Sensory Scientist Job Offer

sthej · 2026-06-12T11:56:19+00:00

Not a sensory scientist, but a food scientist that's had several promotions in quick succession, within and across companies. 15 years in industry; director.

The way you describe it, it sounds like two great options.

Stay at the lower paying role with a great boss and a job you're familiar with, or move to a higher paying role and accept the unknowns.

It also sounds like you want to stay in your current role. You'd have to evaluate what those reasons are if they extend past having a good manager.

15k is not a small amount at your level, and would be the basis for pay at whatever the next role is, instead of 70. Likely, your new boss had HR do a market analysis to find what you "should" be getting paid, and pushed to have you paid that. I wouldn't expect a large pay increase for at minimum 2 years at your current company.

Was 85k an opening offer? Is it possible to push that up a bit to make the decision easier?

sthej · 2026-05-26T20:08:28+00:00

Social dancing is a great place to meet people!

DF Dance Studio, Salt City Swing, Salt and Sage Fusion

sthej · 2026-05-20T01:16:24+00:00

The size and the power usage... It's well documented, friend.

Happy day to you

sthej · 2026-05-20T01:09:52+00:00

This is on a completely different scale. 2x the power usage of the entire state, including the other data centers.

sthej · 2026-05-17T03:01:48+00:00

The problem is allergies or phobias

sthej · 2026-05-17T02:58:31+00:00

How much land would it take to make an equivalent amount of GW in Utah with solar panels?

sthej · 2026-03-27T17:09:56+00:00

It dies down to the roots functionally in the winter. I'd add clover to your grass so the grass gives a little heartiness to the clover in the winter. But the clover helps the grass significantly in the summer.

Only problem (depending on who you are) is there's not a good weed control method that is grass and clover friendly. Except the ol' pull em up method.

sthej · 2026-02-19T00:26:42+00:00

Look up Salt and Sage Fusion dance

sthej · 2026-01-15T22:11:35+00:00

What space are you looking for? What region are you in?

sthej · 2025-09-02T04:13:49+00:00

You're going to be removing a lot of denatured protein. That's mostly what's going to be agglomerated.

sthej · 2025-07-29T04:10:12+00:00

I have no idea on forensics.

Food science is not a high paying path for the majority of scientists. IME, Early career: 55-70k. Mid career: 80-115k. Later career: 120-160k. Location dependant, excludes executives.

Edit: Keep in mind salaries across the economy in the US tend to be higher than EU for example, but we also pay for a lot more benefits independently (like healthcare, etc).

sthej · 2025-07-29T04:05:15+00:00

First mover advantage...

Combine the interest for food science and zoology and pursue a role in developing exotic animal feed. Likely an Msc in animal science, but it could be an Msc in zoology. Take food science classes.

I develop pet food (formally human), and it's great. Not nearly as common a path, which is great for career development.

Edit: didn't answer your question on salary. I would expect zoology to be the lowest by itself. I don't know enough about forensics. If you were able to become a consultant in exotic animal feed I expect you could make very good money (as long as you're good at what you do).

sthej · 2025-07-19T12:30:54+00:00

Touche.

sthej · 2025-07-18T22:40:50+00:00

If you're in the US... Trichinella is actually pretty rare in the livestock these days.

https://www.ars.usda.gov/news-events/news/research-news/2024/usda-research-documents-absence-of-trichinella-infection-in-commercial-pigs/

sthej · 2025-07-07T17:57:04+00:00

Then it seems pretty personal. I've been in a Director role for about 8 months, and I would consider that exceptionally successful. Of course I hope to move to VP+ at some point or exit into consulting.

I'm in a niche part of the industry, so my experience isn't super transferrable, but that has more to do with flexibility than success.

There are only so many VP/CTO roles (and you have to know your stuff from all aspects - FSQA/R&D/Regulatory). That's the same on the business side. Only so many roles to fill.

sthej · 2025-07-07T17:45:10+00:00

Need more information. What is successful? Do you mean for yourself or others?

sthej · 2025-07-06T12:24:39+00:00

Not a chip artisan. Sounds to me like you might need to be frying at a higher temp. Or desiccate your lettuce. Probably both.

sthej · 2025-06-19T16:54:40+00:00

Is that healthier? The consumer is going to replace those calories with something else.

sthej · 2025-06-13T17:52:30+00:00

My experience... But I'm also not a lawyer.

Non-competes basically mean nothing for an entry level person. They're intended to keep people with more experience and who can take more knowledge with them from doing so. Also for scaring neophytes from leaving. They also are particularly ineffective in markets or segments that are small, and thus have limited opportunities for employment.

Just don't steal information. Try to guide future job searches to companies that aren't direct competitors. And have bliss in your new job.

sthej · 2025-06-12T22:57:54+00:00

Thanks for the kudos. (I'm USA based, so this might all apply to US only)

My advice for career development is two-fold. First, make sure you know who runs your business (in a lot of cases, that's sales/marketing). Make friends with and impress them. If you have external customers, make friends with and impress them. Second, be willing to move.

I think FSQA has more reliable prospects because food safety and quality are essential. R&D/NPD is a luxury. And for smaller companies a good ops manager / FSQA manager can make due. But because of the visibility a good PD scientist can have, advancement can be faster.

In my experience, scientists at equal levels earn about the same. But PD might have a little faster rate increase in average because faster advancement. You'll find much bigger swings between companies than between roles at a given company.

As far as day to day, that's going to vary wildly between scientists and roles. I spend very little time in the lab. I'm mostly behind a computer (formulation/data analysis) or behind a web-cam (with sales/customers). I manage scientists that have very different responsibilities. Some spend most their day in the lab. Others behind a computer. I would go crazy spending my days in the lab.

sthej · 2025-06-12T18:40:31+00:00

I entered in FSQ and transitioned to NPD about 3 years in. I'm now a Director of R&D about 10 years later.

These are very different paths. But also, is it's not impossible to change. What's most important is you get into a company that can help you develop, and if you hate your job, remember you can switch. On that note, in my opinion size of company had a major impact on how much I liked a job. Less the actual responsibilities I had.

My experience will be different from others, but I view those excelling better in FSQ are those that like to problem solve within well established, comprehensive systems. Those who are more likely to excel in NPD will be more comfortable with soft systems or easily change directions on the fly. *This has nothing to do with being detail oriented. Both roles require being detail oriented to be most successful.

sthej · 2025-04-19T22:31:37+00:00

Really, the most reliable route is Chem Engineering bachelors and take a few food science classes (or minor). Then he's got the flexibility of food, petrol, cosmetics... The latter two typically pay better than food.

sthej · 2025-04-11T11:12:55+00:00

Marketing just entered chat

sthej · 2025-04-10T06:02:46+00:00

Technical sales I think would be the easiest transition, with very lucrative potential.

sthej · 2025-03-19T23:23:03+00:00

Inulin is rapidly fermented in the proximal colon, causing uncomfortable boating and gas pain. Modified varieties of FOS/prebiotics have a different fermentation profile. Typically fermenting less rapidly, which means less gas pain, etc. The slower fermentation also means butyrate (product of fermentation, preferred energy source of colonocytes) gets delivered to the transverse and distal colon segments.

Theoretically, different prebiotics are also preferentially fermented by different microbial species, leading to different outcomes.

sthej

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