Building a career from a passion for science communication

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Hello, and welcome to the Physics World Weekly

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Podcast.

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I'm Hamish Johnston.

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This is the second in a mini series

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of episodes

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that looks at physics careers.

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Last week, I chatted with a retired physicist

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about opportunities

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for people in the third age of their

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career.

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In this episode, I meet an early career

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physicist, and we talk about how she's made

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the transition from academia

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to industry

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by calling on her passion for science communication.

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I'm pleased to be joined here in Bristol

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by Kirsty McGee,

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who is scientific and technical writer at CRUISE,

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a quantum software company based in Germany.

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Kirsty wrote for Physics World as a member

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of our PhD

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student contributor network, and we began our conversation

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by looking back at that experience.

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Hi, Kirsty. Welcome to the podcast.

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Hi. Thank you for having me. It's great

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to be here. So, Kirsty, you were,

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an early member, I think, of our or

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or perhaps an intermediate member of our Physics

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World, PhD student contributor network.

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What got you interested?

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What why did you join the network?

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Well, I always loved writing. Even as a

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child, I was, always, like,

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writing stories and, yeah, really

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enjoyed that, but I also enjoyed

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science, physics, and and maths mainly.

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And I think,

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I guess, it's kind of similar everywhere. But

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in The UK, there's a very big,

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like, idea that if you do humanities and

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arts,

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it's not employable. So you're kind of pushed

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towards science. So I ended up studying physics.

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And then,

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during my PhD, basically, I realized that

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my favorite part was the writing, so the

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reports and the papers. And,

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most of my colleagues hated writing papers because

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they were just desperate to get back in

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the lab. And for me, if I

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if I could just be the paper writer

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for a research group and write everyone's papers,

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that would be like I realized that, yeah,

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that was, like, would have been a perfect

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situation for me.

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And then a friend told me about the

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contributor network,

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and I applied and was, yeah, luckily accepted.

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And yeah.

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So so what were you doing your your

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PhD on?

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Light matter coupling and semiconductor microcavities.

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So I was doing organic

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polaritons,

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trying to get,

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achieve boresine sign condensation in different materials,

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and study that.

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So I know I know I think later

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on, you did write about that for physics

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world in,

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as a freelance rather than a,

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a student contributor. But is it did when

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you started off writing for Physics World, were

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you writing about

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polaritons and things like that? Or did you

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decide to write about things that you weren't

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studying for your PhD?

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Yeah. I tried to

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maybe, yeah, not do things that were, you

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know, completely exactly what I was doing because

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I was already reading those papers. So it

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was a nice opportunity to see what else

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was going on.

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I think the first one I did was

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ghost polaritons. I think you sent that one

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to me as, like, a,

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yeah. You'd seen it and you thought, oh,

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well, Kirsty's. This is what Kirsty does. So,

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but, yeah, I think I did a few

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on two d materials and,

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LEDs and

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things yeah. Other kind of photonic material science.

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I see.

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And did that did did it help you

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as a PhD student? Did you or was

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it something completely separate from your existence

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in the lab? Did did you find it

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useful,

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you know, in terms of

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broadening your knowledge of your area of condensed

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matter physics?

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Yeah. I think I think so. It gave

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me a better understanding of,

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yeah, the kind of broader field, I think.

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Yeah. When you're doing a PhD, you're so

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focused on this one thing where you,

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yeah, you just have your own project and

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you may be only interested

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in things that are directly related. So this

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kind of maybe, yeah, gave me a broader

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understanding

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of the field and, yeah, what other people

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were doing and maybe

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gave some ideas or some insights into what

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could be transferable between them. And,

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yeah. So,

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as part of it, you

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once you've written your news article, you

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contact the researchers to get a kind of

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technical approval to make sure that you've represented

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everything correctly because, yeah, if you're not an

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expert, then maybe you've misinterpreted something or misrepresented

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it somehow.

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So So it was always nice to contact

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them and get their feedback and kind of,

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yeah,

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understand

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a little bit more about

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the people behind it and not just, like,

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this is a paper from

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some

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unknown researcher that's just like a name on

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a bit of paper.

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And and did did you also I mean,

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part of the the role of a student

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contributor is to read the work of other

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contributors. Did you did you do that? Did

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Yeah. I I did. Yeah. So reviewing

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the yeah. Because there's, like, the the three

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stage or, I guess, four stages of review

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review. You review what you've written yourself first,

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then send it to the, to the researchers

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and get a

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technical review. And then you want a review

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from someone who's not directly involved in that

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field,

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to make sure that it's gonna be accessible

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for people outside.

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Maybe, yeah, like, the readers of physics world

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are not necessarily doing PhDs in polariton. So,

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yeah. So I also,

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yeah, reviewed other people's, which was nice. I

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remember doing, like, a biophysics one or something,

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which is also something that I considered doing

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for my PhD.

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So, yeah, something that I'm interested in, but

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I haven't necessarily had the time to

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maybe, yeah, keep up with. So it was

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nice to,

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yeah, get a little bit

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of variety,

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because sometimes, yeah, just like I said, you're

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so focused on your own thing that,

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yeah, sometimes it's nice to actually hear what

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else is going on.

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So so did you I mean, you you

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said that you enjoyed writing papers. Did you

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did you find that working with physics world,

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did that help you in that sense? And

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was it, I suppose, just more practice in

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terms of trying to explain scientific contact,

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concepts in a relatively simple way.

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Yeah. I think so. Especially, like, the,

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I think a lot of scientists

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just write, and they don't really think about

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you know? A lot of the time, the

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papers can get really long and kind of

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out of hand, and the physics world stuff

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was, like,

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you know, not a strict limit, but, you

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know, I had to make sure what I

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was saying was concise. Because I think a

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lot of the time, I would just

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read the paper and then just write, and

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then I would check it, and it would

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be twice as long as it had to

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be.

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And then so it definitely helped me in

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condensing and making things more concise. Because if

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it's too long, then people aren't

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necessarily gonna stay focused on it. They might

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lose interest if there's too much detail. So

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I think definitely and it ended up, yeah,

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transferring these skills to my thesis. I think

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I ended up having quite a short PhD

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thesis because

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I,

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yeah, only put what was relevant, and I

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developed these skills to be able to kind

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of,

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identify what was necessary and what is just

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added stuff. I think, yeah, a lot of

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the time physicists can just

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tend to

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just

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write everything that they know in it.

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But that that doesn't always make it better.

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That that was were were the the people

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who, who examined your PhD thesis. They must

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have been happy Yeah. I think so. To

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get a nice concise document.

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Yeah. They they did say they were like,

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yeah. This is one of the the shorter

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theses we've read, but,

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yeah, it still had all the correct content.

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Oh, that's great.

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Yeah. Yeah. It's funny it's funny when you

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look at, you know, very old papers, you

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know, like a paper from the

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the nineteen twenties by Paul Dirac or something.

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They they, you know, they can only be

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you know, or they sometimes they're only one

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or two pages long. Yeah. And, you know,

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yeah, that's a key paper in the in

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the history of quantum mechanics. Yeah. So it

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can be done, I suppose. Definitely.

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And so after,

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you you finish your PhD, and so so

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you left the student contributor,

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program, and then you you went to Germany.

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So, actually, where where did you do your

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PhD? Was that here in The UK? Yeah.

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I did my PhD in Sheffield. Ah, okay.

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Right. That's why. Yeah.

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Okay. And then,

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you went to Germany

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Yes. And did a post doc. So what

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what was that were you also looking at

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polaritons,

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condensed matter physics, that sort of thing in

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your post doc? Yeah. So I moved to

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Leipzig,

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which is, like, an hour south of Berlin.

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And, yeah, I was doing so in my

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PhD, I did organic polaritons. And then, this

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one, the postdoc, I was doing,

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inorganic polaritons, so copper iodide,

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and kind of related copper halide materials.

