Step Into The Lab: Experiment Your Way to A New Life

I can still remember my experience of being a pre-med student playing with expensive equipment, running experiments to test hypotheses, and seeing what I could discover. What I discovered was that I was more drawn to business, so I switched my major.

When I think about experiments now, I think about them from a completely different perspective. Our lives are our own personal research laboratory, and we need to continue to do more research until we figure out what is working and what isn't. When you feel like you are ready for a change in your life, you can apply the scientific method to explore new options. The scientific method is an empirical method of acquiring knowledge that has been used since the 17th century, and it involves careful observation through a lens of rigorous skepticism. However, you can use it in just about every area of your life. For instance, let's say you want to explore the idea of getting into the field of web development.

Step 1 Question: Define the question. The better you define the question, the better the process. Would a career as a web developer be fulfilling for me as I consider my next steps?

Step 2 Research: Make an observation and gather information and resources about this observation. Have conversations, get curious, and be open to being wrong. Reach out to people in the field and find out more about what it is like to work as a web developer. What are the trends? What are the skills and qualifications to be successful?

Step 3 Hypothesis: Form a hypothesis or testable explanation. Make a prediction based on the hypothesis. Based on what you heard about being a web developer, what hypothesis can you make, and how will this help you in your next step? By applying the experience from my previous career and taking some courses in the latest web platforms, I could successfully transition into a career in web development.

Step 4 Experiment: Test the prediction. Test the hypothesis by performing an experiment and collecting data in a reproducible What is a low-risk way you could try this field out and see if it is right for you? Take a class, do some web development as a side project for now.

Step 5 Results: Analyze and interpret the data, then draw conclusions that serve as a starting point for a new hypothesis. You have done your research, you have run your experiment, and now you can step back and reflect on whether this is a path you truly want to take. Either "I want to become a web developer!" or this is not the right step for me, back to the drawing board.