I am currently close to finishing my PhD, since the reading committee has approved my thesis (here a reading committee of 3 has to approve for the defense to proceed, but the defense is a nice ceremony rarely with consequences). At first I thought that I have wasted my time on attianing a PhD, since I am not planning to go into academia. But you're so right, I am very different now compared to after finishing my masters. I am currently undaunted by a side project that I hope will take me at least a decade. It concerns 3 subprojects: philosophy, engineering, psychology (roughly speaking). My ability to structure my work, my ability to be fearless in face of the unknown, the many possibilities and the sheer amount of effort that will be required, this is a part of my person, my self, that I can access. This was not present before my PhD work, but it is now.
1) Thanks for touching on the feeling of failure if you aren't in academia after getting the PhD. 2) The PhD taught me that there will be no future professional situation that will be as devastating as my dissertation proposal. That misery galvanized me. I also now know that no one can take this PhD away from me because I sure did earn it.
My PhD (5 years) almost killed my interest in science. Obtained it just in time before a burnout! I then took 2 years of holidays before getting an amazing position in a very nice lab!
@@sirmclovin9184 I really needed a break, it was either that or a huge "bye bye" to science (+ I got very sick for a year after). ps: it is quite a miracle that I obtained a position after 2 years off to be honest. I guess the paper published and the few conferences in between helped filling the gap somehow ^^.
I don't have enough words to thank you for this video. I needed to hear all of this from someone who has experienced what I think on daily basis while wrapping up my phd work. I have planned to stay in research/academia only if I get a good post doc position in the lab(s) i wish to join, but i feel that's highly unlikely because they are an entirely different field. I never liked my work and it has been a demotivating burden on me all these years. So I'm still contemplating what to do next.
I met a PhD candidate about 4 years ago. Last year i heard she had her thing finally. In the 4 years since, I bought a house that has a capital growth of about 50%, I visited about 5 countries, I got married, got a kid and have over 100k saved. Not saying a PhD is a waste of time but the opportunity cost for me would be too high FWIIW.
Hi Andy from South Africa. I have watched a couple of your videos and have now subscribed. Thank you for the motivation. I've just finished compiling my thesis and it is on its way to the external examiners for marking. You are correct, I see a lot of opportunities with obtaining a PhD. And thanks God as I was filtering them out, I have scratched out academia on the list of things that I would want to do. Even though I love research and would want to teach it, no thank you. I'm already in government so I will be looking at how I can position myself there with the skills I have in my field of study.
I will start my PhD in september in Canada. When I finish I wanna go to Industry and stay there for at least 10 to 15 years. Only Then I will go back for a postdoc.
One big warning about PhDs. They aren't as internationally portable as you might think. Some countries don't automatically recognise degrees issued by foreign Universities and you often need to approach a local University or the Ministry of Education to get them validated. Sometimes this is a mere formality. Sometimes it can be very slow and very expensive, and needs a tonne of documents from your University and expensive official translations, and you might find yourself frozen out of the local labour market until the process is over. I know lots of foreign people here in Spain with PhDs from non-Spanish degrees who have lost years out of their profession because of the slowness of the validation process.
I am planning to undertake a PhD and I'm trying to think about the direction I'd like to go afterwards. I know for sure that I want to do scientific research: I really love my subject and the thought of doing anything else makes me sad. But I guess the question is the context in which I'd like to work. I have never done any teaching, I've never seen myself in a professor role, though I'd like to undertake a bit of teaching and mentoring to see if I'm actually better at leadership and helping others develop than I think. I've also never worked in an industry role, so I've gone for a PhD where I'd do a placement so I can learn what that's like. My only concern is that while I want to be able to live comfortably, I'm also not entirely comfortable with profit motives or the way in which some companies operate. Lots of figuring out to do. And uh, yes I'm dating a current PhD student who will be going for a post doc abroad, so we'll see if that relationship lasts. I'd like it to, but I don't want to get my hopes up and be disappointed.
I start follow you last 2 months. Right after 3 months I becoming a PhD student. Luckily I found your RU-vid Channel. I have learnt a lots from your channel. Thank you Dr. Stapleton.