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But, yeah, basically yeah. I was I started

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writing I wrote a grant application there, and

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I enjoyed writing the grant application. But I

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think at some point during that, I realized

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that I didn't really want to be doing

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research anymore. And,

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yeah, I just didn't have the drive, I

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think, needed for research. I felt that everything

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was a bit too focused and too specific,

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and I kind of I wanted to do

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something where I would get a broader knowledge

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of science and also, yeah, the chance the

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chance to do writing because that was always

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the the part that I enjoyed the most.

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And and so you you've stayed in Germany,

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and you work for a a a company

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called Cruise, Cruise with a q.

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Yeah. I do. Quantum Cruise Control.

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Oh, I see. Oh, okay. Gotcha. Quantum Cruise

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Control.

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Did did did you come up with that?

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No. No. That's that's a shame. That's before

271
00:10:44,220 --> 00:10:44,879
my time.

272
00:10:45,899 --> 00:10:46,139
So,

273
00:10:47,500 --> 00:10:49,500
is is that also based in Leipzig or

274
00:10:49,500 --> 00:10:51,279
is that in a different part of Germany?

275
00:10:51,660 --> 00:10:53,660
It's actually a remote company. So it's,

276
00:10:54,300 --> 00:10:54,800
based,

277
00:10:55,924 --> 00:10:58,245
in Germany, but we have people all over

278
00:10:58,245 --> 00:11:00,105
Europe. So and I think maybe

279
00:11:01,284 --> 00:11:03,365
just under half or about 50% of the

280
00:11:03,365 --> 00:11:05,845
people. There's only 22 people, I think, right

281
00:11:05,845 --> 00:11:07,845
now. But, just under half the people live

282
00:11:07,845 --> 00:11:10,240
in Germany, and we have people in France,

283
00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:10,899
in Italy,

284
00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:12,340
Spain,

285
00:11:13,279 --> 00:11:14,500
all over. And,

286
00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:18,000
yeah, I think the the idea is that,

287
00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:21,059
they want the best people. And

288
00:11:21,495 --> 00:11:24,054
if you are restricting people to living in

289
00:11:24,054 --> 00:11:24,955
a certain city

290
00:11:25,335 --> 00:11:27,355
or moving to a certain city, then

291
00:11:27,654 --> 00:11:28,634
that maybe,

292
00:11:29,254 --> 00:11:30,855
you lose a lot of candidates that way.

293
00:11:30,855 --> 00:11:32,475
And because it's a software company,

294
00:11:32,774 --> 00:11:34,315
we don't need labs or

295
00:11:35,340 --> 00:11:37,039
people can just work from a computer.

296
00:11:37,580 --> 00:11:40,860
And there's yeah. We have collaborations with labs

297
00:11:40,860 --> 00:11:41,259
and,

298
00:11:41,660 --> 00:11:42,559
access to,

299
00:11:43,820 --> 00:11:46,539
for example, quantum processing units. We our main

300
00:11:46,539 --> 00:11:47,039
focus,

301
00:11:48,059 --> 00:11:51,074
has been quantum computing. So we have access

302
00:11:51,074 --> 00:11:53,794
to QPUs in various labs around Germany and

303
00:11:53,794 --> 00:11:56,054
elsewhere. But, yeah, it's

304
00:11:56,595 --> 00:11:59,315
yeah. All over. I see. Okay. And so

305
00:11:59,315 --> 00:12:00,995
so you you sort of hinted at what

306
00:12:00,995 --> 00:12:02,214
the company does, quantum

307
00:12:02,850 --> 00:12:05,649
cruise control. What's, what what exactly is that

308
00:12:05,649 --> 00:12:06,549
about? How

309
00:12:07,169 --> 00:12:08,629
what what what are you controlling?

310
00:12:10,289 --> 00:12:12,850
So the idea is that the so, yeah,

311
00:12:12,850 --> 00:12:15,809
our main focus has been quantum computing. Until

312
00:12:15,809 --> 00:12:16,784
recently, we've,

313
00:12:18,065 --> 00:12:20,004
in the, yeah, last year or so,

314
00:12:20,384 --> 00:12:22,704
maybe longer, maybe almost two years, we've been

315
00:12:22,704 --> 00:12:23,204
doing,

316
00:12:23,904 --> 00:12:27,365
stuff for magnetic resonance. So MRI, NMR, EPR,

317
00:12:28,065 --> 00:12:30,569
and, some quantum sensing. But the kind of

318
00:12:30,689 --> 00:12:32,789
the majority of the work until now,

319
00:12:33,569 --> 00:12:35,110
has been quantum computing.

320
00:12:35,490 --> 00:12:38,049
And the idea is that we write machine

321
00:12:38,049 --> 00:12:40,850
learning software to aid researchers in the lab

322
00:12:40,850 --> 00:12:41,669
and to help,

323
00:12:43,024 --> 00:12:46,065
accelerate development. So one of our software does

324
00:12:46,065 --> 00:12:46,565
automated,

325
00:12:47,105 --> 00:12:49,924
experiments. So, for calibration and characterisation

326
00:12:50,705 --> 00:12:51,365
of qubits,

327
00:12:52,304 --> 00:12:55,409
so that instead of researchers having to constantly

328
00:12:55,409 --> 00:12:57,809
be redoing these calibration and bring up,

329
00:12:58,929 --> 00:12:59,429
experiments,

330
00:12:59,809 --> 00:13:02,529
then you can the software will run them

331
00:13:02,529 --> 00:13:04,450
overnight and do the analysis, and then you

332
00:13:04,450 --> 00:13:06,929
can the researchers have more time to actually

333
00:13:06,929 --> 00:13:07,429
do

334
00:13:08,445 --> 00:13:10,304
innovative science rather than,

335
00:13:10,845 --> 00:13:13,644
yeah, doing this kind of repetitive stuff that

336
00:13:13,644 --> 00:13:15,884
you, always have to do. We also have

337
00:13:15,884 --> 00:13:17,504
lots. We have a software

338
00:13:17,964 --> 00:13:21,670
for modeling, so creating digital twins. So when

339
00:13:21,670 --> 00:13:23,850
you have your experiment and your theory,

340
00:13:25,590 --> 00:13:26,250
you making

341
00:13:26,790 --> 00:13:29,830
usually the assumption that everything's perfect, and then

342
00:13:29,830 --> 00:13:32,230
the experiment and the model never match. So

343
00:13:32,230 --> 00:13:33,990
the idea is that we use machine learning

344
00:13:33,990 --> 00:13:34,490
to

345
00:13:35,535 --> 00:13:37,934
create a much better model of your or

346
00:13:37,934 --> 00:13:39,875
a digital twin of your device,

347
00:13:40,894 --> 00:13:43,134
takes into account things like noise and other

348
00:13:43,134 --> 00:13:45,315
errors so that you can understand,

349
00:13:45,774 --> 00:13:47,615
yeah, where these errors are coming from and

350
00:13:47,615 --> 00:13:49,634
how to, for example, increase your fidelities.

351
00:13:51,039 --> 00:13:53,700
I see. And the the the machine learning

352
00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:56,240
testing system, is that is that something that

353
00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:58,559
it does it sort of make decisions as

354
00:13:58,559 --> 00:14:00,899
it goes? It sort of tests and then

355
00:14:00,959 --> 00:14:02,720
it thinks, oh, that voltage is a bit

356
00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:04,720
too low, so I better do another test.

357
00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:06,514
Is it is that the sort of thing

358
00:14:06,514 --> 00:14:09,075
where it's it's it's sort of making decisions

359
00:14:09,075 --> 00:14:10,054
as it's left

360
00:14:10,595 --> 00:14:11,095
overnight?

361
00:14:11,554 --> 00:14:14,855
Yeah. So it's doing gradient based optimization.

362
00:14:16,115 --> 00:14:18,034
I don't know too much about that. I'm

363
00:14:18,034 --> 00:14:18,389
not

364
00:14:19,269 --> 00:14:21,429
oh, I mean, by training, I'm a scientist,

365
00:14:21,429 --> 00:14:23,049
but for a cruise, I'm not a scientist.

