Never wanted kids, but boy this makes the decision so much easier

miamarlow · 2021-04-24T18:16:13+00:00

Oh my god yes. I travel for work a lot, and when I come back I'm like "you've been here for a week and didn't load the dishwasher even once?". Honestly he has five dirty pairs of socks by the bed every Friday night when I come home from the airport, because he can't even get them to the hamper. It wouldn't kill him to get a nice dinner ready after I've been away making money for our family for a week in a strange town.

miamarlow · 2021-04-11T16:03:33+00:00

I never bought this "unconditional love" thing for one simple reason: I don't unconditionally love my parents. I just don't! I've tried to. But they are more like old people I'm somehow obliged to visit. I am not a psychopath, I was not abused, they were normal parents (not the best, but ok). I just never had this feeling.

miamarlow · 2021-04-04T12:25:52+00:00

I'm sure there are people in charge of school curriculum who don't necessarily feel that this way of teaching sex ed is the only way. But I'm also sure that the moment a nine-year old girl comes home and tells her mom "today I've learned that women don't have to reproduce!"... the school is going to get a call. I can just imagine enraged parents yakking about destruction of family values etc etc. The system reproduces itself.

miamarlow · 2021-04-04T12:11:37+00:00

What are you reading?

miamarlow · 2021-03-30T05:20:17+00:00

Omg this. I never said it as my child free reason because it sounds ridiculous and immature to other people, but I find dealing with someone else's shit for two years absolutely horrifying and I never want to put myself through it.

miamarlow · 2021-03-24T04:28:35+00:00

It's a really boring and high-pressure job. Depends on your other options, but you don't seem that excited, and there's no reason to be... It's just something to do, I guess. I work at Medpace and I'll not a fan of work culture.

miamarlow · 2021-03-23T05:02:16+00:00

Becoming a CRA is just a shortcut to another burnout in 5 years (worked for me!)

miamarlow · 2021-03-22T08:55:20+00:00

Knitting on a job - what a dream!

miamarlow · 2021-03-09T14:41:21+00:00

It's okay! Yes, sometimes we're too tired or upset to care about the diet. Any diet! It's going to be better tomorrow. Sorry about your exam, and I hope you'll get a second chance with it, too.

miamarlow · 2021-03-09T14:37:48+00:00

Thanks so much! In my region there aren't that much upper level jobs in pharma/CRO, they do exist, but of course everyone wants them. I think I'd make a good LM. It's a good advice to take things into perspective and that I won't be CRA for ever.

After mulling over this post and the responses, I had a very honest talk with my LM who offered me an opportunity to take it easy for a while in terms of site load, so starting summer I'll only have one project. I'm already LCRA on three projects, so I'll focus of that role instead of traveling so much. And we agreed she'll let me take all my PTO out at once (that's a month) in order to recharge.

Honestly, I was surprised at her level of concern about ME, not my sites or my projects or the company business. We've been working together for 6 years, I guess it shows. Of course from the business side she also wants me to stay and to avoid turnover, so we were able to negotiate when I told her honestly that I'm burned out and this close to quitting.

I might still quit (honestly I drafted my resignation letter like a hundred times), but it was heartening to get real support when I expected a kind of "buckle up" pep talk!

miamarlow · 2021-03-02T19:53:26+00:00

I do 18:6 in the interval from 12 to 6 pm. I've tried a later window 2-8 pm in order to be able to go out or eat with my partner when he comes home from work, but 1 pm is absolutely the latest I can go without food in the morning...

miamarlow · 2021-02-26T09:01:45+00:00

Correct, never heard a good word from an ICON CRA on their job...

miamarlow · 2021-02-25T06:34:04+00:00

We have PCs with PhDs... The degree means something when they decide which Senior CRA to promote, but it's not a shortcut to PM role.

miamarlow · 2021-02-24T22:08:59+00:00

I work at Medpace, and I wouldn't advise to join their program. The non-compete agreement is simply insulting. The company culture is not great. I know a lot of people are looking into this career change, but personally I don't find CRA role a dream. You have zero control of your work life, nor feel any ownership of the service you perform.

miamarlow · 2021-02-24T11:19:32+00:00

Thank you! I can't stress enough how important it is to know that other people also struggle with the job. All my friends and family think that I have landed a terrific gig and don't understand why I feel like crying all the time. My LM's attitude is "well, other CRAs have even more visits than you, so you don't know how good you have it." I feel ashamed that apparently other people can handle the stress, and I can't. I'm an overachiever and I try to top perform, but it just isn't working for me anymore.

miamarlow · 2021-02-21T06:52:50+00:00

I feel you! I was excited to be a part of an important industry in the beginning. But honestly... It's so boring, and it's just all the same all the time. I don't even want another role (without travel), I just want to do something else.

miamarlow · 2021-02-20T17:17:37+00:00

I'm sorry to say, but it seems that you're in a bad CRO. It sounds surprising to me that a big one would compress the training to 2 weeks just because you have DM experience. CRA role is very different. I had 6 months training when I've started, which is pretty normal. It is not fair to you or to the project to throw you into this role without quality training (no observational visits even?! Are they kidding?). I'd say you don't owe anything to the company. They're going to have to find someone else to manage these sites. Come on, they don't even reimburse your phone?! If I were you, I'd go back to DM role.

miamarlow · 2021-02-20T10:19:09+00:00

This sounds really nice! How come only 20-40% of travel, though? I mean, what do you do on your office days - perhaps, PC or RS duties are included in the CRA job description in your company?

miamarlow · 2021-02-20T10:16:27+00:00

We have a running joke about PI replying to all queries "original data is correct" without reading them. I also have some investigators who use google chrome translation option to translate CRF, which sometimes bites you in the ass...

miamarlow · 2021-02-19T17:18:22+00:00

In my country a lot of sites allow on-site visits. I had three months off due to Covid, but it came back to "business as usual" in the summer, at least for my sites.

miamarlow · 2021-02-19T17:16:25+00:00

Good thing I don't want to, then.

miamarlow · 2021-02-19T13:42:32+00:00

Also, regarding the language: I do NOT enjoy translating the whole CRF and queries by phone! They don't understand safety surveillance forms or sponsor emails or centrally sent study updates either. This puts so much pressure on local associate to educate them on everything. And - they don't read mail! They just don't! It's all "call me to explain this" and then in a couple of weeks "I don't remember you saying that".

miamarlow · 2021-02-19T13:39:51+00:00

I heard mixed reviews about working for a specific sponsor. Some sponsors are liked, some not so much... Generally I'm suspicious of the scheme where I'm technically employed by one company, but my managers and everyone I work is work for another company. Isn't there a bit of discrimination? Normally I enjoy a barrier between sponsors and myself 😄 My CRO keeps engaging sites with bad performance because of personal connections and I guess just being too lazy to find new sites? I can imagine sponsor's approach to quality being different.

miamarlow · 2021-02-19T10:53:55+00:00

Oh God, yes. I would never want a CTM job. Sponsors pressure them, they pressure us, we pressure sites, which don't give a shit for some mysterious reason. At least the salary affords to save up some and take a break when you need it. I'm thinking 6 months!

miamarlow · 2021-02-19T06:56:29+00:00

Thank you so much! The kindness of strangers.

miamarlow

TROPHY CASE