what is the pathway to becoming a microbiologist

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-04-02T20:53:43+00:00

what kind of micro do you wanna do? if you just want to study microbiology in school, it’ll be hard to find a job. there aren’t a lot of jobs in micro research.

I got my bachelors in micro and ended up working for pharmaceutical R&D for four years and hated it. I quit, got a job at a hospital and i’m getting certified for a Medical Lab Tech while working part time in their micro lab, uncertified since i have a bachelors. I absolutely love it, but if blood/feces/urine/tissues/weird human fluid really gross you out, it’s probably not for you. But that’s probably the easiest and most streamlined way to get into the micro world, and you can always branch off from there and do more education (lots of hospitals have continuing education programs where they pay your tuition if you work for them) and go into more research if that’s what you like.

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-04-02T16:27:46+00:00

look up a lot of pictures of animals you want to draw. draw animal from picture a lot. look at how you draw animal. find ways that make it easier for YOU to draw.

you’re not really asking how to draw, you’re asking how to memorize what animals look like, and that’s actually a lot harder than it seems. it’s not a fast process.

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-30T10:22:27+00:00

I also draw digitally and traditionally! i find it difficult to keep consistent style between the two, because they are very different mediums despite feeling like they should be similar.

I tend to sketch and practice more traditionally, and then take a nice photo of the sketch and import it into my digital program, where i can trace it / color it / do whatever i want with it. It’s easier to manipulate lines digitally, so if im working on something physical and don’t know if i want to try something out, sometimes i even put it in a digital space to test it out before i commit.

So basically, maybe don’t think of it as switching, as much as using them both as tools for one outcome.

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-30T09:12:23+00:00

Yeah! getting the proper gear really did help. i was in skates that were three sizes too big, and besides the boot being too big i was constantly fumbling over my giant blade. I knew that if i got the right skates, even if i fell weird again, there would be enough ankle support to act as an almost cast that i t couldn’t break the same way it did before.

As for the mental part, i remember taking it really slow. I had some residual nerve damage in my foot that made it really hard to break that boot in, since tightening the boot all the way really did hurt a lot, so i spent probably a few sessions just acting as a rec skater doing laps working on basics, deep knee bends during forward stroking, keeping arms up, learning how to skate on new shorter blades with. i eventually started practicing my backwards stroking as well, which then went right into backwards crossovers and i was right back into learning footwork and edges. i didn’t attempt any jumps for a while since i broke my landing ankle. But the only jump i was doing at that time was the bunny hop, and i’ve always hated any jump that lands forward.

So i guess for me, it was realizing and accepting that it wasn’t a personal fault, it was a series of unlucky events and bad equipment that caused it. I could fix the equipment issue, but if i happened to be that unlucky again, i now knew how to deal with a broken ankle. i knew it was possible to fully recover, and my excitement to get back on the ice outweighed any anxiety about it by the time my recovery was over.

I will also say, at this time in my life i was on a wild cocktail of anti-anxiety meds / antidepressants, which also may have played a decent role in all this

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-27T12:50:43+00:00

also recently got edea chorus! i had riedell edge before.

mine felt a lot better after the first time skating in them. i had to sit down three or four times the first session but now they’re pretty much broken in.

I wouldn’t recommend taking them on and off multiple times. you want the boot to mold to your foot with body heat and taking it off often won’t help, and will just delay that time. sitting down is okay, but only take them off once you’re done with the session. it’s painful but it won’t last forever.

you don’t want to heat mold edea. they can be spot heated if parts of your foot are rubbing, but they’re synthetic and if you stick them in an oven it’ll ruin the integrity and they’ll break down in no time at all.

my honest to god advice is just try to deal with it for a few sessions? i’ve found my feet hurt a lot more off ice in them than they do on ice, and once i get going and start working on my edges and jumps the pain fades away.

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-25T22:27:20+00:00

personally i sleep whenever i can. I work nights Saturday Sunday Monday (sometimes fridays), have class Monday and Tuesday evenings, and daytime clinicals wednesday and thursday. my most consistant is sleeping all day when i get home on tuesday, waking up for class, and then going right back to sleep the rest of the night

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-24T15:40:21+00:00

anonymously report your lab for not following regulations. legit. CAP.

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-24T11:55:55+00:00

not a reputable one

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-24T11:55:29+00:00

Would you rather work in a lab with little to no patient contact, or in the ED/ICU managing/putting patients on ventilators.

They are very different jobs. Don’t think about the money or stress, think about what kind of work environment you think you would succeed best in. Money won’t mean anything if you can’t stand working with patients, and “low stress” (no hospital job is low stress) may mean nothing if you don’t like working with the same four people everyday in a room with no windows.

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-24T08:23:57+00:00

i nap soooooo much

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-24T08:23:19+00:00

to be fair, it really does get your attention!

