Comments on: Things I learnt during, and about, my PhD

By: A followup to the post on leaving graduate school. « Chris J. Karr: Weblog

A followup to the post on leaving graduate school. « Chris J. Karr: Weblog — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:57:24 +0000

[...] indebted to them and their contribution to my personal growth. I don’t plan on becoming an embittered ex-Ph.D. student and I will still certainly recommend the experience to others, when their motivation and goals are [...]

By: BrownStudies : Late night thoughts on getting a Ph.D.

BrownStudies : Late night thoughts on getting a Ph.D. — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 04:23:11 +0000

[...] Things I learnt during, and about, my PhD | Jamie’s Weblo [...]

By: Dr Anonymous

Dr Anonymous — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:06:34 +0000

I used to be an academic. I used to supervise PhDs both content and methodology. I think your assessment of what you get from *some* supervisors is both rational and fair. Some of us try harder than that though. an inteesting PhD thesis would be, from an a priori orientation, to explore who make the least impact lazy schoolteachers or lazy doctorate supervisers?

By: Depressing but true.

Depressing but true. — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:48:23 +0000

Depressing but true. I’m less than 6 months aways from finishing my PhD and have promised myself to never glamorize the PhD process in anyway because I would hate for someone to enter into academia without knowing what I know now. Thanks for shedding light on the PhD process and speaking the truth. While your post might be situation-specific, much was true for me; and my area of reasearch is no where near computer science.

I actually think it is possible to enjoy research and teaching yet absolutely loath the PhD process.

By: hopeless

hopeless — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:00:44 +0000

Actually, some research labs/companies will hire you without a PhD, particularly those outside the life sciences. I worked for two labs before starting my PhD and many of the people I worked with didn’t have PhDs. However, yes, it’s certainly easier to be hired by them, and into more leadership roles, with a Doctorate (or at least a Masters).

But, I’ve kinda gone off the whole research field, whether academic or not. Nothing I have done, or seen done, in research has made an iota’s difference to the outside world. In the end, another business will pick up those ideas (and modify/simplify them) in 10-15years time and change the world — but the actual researchers won’t do anything.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 23:44:55 +0000

The only way to encourage people in something is not to tell them the good aspects of it, you can also tell them it’s bad aspects. By this you will make (some of) them to think they are not the only one with those problems.
Thanks for encouraging me!

By: PhD Facts « Just For Train

PhD Facts « Just For Train — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 23:40:18 +0000

[...] Things I learnt during, and about, my PhD [...]

By: JW

JW — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 12:34:20 +0000

Hey, this is kind of depressing …
But a research lab in a large company won’t hire you without a PhD, right?

By: JK

JK — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 16:10:40 +0000

If you’re not interested in academia, you probably have no business doing a PhD.

Don’t forget about research labs, which are an even bigger employer of graduated PhDs.

By: Eoin Brazil

Eoin Brazil — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:09:59 +0000

I wish I could disagree but ….
At least Hilary kept you sane
I found that learning Ruby and Latex was fun. We can have a great argument over this when Mike gets back from Germany and you call up to Limerick. Three different versions of the war story, unfortunately I think that both Mike and mime aren’t too dissimilar to yours as you know …