Anyone who knows me will know that for the past year and a half I have been working a (sort of) full time job and a part-time job. The part-time job was as a data analyst for a research lab which, as many know, was the job I was really hoping would go full-time. Well, it did. I am now the full-time data analyst for Aeromics, LLC. I am not allowed to discuss much of my work because it is mostly proprietary.
I am learning new things and am part of something huge. I am part of research that could save hundreds of thousands, if not a million, lives every year. The work that I am doing will potentially impact everybody on earth and that's what drives me. Science, in all reality, is not exciting on the surface. I look at a lot of data that shows no results, but every so often a data set crosses me that prompts an e-mail when I'm done..."We got a hit!" This means that we test it again and again.
My favorite part, besides the data analysis and the people, is the fact that I have health insurance now. I haven't had insurance since I got laid off at the end of 2008 and it is really timely since I will be getting married in May. So, my life has turned around really well and I am very happy.