Read here. Eduardo Zorita, a star climate researcher with IPCC credentials, has some great advice for young scientists looking at a career in climate science. Our title paraphrases his response, which was actually:
"Climate modelling is a quite broad and complex area. In my opinion, there are two dangers that a student should avoid. One is to get stuck in a daily routine of programming and launching simulations, and slowly forgetting that simulations are performed to answer some previous question. This question should be the main driver of the work, the model is just a tool. Climate models are nowadays so complex and require so much technical attention that it is easy to get off the track. The second danger is to fall in love with your model and lose sight of the real observations out there. Models are in this sense dangerous and climate models even more so."
Previous climate-model postings.