Read on Twitter
We need to be really careful in academia to not let survivor's bias cloud our advice on how to make it in this career.
Person does X and succeeds, doesn't mean only doing X will lead to success. There's often more happening behind the scenes and, yes, luck is a factor.
Person does X and succeeds, doesn't mean only doing X will lead to success. There's often more happening behind the scenes and, yes, luck is a factor.
A position opening up that we're precisely qualified for is often luck. That doesn't erase the hard work that went into being qualified for it, but luck is playing a part in getting that job at that time.
Someone can work incredibly hard for years, but if there's discrimination working against them, they might not look as qualified as someone who didn't experience discrimination. I wouldn't call that luck, but it is something we have to recognise if we want to remove barriers.
These tweets were sparked from a tweet I saw, but it's not a subtweet because this isn't the first time I've seen comments like that, and I really don't want anyone to pile on one person. It's the culture that needs to change.
The culture that thinks that science is only a meritocracy. I can share a dozen articles that show that people in science are not always hired because they're the most qualified, there are other factors that influence how our hard work is judged.
So please, celebrate your successes, really! There are so many rejections in science it's important to take a moment to feel joy in achieving your goals. But please be pensive too, and look back at how you might have had fewer obstacles, then remove them for others.