366
00:14:25,029 --> 00:14:27,049
But yeah. So things like,

367
00:14:28,470 --> 00:14:29,529
yeah, the experiment

368
00:14:30,070 --> 00:14:32,970
design is done with machine learning. So, yeah,

369
00:14:33,154 --> 00:14:35,235
figuring out what order to run the experiments

370
00:14:35,235 --> 00:14:37,475
in and how to to do this kind

371
00:14:37,475 --> 00:14:38,294
of thing and,

372
00:14:38,995 --> 00:14:39,495
yeah,

373
00:14:40,115 --> 00:14:40,615
trying

374
00:14:41,394 --> 00:14:44,754
different parameters to try and optimize. So it

375
00:14:44,754 --> 00:14:47,710
doesn't just, for example, change the qubit frequency,

376
00:14:47,769 --> 00:14:49,149
like sweep through parameters

377
00:14:49,529 --> 00:14:50,750
individually. It will

378
00:14:51,129 --> 00:14:51,629
optimize

379
00:14:52,090 --> 00:14:52,590
simultaneously

380
00:14:53,049 --> 00:14:53,549
for

381
00:14:53,929 --> 00:14:54,750
80 parameters

382
00:14:55,290 --> 00:14:56,269
in a way that,

383
00:14:57,290 --> 00:14:59,309
yeah, a human can really do.

384
00:14:59,769 --> 00:15:02,264
Right. I see. And so it proves your

385
00:15:02,264 --> 00:15:05,304
role. You're a a science writer or scientific

386
00:15:05,304 --> 00:15:07,705
writer? That's Yeah. So so what exactly does

387
00:15:07,705 --> 00:15:08,205
that

388
00:15:08,664 --> 00:15:09,164
entail?

389
00:15:10,345 --> 00:15:11,085
So much.

390
00:15:12,664 --> 00:15:14,825
Yeah. So, yeah, technically, the,

391
00:15:16,029 --> 00:15:18,830
scientific writer, it's just me. Like I said,

392
00:15:18,830 --> 00:15:20,529
we're a small company. So,

393
00:15:22,029 --> 00:15:23,090
yeah, I do

394
00:15:23,470 --> 00:15:26,590
the documentation for the software, so how to

395
00:15:26,669 --> 00:15:28,610
kind of how to guides and

396
00:15:28,985 --> 00:15:32,284
background glossary, all the kind of, yeah, documentation

397
00:15:32,345 --> 00:15:34,824
that people customers using the software would need

398
00:15:34,824 --> 00:15:35,324
to,

399
00:15:36,105 --> 00:15:36,924
to use it.

400
00:15:37,384 --> 00:15:39,865
I also do all of the marketing, so

401
00:15:39,865 --> 00:15:41,725
press releases and news articles,

402
00:15:42,424 --> 00:15:43,804
blogs, the social media.

403
00:15:44,509 --> 00:15:47,330
Recently, I've started doing the website design,

404
00:15:48,830 --> 00:15:51,870
and, making flyers for the conferences that we

405
00:15:51,870 --> 00:15:52,910
go to and,

406
00:15:53,790 --> 00:15:57,009
yeah, videos and yeah. So it's quite

407
00:15:58,004 --> 00:16:00,004
it's quite weird. I mean, I I love

408
00:16:00,004 --> 00:16:01,544
it. It's really fun. But yeah.

409
00:16:02,644 --> 00:16:05,684
Yeah. Just designing a website is not something

410
00:16:05,684 --> 00:16:07,684
that I thought that I would be doing.

411
00:16:07,684 --> 00:16:09,684
But yeah. I I really like the variety

412
00:16:09,684 --> 00:16:10,184
of

413
00:16:10,725 --> 00:16:12,345
the creativity, I think.

414
00:16:14,279 --> 00:16:17,399
Then maybe in research. There there's obviously an

415
00:16:17,399 --> 00:16:20,039
element of creativity when you have to come

416
00:16:20,039 --> 00:16:21,500
up with plans and maybe

417
00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:23,100
problem solve

418
00:16:23,559 --> 00:16:25,639
why things aren't working, what you could do

419
00:16:25,639 --> 00:16:26,940
instead. But yet,

420
00:16:27,705 --> 00:16:29,404
I'm really enjoying, yeah,

421
00:16:30,585 --> 00:16:32,585
getting to kind of mess not mess around

422
00:16:32,585 --> 00:16:33,725
with this stuff, but,

423
00:16:34,904 --> 00:16:36,605
yeah, it's something that

424
00:16:37,384 --> 00:16:39,065
I never had the chance to do before.

425
00:16:39,065 --> 00:16:41,965
And it's really interesting learning how to,

426
00:16:42,299 --> 00:16:44,620
yeah, things like what makes a website good

427
00:16:44,620 --> 00:16:45,120
and

428
00:16:45,500 --> 00:16:48,080
what's gonna catch people's attention on social media.

429
00:16:48,220 --> 00:16:48,720
And,

430
00:16:49,980 --> 00:16:52,539
yeah. And I also go I've been going

431
00:16:52,539 --> 00:16:54,399
to conferences recently. So,

432
00:16:55,545 --> 00:16:57,945
we usually have a table, a booth at

433
00:16:57,945 --> 00:17:00,345
a conference, and then it's my job to

434
00:17:00,345 --> 00:17:01,404
explain to people

435
00:17:01,785 --> 00:17:03,865
what our company is, what our what our

436
00:17:03,865 --> 00:17:05,404
software is, how it works,

437
00:17:06,345 --> 00:17:08,205
to maybe potential customers

438
00:17:08,599 --> 00:17:09,980
from industry or academia

439
00:17:10,519 --> 00:17:13,799
and, yeah, maybe PhD students or whoever is

440
00:17:13,799 --> 00:17:14,299
interested.

441
00:17:16,279 --> 00:17:18,359
And yeah. So I have I have a

442
00:17:18,359 --> 00:17:19,900
lot of different tasks, but,

443
00:17:20,695 --> 00:17:21,515
yeah, I

444
00:17:22,055 --> 00:17:24,055
think yeah. I feel like I'm always I've

445
00:17:24,055 --> 00:17:26,215
been at Cruise now for nearly a year

446
00:17:26,215 --> 00:17:27,994
and a half, and I still feel like

447
00:17:28,535 --> 00:17:31,575
I'm always learning new things, which is really

448
00:17:31,575 --> 00:17:33,654
nice. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, I I did

449
00:17:33,654 --> 00:17:36,569
see you at the, the Global Physics Summit

450
00:17:36,569 --> 00:17:37,390
in California.

451
00:17:38,890 --> 00:17:40,890
I mean, that's my my only big trip

452
00:17:40,890 --> 00:17:42,669
of the year, but it sounds like you're

453
00:17:42,730 --> 00:17:44,650
you're going to lots of conferences. Are you

454
00:17:44,809 --> 00:17:46,089
is it would it be like one a

455
00:17:46,089 --> 00:17:46,909
month or

456
00:17:47,289 --> 00:17:49,125
one every few weeks? Is it is it

457
00:17:49,125 --> 00:17:51,924
a pretty busy schedule? Not quite that busy.

458
00:17:51,924 --> 00:17:52,644
So I was at,

459
00:17:54,164 --> 00:17:56,345
spin qubit six in Australia

460
00:17:56,644 --> 00:17:57,144
in

461
00:17:57,605 --> 00:18:00,744
November and then at the APS. And

462
00:18:01,500 --> 00:18:02,000
next

463
00:18:02,859 --> 00:18:04,940
week or in a few weeks, I'm going

464
00:18:04,940 --> 00:18:07,820
to quantum matter in France. Right. And then

465
00:18:07,820 --> 00:18:10,240
that's all that's lined up for now. But,

466
00:18:11,500 --> 00:18:12,640
Wow. Well, California,

467
00:18:12,940 --> 00:18:15,735
Australia, France, that's not Yeah. It's not bad.

