in fact in Abundance itself as a platform. They recently opened a round of funding so I put a bit in (under £100). There is an affiliate link for both of us to get a cash bonus but this is probably not a wise investment especially if you’re just starting out. I only put it what I’m comfortable losing and have a wide portfolio of investments to spread out the risk.
Finally, I made my annual donation to Wikipedia. This isn’t an investment in terms of financial gain but I use Wikipedia all of the time and believe wholeheartedly in open access to information. I mention this in case you fancy doing the same.
Bank accounts: switching bonus & tree planting
This past month I switched to RBS to get a £100 cash switching bonus. I had planned to also separately switch an account to Natwest (which has a better offer) but didn’t realise that they’re both part of the same company so wouldn’t qualify for both offers. Fail! In hindsight I should have instead switched to Natwest to get an extra £25, oh well! MoneySavingExpert lists the best current accounts to switch to.
Unexpectedly my favourite search engine, Ecosia, has launched a free debit card called TreeCard which I’m supporting. No fees and they donate 80% of fees (paid by shops) to growing trees. If you’re interested you can sign up with my link here. Using my link provides no financial incentive for me but does bump me up the waiting list for the cards, plus they plant extra trees for us both! More on my affiliate policy here.
October Summary
It’s hardly surpising that the majority of my “productive” time in October was spent on my day-job: I probably wouldn’t have been very committed otherwise!
Even so, I’ve been finding my feet in terms of work-life balance, which is certainly a challenge when working remotely from home and now with a new lockdown looming.
I’ve realised I need to consciously stop myself working otherwise I’ll carry on until having dinner. Even though the contract is only for six months and I really want to make the most of it, I equally want to make sure I’m making time for other things in my life.
November Plan
Having a day job means I have to be a lot more selective over what I do with my free time. I figured it would be worth thinking about two categories to help me make the most of this time going forwards:
What I want to do less of
I was just looking at the pie chart at the top of this page and was thinking about how I don’t want to cut my time on any of those things.
Instead I want to reallocate time from everything else which wasn’t included:
The problem is, I don’t exactly think I’m conscious of all of the other things I’m spending my time on. Therefore in November I’d like to become more conscious and think about whether these things are worth spending my time on: either in terms of being useful or being fun.
What I want to do more of
I want to figure out how I’m spending my time to be able to allocate resources on a few things which have been on the backburner. These include:
- Business / project ideas. Having this website is nice but I want to also try other ventures, ideally with either an ethical or environmental stance. Leveraging my own skills for these purposes would be nice.
- Helping others and giving back to the community. I feel really fortunate not just to be in the position I’m in right now but to have also had the opportunities along the way. I fear that the next six months will be much harder than normal for a lot of people, so besides making monetary donations/contributions I want to think of other ways I can help. As a starting point I’m planning to join in with the reverse advent calendar campaign during November to help raise money and donations for food banks.
Until next month, I hope you’ve enjoyed this update and join me in striving to become the best versions of ourselves. Not just academically but as well-rounded decent human beings.
