A big misconception in the academic world is that working hard and working smart are the same. Well, they are not.
You could also entitle this post “Save yourself before it is too late.” It is a message to those falling into the spiral of death in academia.
We need to go back in time: it is the winter 2008-2009, and I am a doctoral student at the University of Padova, temporarily dispatched to ABB Corporate Research in Västerås, Sweden, for five months. This is the same place where I got my first employment in 2010 and where I stayed for eight years of my professional life.
During that period, ABB advertised a researcher position in the team. Many candidates came to Västerås for the interview. In one case, the team manager asked me to join the candidate’s technical presentation and then asked me to talk privately to this person to understand him more from a personality standpoint. I was culturally closer to this person than the manager, so he relied on that to know more about the candidate.
The manager and I discussed my conversation with the candidate afterward. He asked me what I thought of the candidate. I said, “Well, he knows his technical part and is a hard-working guy.”
The manager looked at me and said, “I do not want hard workers; I want smart workers. I want someone who does the job excellently and then leaves the premises to do something else at home.” He was not joking.
When I terminated my period at ABB and returned to Italy to complete my studies, I was involved in a workshop where the local industry and the university met to discuss the future of electrical machines and drives. My former supervisor, prof. Zigliotto, was with me, too. I remember him talking to one of the CEOs of the participating industry. This CEO told him: “Look, when I receive a CV from a student of your university, I look at the grade the student has received from you. I know that your grades are a summary of the person’s technical skills, personality, and humanity. If the student has low grades in your course, I exclude it immediately even if the other grades are excellent.”
These two examples have permanently shaped my professional life. Needless to say, I have an enormous amount of respect for people who carry on their work in such a way that technical achievements are just a part of a well-rounded, healthy, and happy life, inside and outside the office.
It is sad to see how these simple concepts of life are neglected everywhere. You do not need to go far to see people working 24/7 and being “socially incompetent”… and for what? A name on an article? Glory? But who is giving you glory? Other 24/7 monkeys?
My stand is this:
- If you need to work 24/7 to make a career, you are not smart. You are evidently missing the technical skills to do your job and go home.
- If you work 24/7 because you have collected too many different tasks, you cannot envision a clear path for your career. Think smart and eliminate unnecessary tasks.
- If you work 24/7 because you want to publish more than everyone else, question yourself if your publications have an impact. And I do not mean the number of references from other 24/7 monkey articles. I mean impact as a change in society or industry. Are you contributing to a better future for everyone?
- If you work 24/7 because you think that everyone else does it and therefore you should do it too, then you are a 24/7 monkey. Too late.
Every person I recruit goes through an adjustment period when they realize the way I work. I bring the challenge to them immediately from the start:
- I want your work to have an impact in society or industry.
- Publications will follow your impact. Quality over quantity.
- Be smart and have a life outside the office. Take days off and vacations to cool down.
If you reflect on it, these three points are the most challenging job task ever. I ask you to change the world with breakthrough solutions in an 8-hour working day, excluding weekends and vacations.
If you manage to do that, you will have my respect. If you don’t, well, we tried. But at least you are not a 24/7 monkey.