468
00:18:15,775 --> 00:18:18,095
Too bad. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it sounds

469
00:18:18,095 --> 00:18:19,154
to me like,

470
00:18:19,695 --> 00:18:22,674
you're you're sort of using and, I suppose,

471
00:18:22,894 --> 00:18:25,615
developing some of the skills that you you

472
00:18:25,615 --> 00:18:28,390
picked up as a contributor at Physics World

473
00:18:28,529 --> 00:18:30,130
in your in your current job. Is that

474
00:18:30,130 --> 00:18:31,890
right? I mean, did did it did it

475
00:18:31,890 --> 00:18:34,049
give you a decent grounding for what you're

476
00:18:34,049 --> 00:18:35,429
doing at the moment?

477
00:18:36,130 --> 00:18:38,369
Yeah. For sure. It was yeah. I think

478
00:18:38,369 --> 00:18:39,490
I developed a lot of,

479
00:18:40,684 --> 00:18:42,845
yeah, definitely developed a lot of skills at,

480
00:18:43,565 --> 00:18:44,065
being

481
00:18:44,444 --> 00:18:45,664
the student contributor.

482
00:18:46,125 --> 00:18:46,944
And I think

483
00:18:47,804 --> 00:18:48,625
it's also

484
00:18:49,244 --> 00:18:51,804
probably one of the main reasons that I

485
00:18:51,804 --> 00:18:52,924
got the job.

486
00:18:53,244 --> 00:18:54,865
In the first place, I did.

487
00:18:56,109 --> 00:18:58,190
Yeah. After I started the physics world stuff,

488
00:18:58,190 --> 00:18:59,170
I also worked,

489
00:19:00,029 --> 00:19:00,529
materials,

490
00:19:00,910 --> 00:19:01,410
science,

491
00:19:02,429 --> 00:19:03,250
research company,

492
00:19:03,630 --> 00:19:04,690
as a science

493
00:19:05,069 --> 00:19:05,569
writer,

494
00:19:06,589 --> 00:19:08,269
which I think, yeah, they saw the physics

495
00:19:08,269 --> 00:19:09,809
world experience and

496
00:19:10,174 --> 00:19:12,174
then, yeah, were impressed by that. And then

497
00:19:12,174 --> 00:19:12,974
my new job,

498
00:19:13,375 --> 00:19:15,394
they were also, yeah, very interested

499
00:19:15,934 --> 00:19:18,355
in the in the interviews asking about

500
00:19:18,815 --> 00:19:20,815
what I'd done at physics worlds. And,

501
00:19:21,454 --> 00:19:23,230
I think, yeah, it's a if I hadn't

502
00:19:23,230 --> 00:19:24,210
had that experience,

503
00:19:25,869 --> 00:19:27,230
I don't know, yeah, what

504
00:19:28,589 --> 00:19:30,109
I don't think I would be where I

505
00:19:30,109 --> 00:19:32,829
am now. Oh, well, that's well, that's great

506
00:19:32,829 --> 00:19:34,429
because, you know, that was one of the

507
00:19:34,429 --> 00:19:36,990
aims of of setting up the contributor network

508
00:19:36,990 --> 00:19:38,994
is to, you know, sort of help,

509
00:19:39,615 --> 00:19:40,514
early career

510
00:19:40,974 --> 00:19:42,194
physicists gain,

511
00:19:42,575 --> 00:19:44,355
you know, skills that, you know, from

512
00:19:44,815 --> 00:19:47,694
beyond their lab skills and scientific skills. So

513
00:19:47,694 --> 00:19:49,934
it's it's really it's really good to hear

514
00:19:49,934 --> 00:19:51,890
that it's that it's worked out. So so

515
00:19:51,890 --> 00:19:52,609
when you're,

516
00:19:53,170 --> 00:19:53,829
you know,

517
00:19:54,130 --> 00:19:57,170
writing material, let's say, for for the company,

518
00:19:57,170 --> 00:19:59,250
who who are you writing for? Are the

519
00:19:59,250 --> 00:19:59,750
the

520
00:20:01,410 --> 00:20:04,230
I mean, is is is your is Cruise's

521
00:20:04,289 --> 00:20:05,750
software used by

522
00:20:06,365 --> 00:20:08,065
quantum computer experts,

523
00:20:08,445 --> 00:20:10,924
or is it a wider range of of

524
00:20:10,924 --> 00:20:12,305
people that you need to

525
00:20:12,684 --> 00:20:13,664
communicate with?

526
00:20:14,205 --> 00:20:15,744
Yeah. It's a bit of a mix.

527
00:20:17,005 --> 00:20:19,505
Yeah. So there's obviously, yeah, the quantum researchers,

528
00:20:19,644 --> 00:20:20,144
so

529
00:20:20,460 --> 00:20:22,559
PhD students, postdocs, professors,

530
00:20:24,940 --> 00:20:27,900
in other industries or people working at other

531
00:20:27,900 --> 00:20:30,539
companies. We work quite closely with a lot

532
00:20:30,539 --> 00:20:33,704
of the kind of main quantum hardware because,

533
00:20:33,784 --> 00:20:36,444
yeah, we're software, but we need hardware and,

534
00:20:36,825 --> 00:20:39,005
yeah, QPUs to test on. So,

535
00:20:40,345 --> 00:20:42,184
yeah. And then, obviously, we're, yeah, doing the

536
00:20:42,184 --> 00:20:44,904
MRI stuff and quantum sensing. So it's it's

537
00:20:44,904 --> 00:20:46,684
a big audience, and it depends

538
00:20:47,130 --> 00:20:50,109
exactly what I'm doing, who I'm writing for.

539
00:20:52,089 --> 00:20:54,410
So, yeah, yeah, it kinda depends what I'm

540
00:20:54,410 --> 00:20:54,910
writing,

541
00:20:55,849 --> 00:20:58,329
who who it's aimed at. But in general,

542
00:20:58,329 --> 00:20:59,869
I'm trying to make it understandable

543
00:21:00,250 --> 00:21:00,750
to,

544
00:21:01,845 --> 00:21:04,744
hopefully, most people that are would be interested

545
00:21:04,964 --> 00:21:07,525
or that it's aimed at. But, yeah, it's

546
00:21:07,525 --> 00:21:09,365
kind of yeah. It's difficult, and I never

547
00:21:09,365 --> 00:21:09,865
know,

548
00:21:11,044 --> 00:21:13,865
I guess, if it's how well it's landed

549
00:21:14,005 --> 00:21:14,505
with

550
00:21:14,884 --> 00:21:17,640
anyone. You can see the the metrics on

551
00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:19,660
the website or LinkedIn or

552
00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:21,980
things like this, but it's hard to know,

553
00:21:22,759 --> 00:21:24,920
yeah, if people have read it, if people

554
00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:26,039
read it and thought it was good, if

555
00:21:26,039 --> 00:21:27,720
people read it and thought, I don't understand

556
00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:28,860
this, if people

557
00:21:29,474 --> 00:21:31,555
maybe thought it was too basic or too

558
00:21:31,555 --> 00:21:32,535
detailed. Or,

559
00:21:33,234 --> 00:21:34,615
so I kind of yeah.

560
00:21:35,394 --> 00:21:37,494
I guess, usually, just see what other

561
00:21:37,875 --> 00:21:39,974
other people are doing and try and,

562
00:21:40,994 --> 00:21:41,974
learn from that.

563
00:21:42,690 --> 00:21:44,369
So so it sounds like you're doing a

564
00:21:44,369 --> 00:21:46,230
a sort of a wide range of things.

565
00:21:46,289 --> 00:21:47,809
Is there one thing that you're doing at

566
00:21:47,809 --> 00:21:50,210
the the moment that really excites you the

567
00:21:50,210 --> 00:21:50,710
most?

568
00:21:51,169 --> 00:21:52,369
A a project or,

569
00:21:52,849 --> 00:21:55,029
something new maybe that you're working on.

