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I'm quitting my PhD

blog.derhagen.eu

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Re: I'm quitting my PhD

#221

Post by dj_mc_merlin »

nobodyandproud wrote: post #216
dj_mc_merlin wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think his chances would be better in academia if he: 1. Writes a vague blog post about his dissatisfaction with his PhD or 2. Writes a paper attacking his supervisor explicitly ? Obviously the 3rd option ("shut the fuck up if you don't want your overlords to hear") would be the best, but also perhaps the most boring.

> Obviously the 3rd option ("shut the fuck up if you don't want your overlords to hear") would be the best, but also perhaps the most boring Best for whom?

Best for the blog post author. Picking fights with people stronger than you, in a system you don't intend to leave, doesn't usually work out well for you. Nor in general. STFUing is a near-optimal strategy in a lot of situations, really.

Re: I'm quitting my PhD

#222

Post by hnfong »

sdfhdhjdw3 wrote: post #107
time_to_smile wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I interact very heavily with academics (though am thankfully no longer one myself) and one thing I can't stand is that all of them will complain endlessly about the horribly abusive and broken system that academia has become, then without hesitation turn around and flog the next person in line when it's their turn to continue the process from the abusing side. As someone who once held the title of assistant professor…

> I interact very heavily with academics (though am thankfully no longer one myself) and one thing I can't stand is that all of them will complain endlessly about the horribly abusive and broken system that academia has become, then without hesitation turn around and flog the next person in line when it's their turn to continue the process from the abusing side. Completely agree. > The amount of bullshit being produc…

"I'm someone who finished a PhD" doesn't help your claims.

But I digress. The real question is, why do personal opinions like "xxx is superficial" needs to be defendable? Is academia somehow a "protected class" of individuals where we need to keep our opinions to ourselves unless we have hard evidence?

Or is this a standard you hold against other PhDs? Because the OP stated they quit, so it doesn't really apply.

I can totally empathize with the GP's claim that 'Your definition of "unprofessional" is just "this makes us look bad"'. You might not be in academia per se, but it seems to me like you picked up that mode of thinking nonetheless.

And no, I didn't keep my opinions to myself despite I have no proof whatsoever. Sue me for unprofessionalism please.

Re: I'm quitting my PhD

#223

Post by whatever1 »

pacija wrote: post #217
whatever1 wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be a great paper to write and publish.

Indeed. Here's one that has been translated to English: https://www.vasiona.rs/en/the-nature-of-the-mass

Make an effort to submit to a peer-reviewed venue to get some feedback from domain experts.

From a quick look it does not seem to me that you have made a compelling case to bring down the entire domain of quantum mechanics.

Re: I'm quitting my PhD

#224

Post by buitreVirtual »

SantalBlush wrote: post #153
sdfhdhjdw3 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I interact very heavily with academics (though am thankfully no longer one myself) and one thing I can't stand is that all of them will complain endlessly about the horribly abusive and broken system that academia has become, then without hesitation turn around and flog the next person in line when it's their turn to continue the process from the abusing side. Completely agree. > The amount of bullshit being produc…

The HN crowd generally hates academia with a passion and will welcome any criticism of it, regardless of how vague it is.

The HN crowd hates bullshit, which is different.

Re: I'm quitting my PhD

#225

Post by pvaldes »

chrisseaton wrote: post #31
AnotherGoodName wrote: post #16

I would love PhDs to be thought of as something you dive into when you have something to pursue, perhaps many years later in life rather than a follow on immediately after study. As a comparison imagine if VC funding only went to the highest scoring new grads and the business proposal was asked for after the invitation to take on VC funding. That's pretty much what's been happening with PhDs. You get the marks, you g…

PhD is an apprenticeship to do research. If we left it until later in life, we wouldn't have anyone trained to do research.

We still can learn from people that died 200 years ago. Bibliography solves this problem.

Re: I'm quitting my PhD

#226

Post by mmastrac »

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…

If someone takes the post down, is it a good idea to post the text here? They clearly didn't want it left up in public.

Re: I'm quitting my PhD

#227

Post by hnaccount_rng »

treesknees wrote: post #219
hnaccount_rng wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can still quit. And, at least I would recommend you doing it. I have yet to do the jump to industry, but from what I'm hearing so far: There is little to no value assigned to the _paper_. And, at least in my view, this is exactly as it should be. There are two and only two situations [0]: 1) The company requires your specific expertise and won't care about the title as you are the one with the knowledge 2) The co…

There are some programs where you can earn a Doctorate without a Master's degree. Sometimes the program will combine both into one curriculum. In these cases, it's not possible to just quit and still have a Master's. You will have a Bachelor's and a bunch of debt. Perhaps they could work with an academic advisor to apply those credits taken to a Master's, maybe fill in the gaps and be done with it.

Okay yeah I should mention that I did my PhD in Germany, where a Master's is a prerequisite and there is nearly no course work (the little that is required is solved ... let's call it ... creatively, but the real work is done in the Master's)

Re: I'm quitting my PhD

#228

Post by yanderekko »

hnaccount_rng wrote: post #204
dizzant wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for this perspective. I am one of these mismatched PhD students. When I entered 6 years ago, no professors in my department had time to advise me. The professor for whom I was a GTA took pity on me after two years of rejection, and now serves as my committee chair despite having little to no expertise in my field. I am coadvised through a different department, but again, my coadvisor has little overlap with my…

You can still quit. And, at least I would recommend you doing it. I have yet to do the jump to industry, but from what I'm hearing so far: There is little to no value assigned to the _paper_. And, at least in my view, this is exactly as it should be. There are two and only two situations [0]: 1) The company requires your specific expertise and won't care about the title as you are the one with the knowledge 2) The co…

>You can still quit.

This is bad advice. The sheepskin effect is real and a company that "cares about the PhD as a marker" is not being petty or superficial in using this as a screening mechanism. Unless you're truly looking to enter a field where having a PhD would be of no value on your resume, just finish your PhD if you're 6 years in and can do so without too much additional distraction.

Re: I'm quitting my PhD

#229

Post by tomcat27 »

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…

> 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.

lol. You don't know the weight of crushed aspirations and a two year opportunity cost.

> I don't say this because I think we should just take the venerable professor's word for it, but because accusations in general, if they're vague enough, are impossible to defend against.

again lol. publication game is well know.

> I think if there's enough substance to make your comment specific, you should. Maybe even write a paper explaining why what they're doing is nonsense. If you're right, this would genuinely be a contribution to the field. If you can't be specific enough to be scientific about it, just keep it to yourself.

again lol. this is a very academic answer. Actually, I'm not sure university administrations write a paper on policies and ask for peer comments before making changes. They just do it, in the most brutal, authoritarian/top-down/corporate way possible. But the top brass needs papers from the bottom. Show me how much academia has been optimized by writing papers about academia. Well, even if they did they are useless.

Re: I'm quitting my PhD

#230

Post by peteradio »

diarrhea wrote: post #188
peteradio wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your face when in 5 years you find yourself in project management: >:0

Absolutely possible. The difference might be that PhDs don't conventionally have the 'downward' path available. They have a lower bound to the career roles they can take up. You may well violate that bound and do more 'line worker' type roles, but that'll get funny looks, might actually be harder to get into with the title (some people might even conceal it for such reasons) and the PhD would have been largely wasted…

A PhD especially in a technical field gives broad insight to problem solving full stop, or at least someone without severe self-esteem issues should consider that is the bar they've cleared. I have a PhD and wormed myself into tons of low positions, doesn't anyone else want to know how the sausage actually gets made?
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