Tomorrow is one year since I defended my doctoral thesis. Time pass. For this occasion, I have created ten simple rules for graduate students who would like to continue their career in academia.

Rule 1. Write a lot. Writing is the most crucial skill, if you would like to stay in academia. You will write grant application, scientific papers and so on when you stay in academia. Thus, you need to be expert in scientific writing at the end of graduate studies.

Rule 2. Attend some courses for graduate students outside your comfort zone. It is important to be flexible and able to adjust to different kinds of projects in you academic career. You can never predict which skills and knowledge you will need in the next project.

Rule 3. Learn to say no. It is important to be assertive in academia. In you future, you will need to say no many times. Saying no it is actually saying yes to other important things. It is also better quality of your work.

Rule 4. Be humble. Especially in interdisciplinary research group, you will work with people with different background. They might not understand your work fully, but they can contribute a lot to your projects.

Rule 5. Set up your network. Set up as many collaborations as possible during graduate studies. No conference on the horizon? You know experts in you field. Contact them via email for example if something is unclear in the method they applied in their paper.

Rule 6. Learn how to learn. If you would like to stay in academia, you will need to learn during whole career and you will also teach new generation of graduate student. So, you need to be an expert in learning tools and tricks you can apply to memorize and learn fast.

Rule 7. Accept uncertainty and changes. Science is changing and evolving very rapidly. Learn to adapt to those changes. It is normal that you cannot plan more than six months ahead. Just accept it and try to enjoy it. Changes are great!

Rule 8. Get skills necessary for your postdoc position such as leadership or time management. As a postdoc you will not only work on your personal project but also lead bigger project with other people involved.

Rule 9. Find you niche. As a PhD, you are not a student anymore but expert in your field. Graduate school is a perfect time to find your niche and get skills to became an expert. For example, during early-phase of my graduate school, I tried different paths.

Rule 10. Work on one project at the time. Ideally, you should have three projects. One you are working on now. The 2nd project is on desk of the collaborator. And the 3rd project is at final stage. Less side projects, better for quality of your work.