570
00:21:55,775 --> 00:21:56,835
Yeah. I think

571
00:21:57,294 --> 00:21:59,294
I think I would say the the website,

572
00:21:59,855 --> 00:22:02,174
trying to, yeah, decide because I think it,

573
00:22:02,174 --> 00:22:04,034
yeah, pulls together a lot of,

574
00:22:04,894 --> 00:22:07,394
different aspects and maybe different skills

575
00:22:07,799 --> 00:22:10,200
that I have or that I want to

576
00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:10,700
develop,

577
00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:11,820
because you've

578
00:22:12,120 --> 00:22:14,680
got to decide the content and you've got

579
00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:16,380
to decide so this is, like,

580
00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:20,200
description. So it's including, yeah, obviously, writing, and

581
00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:21,580
then you've got to decide,

582
00:22:22,414 --> 00:22:23,474
what you wanna show.

583
00:22:24,414 --> 00:22:26,575
So the kind of marketing aspect of it,

584
00:22:26,575 --> 00:22:28,494
do we show metrics? Do we show data?

585
00:22:28,494 --> 00:22:29,794
What data do we show?

586
00:22:30,414 --> 00:22:32,734
And then also the design, which is, yeah,

587
00:22:32,734 --> 00:22:35,214
something that's quite new to me. And I'm

588
00:22:35,214 --> 00:22:35,970
not like,

589
00:22:36,769 --> 00:22:38,849
you know, we have a designer who makes

590
00:22:38,849 --> 00:22:42,210
it pretty and has, you know, official training

591
00:22:42,210 --> 00:22:44,289
in design, but I kind of, I guess,

592
00:22:44,289 --> 00:22:46,130
come up with a basic scheme and how

593
00:22:46,130 --> 00:22:48,644
it looks. And that's quite fun to just

594
00:22:48,724 --> 00:22:51,065
play around with things and be like, oh,

595
00:22:51,684 --> 00:22:53,924
you know, they should go here and moving

596
00:22:53,924 --> 00:22:57,065
stuff around and, yeah, trying to, I guess,

597
00:22:58,325 --> 00:23:00,404
put everything together in a way that someone

598
00:23:00,404 --> 00:23:02,650
would look at and be like, wow. This

599
00:23:02,650 --> 00:23:03,710
is really interesting.

600
00:23:04,650 --> 00:23:06,490
And yeah. So I'm really enjoying kind of

601
00:23:06,490 --> 00:23:08,650
figuring figuring that out. And I guess I'm

602
00:23:08,650 --> 00:23:11,309
looking at other websites and seeing what other

603
00:23:11,450 --> 00:23:14,089
companies are doing and but you also don't

604
00:23:14,089 --> 00:23:15,069
want it to be

605
00:23:15,625 --> 00:23:16,904
too similar. You've got to come up with

606
00:23:16,904 --> 00:23:19,304
your own brand identity, which is something that

607
00:23:19,304 --> 00:23:21,784
I've been it's kind of been left up

608
00:23:21,784 --> 00:23:22,924
to me, which is

609
00:23:23,224 --> 00:23:25,944
was originally quite daunting because I don't have

610
00:23:25,944 --> 00:23:26,184
any,

611
00:23:27,670 --> 00:23:31,109
official training in marketing or these kind of

612
00:23:31,109 --> 00:23:33,670
things. So at first, I was like, oh,

613
00:23:33,670 --> 00:23:34,970
you want me to decide?

614
00:23:35,430 --> 00:23:37,670
But, yeah, it's been fun kind of figuring

615
00:23:37,670 --> 00:23:38,650
it out. And,

616
00:23:40,150 --> 00:23:40,650
yeah.

617
00:23:41,234 --> 00:23:43,234
So you you mentioned that you, you know,

618
00:23:43,234 --> 00:23:45,575
you you you started off without any,

619
00:23:46,595 --> 00:23:49,634
I suppose, formal training in marketing. Is that

620
00:23:49,634 --> 00:23:50,934
is that something that you've

621
00:23:51,234 --> 00:23:53,875
you've you've become interested in in your year

622
00:23:53,875 --> 00:23:55,059
and a half? I mean, have you have

623
00:23:55,059 --> 00:23:57,140
you done courses on marketing, or have you

624
00:23:57,140 --> 00:23:59,380
read books? Or are you just picking it

625
00:23:59,380 --> 00:24:00,900
up as you go along, or is it

626
00:24:00,900 --> 00:24:02,519
a bit of all three?

627
00:24:03,619 --> 00:24:05,460
Mainly picking it up as I go along.

628
00:24:05,460 --> 00:24:06,840
I've been doing, yeah, obviously,

629
00:24:07,539 --> 00:24:09,695
reading online, like, for now I had to

630
00:24:09,695 --> 00:24:12,015
write, how to write press releases, how to

631
00:24:12,015 --> 00:24:15,295
write social media posts, etcetera. But, yeah, I

632
00:24:15,295 --> 00:24:18,275
was I've actually been looking recently at, official

633
00:24:18,734 --> 00:24:19,234
formal

634
00:24:19,775 --> 00:24:20,275
courses.

635
00:24:21,055 --> 00:24:23,855
I met someone at a conference from another

636
00:24:23,855 --> 00:24:26,929
company, and he was kind of he's, yeah,

637
00:24:26,929 --> 00:24:27,589
a marketing,

638
00:24:29,409 --> 00:24:29,909
person.

639
00:24:30,929 --> 00:24:32,609
And he's kind of the opposite to me.

640
00:24:32,609 --> 00:24:34,769
He has official training. He was saying that

641
00:24:34,769 --> 00:24:36,849
he had official training in marketing, but not

642
00:24:36,849 --> 00:24:39,565
in quantum physics. And he's kind of had

643
00:24:39,565 --> 00:24:41,404
to learn the quantum physics side of things

644
00:24:41,404 --> 00:24:42,384
just on the job.

645
00:24:43,404 --> 00:24:45,264
But he kind of recommended

646
00:24:45,565 --> 00:24:47,724
that yeah. He'd said that, yeah, there's just

647
00:24:47,724 --> 00:24:49,664
so much to know that you can't really,

648
00:24:50,524 --> 00:24:53,024
yeah, pick it up, I guess, yourself. So

649
00:24:53,039 --> 00:24:55,600
yeah, I've been looking into some courses trying

650
00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:57,840
to figure out what what level or whether

651
00:24:58,799 --> 00:25:01,039
yeah. How how deep and intense with that

652
00:25:01,039 --> 00:25:02,480
I wanna go if I just want it

653
00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:04,100
to be something on the side or,

654
00:25:05,755 --> 00:25:06,654
yeah, how

655
00:25:07,595 --> 00:25:09,694
yeah. If I can find one that's specifically

656
00:25:09,755 --> 00:25:12,154
for science related things or just general marketing

657
00:25:12,154 --> 00:25:13,595
or I mean, there's so much out there

658
00:25:13,595 --> 00:25:15,535
that it's hard to kind of

659
00:25:16,154 --> 00:25:16,654
yeah.

660
00:25:17,509 --> 00:25:19,190
Yeah. It's funny. We we we, you know,

661
00:25:19,190 --> 00:25:21,049
we were talking the other day about,

662
00:25:22,309 --> 00:25:24,549
you know, the fact that, I mean, this

663
00:25:24,549 --> 00:25:26,309
doesn't apply to you. It I suppose it

664
00:25:26,309 --> 00:25:27,830
applies to the person you met at the

665
00:25:27,830 --> 00:25:30,570
conference that, you know, as the quantum computing

666
00:25:30,630 --> 00:25:32,650
industry grows, there's more and more

667
00:25:33,005 --> 00:25:36,705
non physics people coming in. And, you know,

668
00:25:36,765 --> 00:25:37,664
we were thinking

669
00:25:38,045 --> 00:25:38,924
there's got to be a,

670
00:25:39,805 --> 00:25:40,465
you know,

671
00:25:41,085 --> 00:25:44,765
an opportunity there, a business opportunity for coming

672
00:25:44,765 --> 00:25:46,144
up with a way of teaching

673
00:25:46,900 --> 00:25:49,480
somebody like that. You know, just enough

674
00:25:49,779 --> 00:25:52,900
quantum physics that they're not overwhelmed by it,

675
00:25:52,900 --> 00:25:55,140
but they can, you know, chat with somebody

676
00:25:55,140 --> 00:25:56,420
at a conference or,

677
00:25:57,220 --> 00:25:59,940
you know, at least feel confident about talking

678
00:25:59,940 --> 00:26:00,759
about quantum.