Dear Andy, This is Mahe from India. This is my first ever comment on ur video. I am watching your videos for past one year. All are filled with lot of valuable info. Thanks for tat. I am graduated from Master's in 2016. I married and have a daughter at age of 5. I am 30. I am trying to do my PhD in cancer research and was trying in Europe. Many a times I think I am taking a risk since I need to move my family also for the sake of my passion. But then, my mind always get back to the point of doing research. Because I am a person who like to learn new stuffs on a daily basis. I am curious. Currently, I near to get a PhD position in USA. But into lot of confusions. Since I heard in US they expect a lot and lot of pressure will be there. What would be ur suggestion for me? It would really helpful if u can suggest. Thank you
Did u get admission dear?. Anyway I heard it's all depend on your guide... Some point u will feel the pressure.. But if u r interested plz go with that
I'm doing mine right now, and even as a first year, I feel like I'm becoming, as one of my former professors put it, "a jedi master of learning". I'm working in an organometallic electrochemistry group, but my backgrounds are materials science, chemical engineering, and physical chemistry. I'm having to teach myself all of these new things. And the icing on the cake is that I'm an Indian American guy who's doing his PhD in Germany, so naturally I have to learn a whole new language, which I've been taking in stride.
I can only imagine how you feel! I am doing a Computational Biology PhD but I came from biomedical science (no programming) so Im also having to learn so much too, I can't imagine having to learn a new language on top of that!!
Given the toxic workplace, that is often prevalent at universities, I am by now not sure if a PhD is not just a bandage of certified servility for the highly competent. It marks you has highly functional and without spine. It makes you the kind of person the monarchs that created the first universities would like. Useful, but never a threat to hard power. I am sure other academic traditions exist, but they are weak. I could not reconnect to them after I aborted a defense related research due to reasons of conscience. All that is left are books from my academic idols. Most are dead, many for a long time. What I witnessed in my PhD time is the boot camp for those who are either to cowardly to oppose evil and for those who will just outright strengthen it. I do not have doubt, that most PhDs proof high competence, but given an age of weapons of mass destruction this makes things worse. I still will try to find someone who will accept some of my work as PhD, but I will not betray my values for it. Period. To stress that point again, given my experience, knowing that somebody has a PhD does not allow to infer that he/she is still able to refuse dictators and mass murderers. There is no Hippocratic oath for the common academic. Academics in general do not have well defined minimal ethical stands. I quit my PhD for the defense sector since they tolerated bullying behavior and personal who is, by the hare criteria, psychopathic. Since then no other academic ever helped me again. Servil to evil, for no reason I could infer. They stopped talking to me. That is how intellectual disputes are settled now. By not listening and silencing those who oppose toxic environments.
This sounds very bitter and dramatic. Sorry you had a bad experience with some academics, lord knows there's enough spineless ones, particularly when it comes to modern politics. But universities are still where you will find some of the greatest minds in the world. To relegate everybody associated with academia to spineless servants to evil sounds emotional rather than reasonable.
@@jpa_fasty3997 : It is bitter and true. Also I wanted forceful words, not drama. But ok. In fact I was so bitter, that my wife became afraid of me for two years. It was just an NBC-Protection (Nuclear,Biological and Chemical Weapons) related topic with betrayal. Maybe standing up to Russians in Germany was too much for them. A view years later we had a full war in the Ukraine. Bitter indeed and dramatic in the old sense of the word. Sadly also true.
@@jpa_fasty3997 No, I have not fond something enjoyable. I do not have income and am living from my retirement savings with 42. My live is destroyed. I live separated from my wive and little daughter and have never recovered form the income hit. You are the literal first person in years who notices. I try to generate a conversation and eyes looking towards the problem for years. They all look away, as you would expect for totalitarian systems. Anyhow, maybe you know somebody that offers jobs, to hawkish democrats and humanists. I can program in C/C++/Haskell with over twenty years experience and have the equivalent of two masters degrees. One in math and one in physics. It just looks like the Russians finished me of after aborting my defense related research for reasons of conscience. Nobody who knew will dare to work for the German military again. I think that was the objective and now its covering up. So if you have an idea, pleas let me know.
