Questions for a practitioner: Science and Discovery

How to use this list

On Day 2 you have short conversations with people who do this work for a living: about 12 minutes each, in a small group. That is time for three good questions, not twenty. Before the day, pick the three you most want answered and star one backup in case someone else asks yours first. One of them can be the question you wrote in your Day 1 reflection. Then write down what you expect a normal week in one of these jobs is like, so you can compare it with what you hear.

After First Move, between your 30-day check-in and day 90, you can use this list again for one longer conversation (15 to 20 minutes) with someone you find through your family, your school or the First Move team. Pick four or five questions for that one, plus a backup.

Why these conversations matter

Talking with people in work is one of the better-researched parts of preparing for a career. Good practice says it works best when you have prepared, when it is a real two-way conversation, and when you take time afterwards to think about what you heard.^[1] An OECD analysis found that teenagers who talk to someone about a job they expect to do are less likely to be unsure or mismatched in their plans.^[2] In a 2019 trial in England, students who heard three extra career talks planned to revise more than students who did not, though the researchers called the effects modest.^[3] Hearing several people helps too: in a 2011 survey of young people in Britain, 84% of those who had three or more career talks found them useful for deciding on a career, against 55% of those who had one or two.^[4] Most of this research is from the UK and other OECD countries, and it shows links rather than proof. The lesson still holds: prepare, ask, listen, and hear more than one voice.

After every conversation, write down the job (not the person's name), one answer that surprised you and one follow-up question you did not have time to ask.

The work

1. Walk us through a real day. How much of it is at the bench, in the field, at a desk with data, or in meetings?
2. Tell us about an experiment or project that failed. What did you learn from it?
3. What do you do when the data is messy or the answer is uncertain? How do you decide what you can say?
4. How do you check that a result is right before anyone relies on it?
5. Which safety rules in the lab or the field matter most, and why?
6. Who uses your results: patients, a company, a government agency, other scientists?
7. How long does one project or piece of research usually take, from question to answer?

The path in

8. What was your route: foundation, matriculation, STPM or a diploma, then a degree? Did you need a Master's or PhD?
9. Is there a registration or licence in your field? (For example, under Malaysia's Chemists Act 1975, only chemists registered with Institut Kimia Malaysia may sign or certify a report of analysis intended for the public.^[5]) Which ones matter for your job?
10. Which school subjects turned out to matter most, and which mattered less than you expected?
11. What is the difference between a research career at a university and a science job in industry or government?
12. If you were 18 again, what would you do differently?

Money and hours

Pay is personal, so ask about the job, not about the person. Ask for a rough range for someone starting out, never what a named colleague earns. If they would rather not say, that is a fair answer: thank them and move on.

13. Would you be comfortable telling us roughly what someone starting in a role like yours earns, as a range?
14. Are early research jobs often short contracts or funded by a grant or scholarship? How did you plan around that?
15. Do experiments ever mean evenings, weekends or shifts? How did your pay grow over your first five years?

AI and change

16. Which tasks do machines, automation or AI already do in your work: running samples, analysing images, searching papers, crunching data?
17. How do you check an AI tool's output before you trust it?
18. What still needs a person: asking the right question, careful hands in the lab, judgement, ethics?
19. Which new kinds of science jobs have appeared in the last few years, for example in data or bioinformatics?

Advice

20. What is one small thing I could try in the next 90 days, such as a citizen-science project or a short online course?
21. What kind of person should I talk to next, for example someone who started in the last two or three years?

How to ask a good follow-up

The best answers often come from the second question, not the first. Try one of these:

• "Can you give me an example?"
• "What happened next?"
• "What would have made that easier?"
• "What do you wish someone had told you at my age?"

Listen for a specific story (a real day, a real mistake, a real decision) rather than a general answer. If you disagree with something, don't argue: ask "What makes you say that?" and note their reason. A practitioner can pass on any question; just say "No problem, thank you." Straight after the conversation, write the answer down in your own words while you still remember it.

Keeping in touch, and staying safe

On Day 2, nobody swaps phone numbers, emails or social media accounts. Don't ask a practitioner for theirs, and don't give yours. Any follow-up with a Day 2 practitioner goes through the First Move team: if you have a question you did not get to ask, give it to the team, and they will tell you what is possible.

If you arrange a conversation after First Move:

• Find the person through your family, your school or the First Move team, never a stranger found online.
• Meet in a public place or online, and make sure a parent or guardian knows who, when and where.
• Never share your address, IC number or other personal details.
• You can end any conversation that feels wrong. Tell a parent, your school or the First Move team if anything worried you.
• Say thank you at the end. If you want to send a short thank-you afterwards, send it through whoever introduced you.

For facilitators: keeping questions respectful

Check learners' chosen questions before Day 2. Questions should be about the work, not the person's private life: no named colleague's salary, religion, personal health or family matters, and pay only as a rough range for someone starting out. Tell each practitioner at the start that they can pass on any question, and show learners how to respond ("No problem, thank you"). No personal contact details or social accounts are exchanged; follow-up goes through the programme team. Leave a minute or two after each round for learners to write their surprise and their follow-up, because reflection is part of what makes an encounter worthwhile.^[1] Learners can ask in Bahasa Malaysia, have a pod mate read their question, or take notes by voice or on paper.

What to do next

1. Before Day 2: choose your three questions from this list, plus one backup, and write them on your question card.
2. Straight after each conversation: note the job, one surprising answer and one follow-up question. At the end of the day, add the answer that changed your thinking most to "The people" in your Future Map, with what it changed.
3. Between day 30 and day 90: if you want to talk to someone doing this work, ask your family, your school or the First Move team to help you arrange it, and use this list again.