679
00:26:01,264 --> 00:26:01,764
So,

680
00:26:02,144 --> 00:26:04,224
yeah. It's, it it you know, it is

681
00:26:04,224 --> 00:26:06,544
interesting, you know, how the industry is is

682
00:26:06,544 --> 00:26:08,784
sort of moving along, and it's it's not

683
00:26:08,784 --> 00:26:09,284
just

684
00:26:09,825 --> 00:26:10,964
physicists anymore,

685
00:26:11,505 --> 00:26:12,085
I suppose.

686
00:26:12,625 --> 00:26:13,744
Yeah. Definitely. It's,

687
00:26:14,464 --> 00:26:16,859
yeah. I mean, the kind of yeah, being

688
00:26:16,859 --> 00:26:18,579
at these conferences, I've been able to meet

689
00:26:18,579 --> 00:26:20,420
so many people, and it's really interesting to

690
00:26:20,420 --> 00:26:22,740
see to hear where everyone's come from and

691
00:26:22,740 --> 00:26:24,819
what they're doing now and how they they

692
00:26:24,819 --> 00:26:25,319
managed,

693
00:26:25,940 --> 00:26:27,539
yeah, how they how they got there.

694
00:26:28,500 --> 00:26:28,964
And,

695
00:26:29,365 --> 00:26:31,784
yeah, nice to actually see such variety

696
00:26:32,724 --> 00:26:34,724
in people's paths and see that

697
00:26:35,125 --> 00:26:35,625
yeah.

698
00:26:36,404 --> 00:26:38,644
Yeah. Just that you don't have to always

699
00:26:38,644 --> 00:26:40,744
do this traditional route where you

700
00:26:41,140 --> 00:26:43,779
study physics and like, there are other ways

701
00:26:43,779 --> 00:26:45,619
to kind of you can move around. It's

702
00:26:45,619 --> 00:26:48,119
not, oh, I studied this, and now I'm

703
00:26:48,179 --> 00:26:49,700
in this for the rest of my life.

704
00:26:49,700 --> 00:26:51,940
You can kind of move sideways a little

705
00:26:51,940 --> 00:26:53,319
bit sometimes as well.

706
00:26:54,345 --> 00:26:56,025
Well, that's great. That let's,

707
00:26:56,585 --> 00:26:57,785
let's move on.

708
00:26:58,345 --> 00:26:59,724
In physics world,

709
00:27:00,184 --> 00:27:01,244
in in print,

710
00:27:01,785 --> 00:27:03,964
we have a section or a a feature

711
00:27:04,265 --> 00:27:05,884
called ask me anything.

712
00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:09,119
And, it's sort of a misnomer because,

713
00:27:10,079 --> 00:27:12,720
we don't actually ask people anything. We ask

714
00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:14,500
them three specific questions,

715
00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:16,099
and we ask everybody,

716
00:27:16,799 --> 00:27:17,779
specific questions.

717
00:27:18,319 --> 00:27:20,480
And, and so Kirsty, you've agreed to,

718
00:27:21,244 --> 00:27:22,144
to take part.

719
00:27:23,005 --> 00:27:25,085
So here are are the three questions. So

720
00:27:25,085 --> 00:27:26,545
the first question is,

721
00:27:26,845 --> 00:27:29,244
what skills do you use every day in

722
00:27:29,244 --> 00:27:29,984
your job?

723
00:27:31,565 --> 00:27:33,025
Well, obviously, writing.

724
00:27:34,559 --> 00:27:36,720
I wouldn't, yeah, be a very good science

725
00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:38,799
writer if I I wasn't writing. So,

726
00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:41,679
and, I use a lot of,

727
00:27:42,559 --> 00:27:43,460
yeah, communication

728
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:45,619
skills. I have to

729
00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:48,399
communicate with lots of different types of people.

730
00:27:48,399 --> 00:27:48,899
So,

731
00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:50,179
for example,

732
00:27:50,535 --> 00:27:53,414
last week, we did a product launch for

733
00:27:53,414 --> 00:27:54,154
our new,

734
00:27:54,455 --> 00:27:55,434
magnetic resonance,

735
00:27:55,894 --> 00:27:56,394
product.

736
00:27:56,934 --> 00:27:58,934
And I had to write a press release

737
00:27:58,934 --> 00:28:01,335
and make a new website page and make

738
00:28:01,335 --> 00:28:03,975
a social media post. And then this, involves

739
00:28:03,975 --> 00:28:04,500
a lot of

740
00:28:05,059 --> 00:28:07,779
coordinating with different people. So then, like I

741
00:28:07,779 --> 00:28:10,339
said earlier, like, the scientists are finding out

742
00:28:10,339 --> 00:28:12,180
what's the, you know, what's the most important

743
00:28:12,180 --> 00:28:13,940
features of the software that we want to

744
00:28:13,940 --> 00:28:16,420
advertise, what data do we have to what

745
00:28:16,420 --> 00:28:18,019
claims do we wanna make, what data do

746
00:28:18,019 --> 00:28:19,480
we have to back up these claims,

747
00:28:19,914 --> 00:28:20,815
what's the narrative?

748
00:28:21,355 --> 00:28:22,714
And then I have to

749
00:28:23,515 --> 00:28:24,015
yeah.

750
00:28:24,555 --> 00:28:25,454
With the website,

751
00:28:26,075 --> 00:28:26,894
I'm asking

752
00:28:27,195 --> 00:28:28,875
yeah. To coordinate with the designer and the

753
00:28:28,875 --> 00:28:32,154
website developer to, yeah, basically say, okay. We

754
00:28:32,154 --> 00:28:33,835
need this and this and this and get

755
00:28:33,835 --> 00:28:34,259
that

756
00:28:34,820 --> 00:28:37,700
going. And and also, yeah, with the the

757
00:28:37,700 --> 00:28:40,200
higher ups and the kind of general, like,

758
00:28:40,740 --> 00:28:42,259
yeah, what do we what do we want

759
00:28:42,259 --> 00:28:43,880
this to show? How do we

760
00:28:44,180 --> 00:28:46,500
who is this aim for? So a lot

761
00:28:46,500 --> 00:28:48,835
of the things yeah. It's after

762
00:28:49,615 --> 00:28:51,134
yeah. Because I'm not an expert in these

763
00:28:51,134 --> 00:28:53,615
things. I don't know everything about, like, the

764
00:28:53,615 --> 00:28:55,695
business side or the other science side of

765
00:28:55,695 --> 00:28:57,055
everything. So trying to,

766
00:28:58,575 --> 00:29:01,075
yeah, coordinate with people to figure out

767
00:29:01,455 --> 00:29:03,590
what's the best way that we can do

768
00:29:03,590 --> 00:29:04,730
these kind of things.

769
00:29:06,549 --> 00:29:07,049
So

770
00:29:07,750 --> 00:29:12,330
yeah. Also, yeah, learning things quickly has become,

771
00:29:12,549 --> 00:29:14,090
like, I guess, a new skill.

772
00:29:14,695 --> 00:29:16,775
Because, yeah, I don't have training in or,

773
00:29:16,775 --> 00:29:18,234
yeah, I I didn't study

774
00:29:18,855 --> 00:29:20,955
quantum competing and or

775
00:29:21,335 --> 00:29:23,674
MRI or magnetic resonance things.

776
00:29:24,775 --> 00:29:25,275
So

777
00:29:25,654 --> 00:29:27,515
but I obviously don't have or marketing,

778
00:29:28,130 --> 00:29:30,130
but I don't have time to learn all

779
00:29:30,130 --> 00:29:31,730
of these things. And like you were saying,

780
00:29:31,730 --> 00:29:32,470
in super

781
00:29:33,009 --> 00:29:34,850
good detail, it would also be good, yeah,

782
00:29:34,850 --> 00:29:36,690
for me to have, like you say, some

783
00:29:36,690 --> 00:29:37,430
sort of,

784
00:29:38,610 --> 00:29:41,250
kind of accelerated course for the these are

785
00:29:41,250 --> 00:29:43,515
the the bare facts that you need to

786
00:29:43,515 --> 00:29:45,855
know in order to kind of survive.

