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I’ve said it before, but one reason I didn’t pursue a PhD is that there appeared to be an element of hazing in the entire thing.
Several of the PhD students I knew were languishing for years trying to get their thesis together, in what can only be described as poverty.
Meanwhile, half of the professors were miserable, and if they made good money, it was because they were very focused on how to make money. The happiest postgrad I knew was a senior lecturer who had given up on becoming a professor.
The best you can hope for is that your personal area of interest happens to have a lot of funding.
Yet these people almost universally seemed to think, “Well, that’s just how it is. The nice thing is that if you can get an academic position, it sucks less than being a PhD student.”
I got my current teaching position by essentially volunteer-professoring while doing some grad work. Super exploitative on paper, though that wasn’t the intention of anyone involved (tiny college hated by the conservatives so they kinda had to wing it every time legislative fuckery happened). But it’s rough, I don’t make enough to pay my (incredibly cheap) mortgage so I’m in the awkward position of having been financially unemployed for a year while still working full time. Not to sound too whiny but man, the culture of “Guess I’ll starve because I just love my students so much” is absurdly toxic. And that’s coming from someone firmly part of that culture.
Where I live this is always mentioned. There are also many resources that list what jobs have too many people or not enough people. These are often linked to on the websites of schools right next to the degrees they offer. I remember being happy because the degree I went for had a gold star next to it telling me this is would lead to good job opportunities and a high pay. Also, the jobs with not enough people often have cheap or even free courses that are subsidized by my government. There was a big need for (well paid) underwater welders for example, and the full courses were completely free.
God I love socialism.
This is why I dropped the dream of being a French professor. By the end of my first year I realized there were only 2 or 3 on my campus and I’d have to work with them for many years and still not score a job.
Funny story about my first professor: When I would speak French in class the girls would all giggle. WTF?! One night I got invited to an all-girl study group at the dorm next door.
“OK, why do you all giggle when I speak French?”
They got real quiet, looked around at each other. Finally one girl pipes up.
“We’re sorry, it’s just that your accent is so much better than the professor’s, it’s embarrassing for him.”
And that’s the man I would have had to work with for years. :( (BTW, he spoke 5 other languages and his grammar and vocabulary were unmatched. He just couldn’t speak worth a shit.)
I find it hard to believe that someone who entered a PhD program wasn’t given a heads up immediately about the competition for professor positions.
As a CS grad I can confidently say: No! They are absolutely worth your time.
TBH if you attend 5 years at uni and don’t catch on how few professors there are to literally everyone else at the university perhaps your reasoning skills are not that great.
I mean I did 5 years with a master in thermodynamics (physical chemistry) and my section had 20 offices. Three had a professor in them.
Top sciencetists are is like top athlets. The same drive, dedication and forsaking other things to be best.
I have never met a PhD student who didn’t realise this before starting. You’d think someone who qualifies for grad school has better critical reasoning skills than this.
Like I tell everyone, PhD doesn’t mean you are smart, it just means you can take more abuse and humiliation than most. This is the thorny path to become an expert.
Interestingly enough, I only got my PhD because the job market sucked after Bush’s recession and I was promised 5 years of funding. I did get some great data analytic skills out of it, but academic positions are indeed far and few between.
One of the main factors after my graduation a few years ago was that professors just refused to retire, leaving very few faculty positions open; that changed slightly right after my kid was born but by that point I was and am ok with an adjunct part time and homemaker full time situation.
Now it’ll mostly be a lack of funding, though, unless I leave the US. Meh.
You just have to observe how many McDonalds employees are cursing their life in Latin
With so many things going on in life outside of work and academics, there is only so much you could research and pay attention to to fully know what you could get into. Only practical experience will tell you if it’s worth it. As they say, experience is the best teacher. And even then, don’t regret and blame yourself. You made the decision based on what was the best available information at the time. I tell this to any people who tend to be anxious about decisions.
It’s a tough dilemma. Takes a PHD to understand the tenure track.
Well, what a surprise. For the first time I feel smug about not having a phd, much education or common sense
I felt that in the bone. Postdoc life is one foot getting ready to move and the other foot dreading every decision that led to the thought “A PhD is a good idea”
It was a good idea, but holy shit is it all sorts of miserable.
You never “do your own research”. You trust the experts and listen to them.
