Daniela Hernandez realized during her PhD at Columbia University in New York City that she preferred writing about science to doing it. Now, she's digital science editor at The Wall Street Journal.

Why did you leave research?

Doing science was lonely: you're in the lab at odd hours, with nobody around. I realized that my strengths were in communication.

Describe the transition.

At Columbia, I interned for ABC News. Then, during graduate school, my principal investigator connected me with the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research in New York City for some science writing. I also did some paid fact-checking at the National Geographic Channel: as a grad student in New York, the cash certainly didn't hurt.

What was your next step?

While I was at grad school I learnt about the media fellowships offered by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. These place science students in newsrooms around the country. I got one at the Los Angeles Times. After that I joined the science-communications programme for the University of California, Santa Cruz, hoping to meet possible future employers and colleagues.

How did that go?

It worked out! I did an internship at Wired magazine and got hired — it was great fun. After a year, I moved to Kaiser Health News as a reporter. I got hired by The Wall Street Journal last February.

Do you like it?

Yes — it's a lot of fun. Everybody is really thoughtful, collaborative and smart.

Any advice for budding science writers?

It's a really enjoyable job, but it can be taxing. And if you freelance, you need to know how to make ends meet. Reading voraciously is important. You need to know what's going on and how other people cover stories.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.