787
00:29:47,035 --> 00:29:48,634
So, yeah, I have to kind of pick

788
00:29:48,634 --> 00:29:51,855
things up quite quickly sometimes, but, my colleagues

789
00:29:51,994 --> 00:29:54,555
are always happy to to help with this.

790
00:29:54,555 --> 00:29:56,234
Just jump on a Zoom call and,

791
00:29:57,035 --> 00:29:58,500
kind of explain, yeah,

792
00:29:59,299 --> 00:30:01,539
yeah, the basic principles of that.

793
00:30:02,740 --> 00:30:05,400
And then, yeah, one skill that I'm still,

794
00:30:05,539 --> 00:30:06,119
you know,

795
00:30:07,220 --> 00:30:07,720
developing,

796
00:30:08,339 --> 00:30:11,559
is, yeah, translating these complex ideas from

797
00:30:12,215 --> 00:30:15,434
physicists and software to, yeah, a broader audience.

798
00:30:16,455 --> 00:30:18,455
And, yeah, that is, like we said, something

799
00:30:18,455 --> 00:30:19,355
that the,

800
00:30:20,055 --> 00:30:22,634
student contributor network helped with was

801
00:30:23,095 --> 00:30:25,890
taking, yeah, something that's very technical

802
00:30:26,750 --> 00:30:30,190
and very niche that most people have never

803
00:30:30,190 --> 00:30:31,650
even heard of and making

804
00:30:32,029 --> 00:30:35,650
it not just understandable, but also interesting is,

805
00:30:36,349 --> 00:30:39,924
yeah, something that is still difficult. But,

806
00:30:40,704 --> 00:30:42,945
yeah, I think I'm I'm getting better at

807
00:30:42,945 --> 00:30:43,445
it.

808
00:30:43,984 --> 00:30:45,984
Well, that's great. And and so the next

809
00:30:45,984 --> 00:30:48,945
question is, what do you like best and

810
00:30:48,945 --> 00:30:51,445
least about your job? Okay.

811
00:30:53,119 --> 00:30:53,619
Best,

812
00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:56,160
I love the variety. I like yeah. That

813
00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:56,900
I'm doing

814
00:30:57,600 --> 00:30:59,440
so many different things all the time, and

815
00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:00,180
I can

816
00:31:01,039 --> 00:31:02,960
not pick and choose what I do. But

817
00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:04,559
if there's a day that I'm feeling like

818
00:31:04,559 --> 00:31:06,160
I want something a little bit lighter, I

819
00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:08,644
can do the social media or the website,

820
00:31:08,644 --> 00:31:11,045
something a bit more creative that doesn't require

821
00:31:11,045 --> 00:31:12,265
really intense

822
00:31:12,805 --> 00:31:14,025
thinking about physics.

823
00:31:14,724 --> 00:31:16,884
Or, yeah, if I wanna get more from

824
00:31:16,884 --> 00:31:17,865
feeling like,

825
00:31:18,325 --> 00:31:21,329
yeah, I could really concentrate or

826
00:31:21,809 --> 00:31:24,130
really wanna focus in detail on something. I

827
00:31:24,130 --> 00:31:26,329
can write, like, the documentation or something, yeah,

828
00:31:26,329 --> 00:31:27,589
a little bit more technical.

829
00:31:28,210 --> 00:31:29,509
So, yeah, I really enjoy

830
00:31:29,970 --> 00:31:31,349
that aspect of it.

831
00:31:32,929 --> 00:31:33,615
And least

832
00:31:34,174 --> 00:31:36,654
is there there's got to be something you

833
00:31:36,815 --> 00:31:37,315
Yeah.

834
00:31:38,894 --> 00:31:40,654
Yeah. No. I do I do really love,

835
00:31:40,894 --> 00:31:42,255
working at Cruise. And,

836
00:31:43,694 --> 00:31:46,654
yeah, I love the flexibility of the remote

837
00:31:46,654 --> 00:31:48,299
working, but I do miss

838
00:31:48,700 --> 00:31:51,039
going into the office and seeing people and

839
00:31:51,259 --> 00:31:52,799
chatting to your colleagues and

840
00:31:53,100 --> 00:31:55,740
kind of knowing them more than just, like,

841
00:31:55,740 --> 00:31:58,059
as their as their research roles. And we

842
00:31:58,059 --> 00:31:59,119
do meet in person.

843
00:31:59,740 --> 00:32:02,244
We cruise every two months. We meet for

844
00:32:02,244 --> 00:32:04,404
two days in person, which is really nice

845
00:32:04,404 --> 00:32:05,305
because you

846
00:32:06,005 --> 00:32:08,005
you can't really get to know someone very

847
00:32:08,005 --> 00:32:09,865
well over, like, a Zoom screen.

848
00:32:11,125 --> 00:32:12,644
So it's nice to be able to actually

849
00:32:12,644 --> 00:32:14,744
have that time with them in person. But,

850
00:32:14,789 --> 00:32:16,630
yeah, I'm I'm quite a social person, so

851
00:32:16,630 --> 00:32:19,210
I do miss the kind of everyday interaction

852
00:32:19,350 --> 00:32:21,350
that you would get in an office. Yeah.

853
00:32:21,350 --> 00:32:23,269
Yeah. Well, I'm I'm the same way. I

854
00:32:23,269 --> 00:32:25,029
mean, after COVID, I it took it took

855
00:32:25,029 --> 00:32:26,250
me a bit of persuasion

856
00:32:26,869 --> 00:32:28,549
to come back to the office. But now

857
00:32:28,549 --> 00:32:30,625
I'm in every day and loving it. So,

858
00:32:31,265 --> 00:32:32,244
yeah, I definitely,

859
00:32:34,144 --> 00:32:34,804
I definitely

860
00:32:35,184 --> 00:32:36,804
agree with you on that one.

861
00:32:37,345 --> 00:32:39,825
And so the third question, Kirsty, is what

862
00:32:39,825 --> 00:32:42,144
do you know now that you wish you'd

863
00:32:42,144 --> 00:32:42,644
known

864
00:32:42,970 --> 00:32:45,549
when you were starting out in your career?

865
00:32:46,809 --> 00:32:47,870
That's a hard one.

866
00:32:49,370 --> 00:32:50,590
I guess it would be

867
00:32:50,970 --> 00:32:52,570
it would be easy to say that I

868
00:32:52,570 --> 00:32:53,390
wish I

869
00:32:53,690 --> 00:32:55,710
knew earlier that I could

870
00:32:56,265 --> 00:32:58,984
combine science and writing and, like, I could

871
00:32:58,984 --> 00:33:00,825
make a career out of that. But I

872
00:33:00,825 --> 00:33:01,325
think

873
00:33:02,984 --> 00:33:05,144
if I'd known that, I maybe wouldn't have

874
00:33:05,144 --> 00:33:07,224
done my PhD. I might have tried to

875
00:33:07,224 --> 00:33:08,365
go straight into,

876
00:33:08,984 --> 00:33:11,799
writing straight after my studies, and then I

877
00:33:11,799 --> 00:33:13,640
wouldn't be where I am now. So it's

878
00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:15,500
kind of hard to say that I wish

879
00:33:16,119 --> 00:33:18,299
that I had known that in a way.

880
00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:22,059
But I guess, yeah, I would say that

881
00:33:22,759 --> 00:33:24,059
you don't always

882
00:33:24,634 --> 00:33:25,355
have to

883
00:33:25,755 --> 00:33:27,774
it's okay to not have a clear plan,

884
00:33:28,075 --> 00:33:28,634
I think.

885
00:33:29,674 --> 00:33:31,835
I kind of I think, yeah, there's always

886
00:33:31,835 --> 00:33:34,394
this big stress on knowing what you want

887
00:33:34,394 --> 00:33:35,054
to do.