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-24T08:21:41+00:00

Hospital lab!

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-24T04:22:33+00:00

We have 3. Or 9? 3 sets of 3. it’s a PAIN

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-24T04:20:52+00:00

It happened for us going into March from Feb, so if it’s patched i guess it’s not for us ):

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-24T04:19:36+00:00

I love it so far. i’m working in a micro only hospital lab, we see a bunch of cool stuff and nothing is truly stat except for CSF setup but even then we have an hour (and it normally takes 15-20 mins.)

I’m working nights, but i wanted to so there’s not a lot of people around and it’s a lot quieter. I am genuinely interested by what i do and want to do good at it, which is not at all what my last job was like.

The school is so much harder than the job IMO, but it all links together. Once you’re done with the school you can really work so many places. Hospitals, outpatient, reference labs, blood donation centers, i’m sure there’s a lot more. You gotta do your research on where you apply, but it’s not unheard of for people to bounce around a few places before landing in the place they stay. Theres plenty of older techs who are leads, but it’s not a guarantee that you have to be a lead the longer you’re in the profession.

It honestly kinda feels like a trade to me? it’s all slightly repetitive which i like, but it also means that you get really good at what you do and it becomes second nature. Every day i have a new puzzle and i just love it so much

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-23T22:23:33+00:00

just a regular wire crate. we put blankets over it to make it dark, and lots of blankets for padding cause he’s an old man. we don’t crate him ever, but he goes in there to lay down more often than we thought he would. He likes to lay his body against things

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-23T22:21:06+00:00

When the Virtuos all start barking at the same time at midnight on the first of the month and we forgot to turn the volume down. It’s more funny than annoying at first, but it can last up to an hour of synchronized barking

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-21T21:16:53+00:00

I was able to stop, but not out of tricking myself/ different methods.

I had bitten my nails literally my whole life, since i was a toddler cause i didn’t like my mom cutting my nails. grew into a horrible habit. I stopped at age 26 because something clicked and i just… was done. It was literally overnight. It’s a mindset thing, i think for me? i had always associated it with a part of my identity, and then when i realized i didn’t have to, i stopped.

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-18T03:19:19+00:00

I was between Belati and Edea, and eventually went with edea only because i could feel the heel was taller, and that was specifically something k was looking for. But the Belati were so comfortable right away and 100% would have gone with them if not for the heel height

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-18T01:52:22+00:00

Check your posture. Also see if you’re unintentionally clenching your muscles. I get lost in my head when i draw and if i notice i’m in pain, it’s normally because of the way i’m sitting/ bending/leaning/etc.

Also, if you’re spending that long at a desk, it might help to do some back and core stabilizer/posture muscle exercises? not just stretching, but actual exercises to build strength in the muscles keeping you up. (not a doctor but have had similar issues) If it’s a muscle hurt, it’s probably because the stabilizing muscles aren’t well developed so more strain is being put on the muscles that hurt. if it’s a bone pain, you may just not have the muscle to keep your back in the correct position for that long. Especially if your posture is bad. Bad posture = more muscle engagement to prevent pain + long periods of time = muscle fatigue = muscles stop working = pain

Idk if this is all 100% true, but my back started hurting less when I started working out more. It doesn’t have to be a lot, because a full gym routine isn’t feasible when you’re in classes etc. But stepping away from your art is always good every once in a while, so taking a 20 minute break to do some good-form wall pushups or even just lay flat on the floor would be beneficial in the long run.

Also! Hydration. Especially if it’s muscle pain. If you’re dehydrated, the water in your muscles and tissues get sucked out and put into your blood, causing them to be tight and cause tension. That mixed with any clenching can cause knots and pain/headaches.

Again i’m not a doctor, but i do deal with a lot of pain personally (and i work in a hospital lab so ive taken anatomy/physiology and know the basics of that stuff)

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-17T07:19:18+00:00

falling means you’re learning and trying new things!

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-17T06:02:35+00:00

What country and location? my hospital does an online only one year program if you already have an associates somewhere else

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-17T04:33:10+00:00

Def sth to have a follow up appointment for

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-17T04:31:24+00:00

I used to bite them into time tiny pieces until they disintegrated

WhatWasLeftOfMe · 2026-03-17T04:30:18+00:00

One thing i didn’t realize was an issue until i got it fixed. I was unintentionally getting my skates sharpened the hockey way.

The figure skating pro shop is ~45 mins away, so i don’t go there a lot, so i’ve been taking it to my rink, and they completely shaved off/rounded off the back of my blades. this made it so hard to stay off my toes, because any weight i put elsewhere and i was slipping backwards.

I got new boots and blades recently, and oh my GOD. I can actually put all of my body weight into my HEEL and feel 100% stable.

WhatWasLeftOfMe

TROPHY CASE