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I'm sorry, I just LOLed the moment I read this headline. I'm a PhD student hopefully 6 months away from finishing. PhDs are like running a full marathon. You don't do it because you want to stay fit; or because you enjoy running -- marathons wear you out, cause injuries, and eventually are far worse for you than regular running. You only do it because 1) you want to learn how to run marathon-sized lengths (i.e. you w…
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My focus and motivation is something that I think about a lot. At work I am very focused and motivated. My work is project based and deadline oriented, and so I have no trouble focusing in that environment. My colleagues, and the fact that I work on "real" problems motivates me. I just can't transfer that easily to when I code in my spare time - crucially - on something that I see through to completion. for example o…
>> My colleagues, and the fact that I work on "real" problems motivates me Unfortunately, both of these are hard to come by when working on a PhD. They are actually the two areas that I struggle with most in my PhD research. Getting a PhD is very isolating -- you are often the only one working on your problem, and it often seems like no one else cares. Also, I enjoy more real-world, applicable problems, yet most of w…
I have a friend who has a PhD, and I regularly joke with him about being the "world's leading expert in something 10 people in the entire world give a shit about." Unfortunately, the joke is only funny because it's literally true.
My two cents (take with salt, as I'm a math Phd student, not CS): A grad program absolutely CAN motivate you, IF you are motivated by failure and feelings of inadequacy. In math there is a real divide between being book smart and being able to do research (to put it mildly, it's more like a chasm). Most students have been validated their whole lives by being better than the rest, and finally coming to an obstacle tha…
Just curious as another mech eng guy (just bachelors though), what's this open source library?
Used for computing visibility regions in polygonal domains.
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Oh, you're still a youngster :-). Married? Spouse gets at vote. I minimized risk by having three advisors, whom I ended up relying on for different purposes. This was unusual in my school, but I found it worked well for me. One had a lot of experience and was great at dealing with paperwork and people problems. One turned out to be absolutely brilliant at idea generation and horrible at everything else. One was great…
I am married. Would it be insane if I just became a father for the first time a few weeks ago?! I wouldn't be looking to formally start something until early next year though. EDIT: Forgot to mention that my spouse would have a big say in this too.
Just make sure spouse is truly on board. Your stress is their stress and vice versa. I might add that my wife ended up getting a graduate degree and a new career, and the experience brought the whole family (3 kids) closer.
Your level of focus and motivation is going to be dependent on whether or not you love what you study. Earning my PhD required plenty of long hours with boring problems, boring subjects, and awfully boring theorems. It was emotionally challenging to push around a pencil on problems I hated. It frequently seemed like a complete waste of time, life, effort, etc..
It required a level of focus and dedication that was only possible because I love my subject in the sort of way that keeps me up all night and ignites me with Christmas-Eve-Santa-is-Coming excitement in the morning.
Sometimes it's easy to forget why you love your subject. Sometimes I despised mathematics. Earning a PhD helped me to move beyond these times, concentrate my effort, and make effective project management decisions. These experiences taught me a repeatable process for quickly mastering anything: Concentrate on the elementary, challenge everything, do the grunt work (yes, even when it sucks), and never stop thinking.
Here is the best that I can offer you. I've been considering earning another PhD, but I cannot see the point. Earning my first PhD taught me how to master something. I can now do that on my own.
This sounds harsh, but I'd rather be honest and risk that. I have a PhD in physics and work supervising doctoral students and early stage post docs. A PhD will not help you personally unless: a) You want to prove to yourself that you can do something original AND b) You are incredibly fascinated by a certain field, to the point of obsession AND c) You are capable of continuing to work, unaided and unsupervised for up…
> join a well-run open source project (not-so-commercial). This sounds like the best advice here that answers the question.
Tried to do it part-time many years ago, gave up after five years. Too difficult to juggle work pressures and research efforts. YMMV
This time around, doing it full-time. Thanks to GFC my savings have dwindled faster than budgeted for. The wife is not impressed and counting down the days to when I submit the thesis. At least, should avoid the "all but dissertation" syndrome.
Research is not tinkering. It is very deep, meticulous, frustrating and depending on your university you will be distracted by having to publish conference and journal papers.
If commercialization is a major goal for you, then perhaps you should be looking at doing a startup.
Consider that having a PhD may actually make you less employable, unless you want to compete for the few jobs in academia and research labs.
If the many comments on HN to your question haven't discouraged you yet, then may I suggest:
* You research in detail the topic you want to do research on. Google Scholar is very good.
* You track down a couple of recent PhD theses in related areas and read them carefully. Ask yourself whether you can match or exceed those standards.
* Write up a research proposal (you'll need it anyway) and only submit it to the top universities.
* If you get accepted, then seek out how you can earn enough to support yourself and family and study full-time.