whoa i'm astonished people have the attention span to read this on a friday night :)
here's an HTML version too ... http://pgbovine.net/PhD-memoir.htm
The Ph.D Grind: A Ph.D Student Memoir
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Re: The Ph.D Grind: A Ph.D Student Memoir
#12I'm only halfway through this, but it rings true to my experience. The circumstances are different, but the emotions and lessons I had to learn are much the same. Near the end of my PhD, when I knew that graduating was just a matter of time, I had difficulty explaining to people what the process had been like, and how to answer people when they asked if they should do it, too. In the future, I'll point them to this.
I've been out for 7 years now (ended about the same time this guy started). I actually had some experience working at Dawson's bug finding startup a bit at the end, which was an interesting experience, but not what I was interested in, so I went to EPFL to work on Scala for my post doc. I can sympathize with the author's struggles! I'm only halfway through this, but everything is true, especially about research agend…
oh thanks for reminding me ... i should forward this to your advisor!
Re: The Ph.D Grind: A Ph.D Student Memoir
#13Pretty amazing memoir. Does a nice job of capturing the ups and downs of the grad student experience. Phil - consider distilling this down as a blog post or two - lots of good lessons here, but given the length they might be lost on most or your potential readers.
Re: The Ph.D Grind: A Ph.D Student Memoir
#14Pretty amazing memoir. Does a nice job of capturing the ups and downs of the grad student experience. Phil - consider distilling this down as a blog post or two - lots of good lessons here, but given the length they might be lost on most or your potential readers.
hi matt - wow, i was gonna email you tomorrow, but HN scooped me.
re: distilling -- my main intention in writing this memoir wasn't to provide advice, since it's hard for me to determine how much facets of my experience generalize. i do have plans to convert the "lessons learned" section from the epilogue into a talk, though.
i have this other article from the beginning of my third year that's more of the "advice" type, although again, I'm wary of making generalizations about Ph.D. life: http://pgbovine.net/PhD-life.htm
(other fun fact - i used one of your blog quotes as the title slide of my Ph.D. oral defense)
Re: The Ph.D Grind: A Ph.D Student Memoir
#15Wow, I can't believe I just read that whole thing. Maybe it was the excellent writing quality or maybe I just find things like this interesting.
As someone who just graduated with a B.S. in chemical engineering and will start work toward my PhD in the fall (also in chemical engineering, but will actually involve a TON of programming), this strikes a chord with me.
A few takeaways from the article:
-The author does not give himself nearly enough credit. "Self-deprecating" is probably the right term. He considers himself average, but he is far above average. I mean this as a compliment of course.
-I think some of those tools he wrote could actually help me with my work (particularly CDE) -- I'll have to go take a look.
-I am going to have to learn how to focus, and very quickly. I consider myself very motivated/stubborn but I get distracted so easily that it's ridiculous, and this is not going to work for grad school unless I alter my behavior substantially before I get there.
-Before reading his book, I too had the idealized notion of "brilliant idea, years of writing one paper about it". The reality isn't quite as fantastic, but I appreciate learning the truth over belated disillusionment.
-Just realized the author is pgbovine -- excellent work! I currently have a completely free summer to do whatever -- would you have any tips on how I should prepare before I get to grad school? I already know which professor I will be working with, so I'm trying to figure out what level of "initiative" I should take before I arrive.
Re: The Ph.D Grind: A Ph.D Student Memoir
#16Wow, I can't believe I just read that whole thing. Maybe it was the excellent writing quality or maybe I just find things like this interesting. As someone who just graduated with a B.S. in chemical engineering and will start work toward my PhD in the fall (also in chemical engineering, but will actually involve a TON of programming), this strikes a chord with me. A few takeaways from the article: -The author does no…
whoa thanks for the compliments!
re: focus -- yes, that's key. but of course, it's bad to be blindly focused down a bad direction, too. don't put too much pressure on yourself early on, since nearly everyone flops and flounders.
re: what to do over the summer -- i don't know if there's much you can do to prepare :) maybe reading your professor's past papers? again, i wouldn't stress about it too much.
Re: The Ph.D Grind: A Ph.D Student Memoir
#17I just read the first chapter. Very insightful.
Especially early on, I was so personally attached to my work that any problem (eg, an upper bound not working out right) was devastating. But then, when it did work, ecstasy. And then, uncovering bad algebra in the derivation caused despair. And then, error corrected, euphoria. Round and round.
Re: The Ph.D Grind: A Ph.D Student Memoir
#18"He was an ardent pragmatist who cared more about achieving compelling results than demonstrating theoretical 'interestingness'..."
Are those people actually rare in academia?
Re: The Ph.D Grind: A Ph.D Student Memoir
#19whoa i'm astonished people have the attention span to read this on a friday night :) here's an HTML version too ... http://pgbovine.net/PhD-memoir.htm
Hey, sorry for scooping you if that messed something up :)
I heard you'd graduated, so I wandered over to your site today. Didn't realize you'd put up this article so recently.
Re: The Ph.D Grind: A Ph.D Student Memoir
#20The part that hit home for me was his description of the Prof's frustration with the speed at which he was implementing the enhancement to Klee and the fact that most grad students are not as smart as their advisors.
Most grad students are exhilarated to work with a brilliant researcher but it can crushing when one learns his or her own limitations.
Like the author says, probably 1 in 100 are the equal of their advisor and capable of becoming a professor at a comparable university.