888
00:33:35,434 --> 00:33:37,994
Like, people always asking children, oh, when you

889
00:33:37,994 --> 00:33:39,400
grow up, what do you wanna be? And

890
00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:41,079
I think from you know, it's a pilot,

891
00:33:41,079 --> 00:33:43,660
a nurse, or something, a train driver.

892
00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:46,200
And for me, it was I wanted to

893
00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:46,940
be a vet.

894
00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:49,720
And from the age of four, I wanted

895
00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:50,839
to be a vet, and I was so

896
00:33:50,839 --> 00:33:52,839
clear on this. And then I went to

897
00:33:52,839 --> 00:33:53,980
do some work experience

898
00:33:55,325 --> 00:33:56,785
in a veterinary practice,

899
00:33:57,164 --> 00:33:58,945
and I realized that I'm really squeamish.

900
00:33:59,644 --> 00:34:02,045
And they were cutting into the animals and

901
00:34:02,045 --> 00:34:04,924
doing stitches and needles, and I was like,

902
00:34:04,924 --> 00:34:06,605
oh, I I don't think I can do

903
00:34:06,605 --> 00:34:08,065
this. I feel really ill.

904
00:34:08,849 --> 00:34:11,190
And then suddenly, yeah, I was 15, 16,

905
00:34:12,130 --> 00:34:14,389
starting to think about what, like,

906
00:34:14,769 --> 00:34:17,250
what, classes to take at school, what to

907
00:34:17,250 --> 00:34:18,150
study at university.

908
00:34:18,449 --> 00:34:19,730
And I thought, I don't know what I

909
00:34:19,730 --> 00:34:21,889
wanna do. And I ended up doing physics

910
00:34:21,889 --> 00:34:23,170
because I liked it, and I was good

911
00:34:23,170 --> 00:34:23,744
at it.

912
00:34:25,425 --> 00:34:26,785
But, yeah, I think there's a lot of

913
00:34:26,785 --> 00:34:28,625
stress on, like, knowing what you wanna do

914
00:34:28,625 --> 00:34:31,125
from quite early on. And sometimes

915
00:34:31,425 --> 00:34:32,244
if you just

916
00:34:32,704 --> 00:34:33,204
choose

917
00:34:33,744 --> 00:34:35,744
by following the things that you like to

918
00:34:35,744 --> 00:34:38,000
do, the things you love to do, You,

919
00:34:38,380 --> 00:34:40,139
yeah, you end up getting somewhere that you

920
00:34:40,139 --> 00:34:42,619
maybe didn't even know was something that you

921
00:34:42,619 --> 00:34:44,639
could do, but, is actually

922
00:34:45,019 --> 00:34:46,400
yeah. You're a perfect

923
00:34:47,260 --> 00:34:48,559
perfect dream job.

924
00:34:48,860 --> 00:34:50,880
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's great.

925
00:34:51,994 --> 00:34:52,815
And, yeah,

926
00:34:53,114 --> 00:34:53,614
finally,

927
00:34:54,074 --> 00:34:56,635
it's the International Year of Quantum Science and

928
00:34:56,635 --> 00:34:57,135
Technology.

929
00:34:57,994 --> 00:34:58,394
And,

930
00:34:58,875 --> 00:35:00,655
you work for a quantum company.

931
00:35:01,114 --> 00:35:03,195
And so whenever we have someone on the

932
00:35:03,195 --> 00:35:04,735
podcast who is

933
00:35:05,170 --> 00:35:06,070
quantum adjacent,

934
00:35:06,449 --> 00:35:08,469
let's say Definitely adjacent.

935
00:35:09,890 --> 00:35:11,670
We we always ask them,

936
00:35:12,530 --> 00:35:14,769
well, we we try to remember to ask

937
00:35:14,769 --> 00:35:15,670
them this question.

938
00:35:16,050 --> 00:35:17,250
And the question is,

939
00:35:17,890 --> 00:35:19,989
what does quantum mean to you?

940
00:35:21,414 --> 00:35:21,914
Okay.

941
00:35:22,534 --> 00:35:23,514
It's a big question.

942
00:35:25,815 --> 00:35:26,635
For me,

943
00:35:27,974 --> 00:35:28,635
I think

944
00:35:29,014 --> 00:35:29,914
for me, it's

945
00:35:30,375 --> 00:35:32,400
the quantum community. I think that's

946
00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:35,039
something that's really nice that maybe I mean,

947
00:35:35,039 --> 00:35:37,679
my my PhD was kind of during COVID,

948
00:35:37,679 --> 00:35:39,359
so I didn't really get the chance to

949
00:35:39,359 --> 00:35:40,819
go to conferences. But,

950
00:35:42,079 --> 00:35:44,159
yeah, just from the few conferences that I've

951
00:35:44,159 --> 00:35:46,260
been to, I've seen that the

952
00:35:47,105 --> 00:35:48,964
just how vibrant and, like,

953
00:35:49,264 --> 00:35:52,464
excited and engaging the quantum community is. And

954
00:35:52,464 --> 00:35:54,405
I think it's really cool to see

955
00:35:55,105 --> 00:35:56,085
people collaborating

956
00:35:57,505 --> 00:35:58,164
so enthusiastically

957
00:35:58,704 --> 00:36:00,224
on these things, and it's not

958
00:36:01,105 --> 00:36:02,819
I don't know. It doesn't I think in

959
00:36:02,819 --> 00:36:05,319
some fields, it can be very competitive

960
00:36:05,619 --> 00:36:06,759
and very, like,

961
00:36:07,699 --> 00:36:08,920
you know, people

962
00:36:09,380 --> 00:36:11,299
people want to be the ones to to

963
00:36:11,299 --> 00:36:13,940
make the the discovery, and maybe people are

964
00:36:13,940 --> 00:36:16,244
quite secretive or I don't wanna help out

965
00:36:16,244 --> 00:36:18,085
so much. But I think I found that

966
00:36:18,085 --> 00:36:20,964
the maybe it's also different what what coming

967
00:36:20,964 --> 00:36:22,164
from a company and not,

968
00:36:22,885 --> 00:36:25,045
in academia, but I found that everyone has

969
00:36:25,045 --> 00:36:27,704
just been very open and friendly and excited,

970
00:36:27,844 --> 00:36:28,344
and,

971
00:36:28,969 --> 00:36:30,750
I think that's that's really nice.

972
00:36:31,609 --> 00:36:33,369
Well, that's great, Christy. I mean, it sounds

973
00:36:33,369 --> 00:36:35,849
like you've, you've you've moved from being a

974
00:36:35,849 --> 00:36:38,589
vet into a very, very, very nice

975
00:36:38,969 --> 00:36:39,469
sector,

976
00:36:40,409 --> 00:36:43,815
the quantum technology sector. So that's that's great

977
00:36:43,815 --> 00:36:45,255
to hear, and thanks so much for coming

978
00:36:45,255 --> 00:36:47,255
on the podcast. Yeah. Thank you for having

979
00:36:47,255 --> 00:36:48,715
me. It's been really fun.

980
00:36:56,730 --> 00:36:58,489
I'm afraid that's all the time we have

981
00:36:58,489 --> 00:37:01,449
for this week's podcast. Thanks to Kirsty McGee

982
00:37:01,449 --> 00:37:04,250
for joining me today, and a special thanks

983
00:37:04,250 --> 00:37:06,349
to our producer Fred Ailes.

984
00:37:07,050 --> 00:37:09,610
And there's much more about careers on the

985
00:37:09,610 --> 00:37:11,070
Physics World website.

986
00:37:11,635 --> 00:37:13,954
A good place to start is a new

987
00:37:13,954 --> 00:37:15,414
feature article called,

988
00:37:15,795 --> 00:37:17,954
Not sure what to do with your physics

989
00:37:17,954 --> 00:37:18,454
degree?

990
00:37:18,835 --> 00:37:20,295
Our expert panel

991
00:37:20,675 --> 00:37:22,454
give their careers advice.

992
00:37:23,315 --> 00:37:25,949
We'll be back again next week. See you

993
00:37:25,949 --> 00:37:26,449
then.