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PhD Simulator

research.wmz.ninja

271–280 of 285 posts

Re: PhD Simulator

#271

As a current 4th year graduate student, I opened the link and found the choice to accept or decline the admission offer, I don't know why I clicked decline without thinking.

I did the same. The only way to win is not to play.

Your prize is always wondering if you should have done it. I know people that say one of their biggest regrets was electing to pass on the PhD path. The grass, unfortunately, is always greener.

Re: PhD Simulator

#272

Now imagine this, but with a "LinkedIn feed" that shows updates from your peers, showing their professional accomplishments and current salary.

Also just pictures of them enjoying life in the city of their choice, the families they’ve started, the vacations they go on, the fun hobbies they have time for, etc.

Re: PhD Simulator

#273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you want to have a tenure track "professor" position focused on teaching in a top-tier university, you need to be a great researcher as teaching skills are not considered much Not completely true. UC Berkeley at least has tenure-track lecturers, now apparently mostly referred to as "Teaching Professors" ( https://apo.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/teaching_profes... ) A random (old) job post for this: https://…

Yes, I mentioned this type of examples in the second half of my post. Thankfully these are becoming more common.

Except that UC Berkeley most definitely is “in the rat-race to be "top-tier research institution" (probably more accurately described as one of the rat-race winners in many fields) - it’s definitely important that top-tier research institutions also provide quality teaching.

Re: PhD Simulator

#274
post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He said maths not CS. A lot of research mathematics has no application.

While there certainly exists math for the sake of math, there is a trickle down effect that is quite real (there’s also a trickle up effect that is real but that’s unrelated). Someone does some math for the sake of math. Later on, someone who is slightly more applied sees a link between that math and a more applied problem they’re working on. If the idea is truly useful, it propagates down all the way to application-…

One wonders if trickle down mathematics is any more efficient than trickle down economics. It seems like we might be better off not funding pure math, as forcing function to coerce those minds to work on more applied problems directly, instead of relying on this random serendipity.

Re: PhD Simulator

#275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While there certainly exists math for the sake of math, there is a trickle down effect that is quite real (there’s also a trickle up effect that is real but that’s unrelated). Someone does some math for the sake of math. Later on, someone who is slightly more applied sees a link between that math and a more applied problem they’re working on. If the idea is truly useful, it propagates down all the way to application-…

One wonders if trickle down mathematics is any more efficient than trickle down economics. It seems like we might be better off not funding pure math, as forcing function to coerce those minds to work on more applied problems directly, instead of relying on this random serendipity.

It seems like I might be better off picking the winning lottery numbers directly instead of relying on the random serendipity of guessing them and most of the time being wrong.

Re: PhD Simulator

#276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did the same. The only way to win is not to play.

Your prize is always wondering if you should have done it. I know people that say one of their biggest regrets was electing to pass on the PhD path. The grass, unfortunately, is always greener.

Add me to the list. It would have destroyed me but I still regret not doing it.

Re: PhD Simulator

#277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How should the system be changed to accommodate women? (And men/fathers?)

In my opinion, a first step is to equalize maternity and paternity leave. It should be equally disrupting for men to have children as for women (from the perspective of an employer). I like the Swedish implementation of this model, where partners get 480 days of leave per child which they are free to divide among themselves, with a minimum of 90 days for either.

That's a ridiculous amount of leave. A man does not need much time outside abnormal circumstances for paternity leave. I would almost never work, as my wife and I have a baby every year or two.

Re: PhD Simulator

#278
post #64

As a current 4th year graduate student, I opened the link and found the choice to accept or decline the admission offer, I don't know why I clicked decline without thinking.

I was secretly hoping it will tell me "you win" when I clicked decline.

"You decline the PhD offer and end up happy with an intellectually satisfying six-figure role in tech. You are surprised when you learn that your older colleague with a PhD earns just as much as you do."

Re: PhD Simulator

#279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I mentioned this type of examples in the second half of my post. Thankfully these are becoming more common.

Except that UC Berkeley most definitely is “in the rat-race to be "top-tier research institution" (probably more accurately described as one of the rat-race winners in many fields) - it’s definitely important that top-tier research institutions also provide quality teaching.

We do agree on this. My second sentence is exactly what you just said:

> Thankfully, many universities (even the prestigious ones) are now starting to hire more semi-permanent teaching-focused staff (and some even use the title professor for these).

Re: PhD Simulator

#280
Hi everyone, I wrote this game 5 years ago when I was going to graduate from my PhD program. I did not expect to suddenly become popular in the middle of this week. Hope you enjoyed it (and thank you for stress testing my personal website)!

I wrote it to look back my PhD experience in a humorous way. However, each person may have a different experience and the game cannot simply capture all the scenarios. The road toward the PhD degree is full of challenges, and can be very stressful. I feel sometimes you also need a bit of luck like the randomness in the game. Thank you all for playing the game! Congratulations to those who already got their PhD, and best of luck for those who are still pursuing it!

You can find the source code of the game here: https://github.com/morriswmz/phd-game. I haven't touched it for years and probably already forgot how to build it. From my memory all events/items/status are customizable through YAML files so you can easily mod it if you want to.

Cheers!

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