What is a chemistry job?

Abstract

“What is a chemistry job?” That evergreen question comes up often in the chemistry social media space, and I always struggle with how to respond. Are chemists only those who use the tools of chemistry in a laboratory? If so, how does this definition address the teacher of students of chemistry, or someone who uses a computer to further our understanding of chemistry? How about people who write about chemistry? Do they possess a writing job or a chemistry job? In fact, there is no one right answer to the question of what a chemistry job is, and any attempts to draw lines or define boundaries will inevitably exclude groups of people that we know deep in our bones are part of our ever-expanding enterprise. What we do know is that among those who study the physical sciences, only a small percentage go on to research-based roles. For example, the