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I'm quitting my PhD

blog.derhagen.eu

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Re: I'm quitting my PhD

#191

Post by krastanov »

andreilys wrote: post #61
dahart wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, I’m surrounded by PhDs who love research, loved their time doing PhDs, and some of whom loved working at Microsoft Research. I work in computer graphics. One good thing about a PhD is you get several years to explore a topic of interest to you in great depth. (As long has you have a decently good advisor.) Another good thing about a research PhD is that in addition to getting experience publishing papers, you g…

another good thing about a PhD is that people who have advanced degrees earn on average 50% more than (1.5x) people without advanced degrees This is bad statistics 101. The confounding variable in a lot of these cases is wealth (or social class). Someone who grew up upper class and got their PhD is of course going to earn more than someone who grew up in a trailer park never graduated high school. The reality is that…

This does not seem quite right to me. You do not need student loans for a PhD, rather you are paid (relatively poorly) while being a PhD student. And, anecdotally, most people in my PhD program were lower middle class, not upper class.

Re: I'm quitting my PhD

#192

Post by hnaccount_rng »

matthewdgreen wrote: post #27

I feel for the student writing this piece and I'm sad that they've developed some bitterness at their advisors and the entire field (which I read in the piece, even if it wasn't the intent.) Everyone needs to understand something important: a PhD is first and foremost an apprenticeship. It is your opportunity to study under someone who has done a specific kind of research, and learn from that person. If that relation…

Thanks for this response. This is exactly how I approached my PhD: I was in a group where I liked the _people_ and where I both enjoyed working with them, but also - crucially - was thinking that they could teach me something. The actual topic of my work a) shifted significantly [0], b) was barely relevant for my decision and c), while highly fascinating, very unlikely to be ever relevant, even if all stars align just the right way.

If you do not like your advisor [1] or even worse if you do not have confidence in at least scientific integrity: Then you should absolutely run and quit. You won't be happy. Ever. That doesn't mean you are not "fit for science" or either of you or your advisor is a "bad scientist". Just that the two particular persons don't (and won't) work out.

At least here in Germany it's also not a particularly hard decision [2]: You (quite easily) double your salary, while also (at least normally) significantly reducing your workload. But this assumes that you do the PhD because you "want it" and not because of the title. But then again: I would very much discourage anyone doing a PhD for the title. So maybe I'm not the best person to ask

[0] up to the point where _after_ having written up my thesis I rediscovered the "outline" of the work that we send to the foundation and the faculty. Of which precisely _nothing_ was in my actual thesis.

[1] This is not necessarily your official supervisor, as in the person that is taking you on and giving you your title. Given a large enough group size (and I very much would put that number at anything beyond 3 students) but the person you interact with daily (or at least weekly).

[2] At least from the vantage of someone who _hasn't_ taken that one. FWIW

Re: I'm quitting my PhD

#193

Post by wwwwasmistake »

sdfhdhjdw3 wrote: post #20

I'm someone who finished a PhD, here's my perspective. You don't believe your supervisor or your research group and so you quit, great. It's great that you have the critical thinking abilities and confidence in yourself to make such a decision. However, I think it's extremely unprofessional to write a blog post saying that your supervisor is superficial or your research group is performative art. I don't say this bec…

No post body was provided.

Re: I'm quitting my PhD

#194

Post by dandigangi »

sdfhdhjdw3 wrote: post #20

I'm someone who finished a PhD, here's my perspective. You don't believe your supervisor or your research group and so you quit, great. It's great that you have the critical thinking abilities and confidence in yourself to make such a decision. However, I think it's extremely unprofessional to write a blog post saying that your supervisor is superficial or your research group is performative art. I don't say this bec…

Can't say I agree or disagree since article is gone but it does make me very curious how it was written to prompt your comment. Disparaging (the article I mean, not you) can take you down some bad paths with your career and academia.

Re: I'm quitting my PhD

#195

Post by calf »

tomatowurst wrote: post #92

> Because this article received somewhat more attention than I expected/feel comfortable with, I’ll take it down for a moment. Sorry. I’ll leave the disclaimer: Here's the original: Just a bit over half a year ago, I started my PhD in Quantum Computing. Even though I basically didn’t have any previous knowledge about it, I thought Quantum Computing was an interesting challenge to get into. What should I say? Quantum…

That sounds they were in the wrong department or wrong school. If they were that interested in QC their undergrad advisor should have told them to apply specifically to QC faculties who have research interests closer to their own.

Re: I'm quitting my PhD

#196

Post by pfortuny »

avisser wrote: post #165
dixego wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I can tell, the cause of this is that "number of papers published per unit of time" is the only metric institutions seem to care about when it comes to evaluating researchers' work.

Please. They care about $$$ in grants as well.

Which are gotten in proportion to the other metric…

Re: I'm quitting my PhD

#197

Post by [deleted] »

Benjammer wrote: post #122
sdfhdhjdw3 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Spent a lot of time in academia, and I quite disagree. He's pointing out something that is very common in academia - common enough to be widely accepted. Saying he is unprofessional in criticizing his supervisors is like saying someone is unprofessional in criticizing his boss for demanding Leetcode style interviews. I specifically said the issue isn't criticizing. The issue is criticizing in a way which is so vagu…

>It's exhausting commenting on HN. You have to append every minor observation of a laundry list of responses to likely misinterpretations. Interesting seeing this response after you just posted: >If you can't be specific enough to be scientific about it, just keep it to yourself Was this a tongue-in-cheek demonstration of your point? Or is vague criticism only unacceptable in academia?

[deleted]

Re: I'm quitting my PhD

#198

Post by pacija »

krastanov wrote: post #182
pacija wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because "physics" it builds upon is wrong.

Your vagueness makes it difficult to take your comment seriously. Are you saying quantum mechanics is wrong or are you making a more subtle argument?

I am saying quantum mechanics is wrong.

Re: I'm quitting my PhD

#199

Post by shkkmo »

lelandfe wrote: post #113
sva_ wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't want people to read your post, perhaps write a private diary instead.

Having it on the Archive is fine; choosing to disregard how scary landing on the top of HN can be seems callous.

Yet the author appears the person who submitted the post to HN.

I get that they are having second thoughts after it got so much attention, but it isn't like they had a diary entry accidentally blow up, they actively promoted its spread.

So while adding a disclaimer or some clarifying context would be a good response, yanking the content down after it has generated significant discussion is wonky and I think posting the archived link is entirely reasonable.

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