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Ask YC: How to survive grad school?

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Re: Ask YC: How to survive grad school?

#41

Post by mark_h »

gruseom wrote: post #7

It's hard to know how applicable my experiences are to your situation, but here are some things that I figured out (after a lot of time and frustration) that proved effective. Grad school, for many people, seems inevitably to entail some prolonged dark night of the soul. Accept this as part of the process. It can cause you to lose yourself and your connection to what you really care about... or you can use it to stre…

a graduate stipend can be a great basis for doing whatever you want. In my case, I used the last year of my fellowship to get back into programming.

Man, that is my exactly experience! The thesis I eventually handed in bore almost no resemblance to the work I was doing and interested in :)

I'd definitely echo the "prolonged dark night" comment too. Sometimes, you just have to accept that and keep on plugging away, albeit maybe taking the night off to recharge a bit (it's like debugging, it's hard to see how that's going to achieve anything but it can make a huge difference).

Re: Ask YC: How to survive grad school?

#42

Post by mixmax »

mechanical_fish wrote: post #31
lallysingh wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many of us haven't considered a small lair, a few minions, and a doomsday device before?

You know, I've worked in labs which employed actual minions and actual doomsday devices (well, maybe not, but they were more than deadly enough to destroy all of us minions if something went wrong) ... and the excitement wears off. Eventually you stop being awed by the doomsday device and start being annoyed that its repair bills are so high and that you have to keep filling it with liquid nitrogen in the middle of t…

Apparently the grass is always greener on the other side.

Re: Ask YC: How to survive grad school?

#43

Post by anewaccountname »

crpatino wrote: post #6

hi, first post ever! basically... what you have, sir, is a day job with low expectations and no IP ownership conflict of interests. Please don't waste this opportunity. Of course you have to keep delivering value to the project, but if you are disciplined you can be done by lunchtime and devote the rest of the day to your own pursuits. When you get a corporate job, you will feel the same. But then, you will have to m…

He mentioned elsewhere in the thread that he is a researcher in Europe; there is some variability, but basically if he was in private industry in Europe he most likely wouldn't have any of the insane IP concerns you are spouting off on here.

Re: Ask YC: How to survive grad school?

#44

Post by plinkplonk »

gruseom wrote: post #7

It's hard to know how applicable my experiences are to your situation, but here are some things that I figured out (after a lot of time and frustration) that proved effective. Grad school, for many people, seems inevitably to entail some prolonged dark night of the soul. Accept this as part of the process. It can cause you to lose yourself and your connection to what you really care about... or you can use it to stre…

"I divided my work into two categories: what I had to do to "feed the animal" (busywork and formal requirements) and what was meaningful to me. The strategy was to minimize the former (not eliminate it - don't fight the beast, petting works better) and maximize the latter."

This is my exact strategy at the day job. For a long time, I rebelled against the absurdities of corporate life and got into long and difficult fights to change the system.

These days I just use the system to maximize progress towards my goals and minimally "feed the beast" exactly as gruesom pointed out above.

Imo, most managerial jobs can be handled in exactly the same way and can be used to further what you really want to do. (In my case I am working through "Introduction to Algorithms" (Cormen et al) in between meetings, memos and other management madness). One just has to be constantly aware of how much time and energy goes into which category of work.

I think of it like going to work at Arkham Asylum. You need to know what it takes to keep the Joker and the ScareCrow calm (or at least not ripping out your throat) while you save a chunk of your salary and work towards that startup. It is kind of fun in a "play a strategy game" kind of way. It also helps that I am mentally prepared to drop it all without a qualm, and walk away on a moments notice if it becomes necessary. Being single and having no family to support really helps here.

Great post gruesom!

Re: Ask YC: How to survive grad school?

#45

Post by wepihapg »

For what it's worth, I dropped out of a top CS program a couple years ago and never looked back. I am much happier now.

I've always wanted to do research, but I eventually came to see academia as a life with little to recommend it. Professors spend most of their time teaching, advising, writing grants, speaking, doing grunt work---not a lot of room for deep thought. And as a result of the publish-or-perish system, much of the work being done has no lasting consequence; I found this demoralizing.

I don't know if this rings true to your experience, but if it does, and you're seriously unhappy, consider quitting while you're ahead. One day there may come a time when you feel that if you quit you're a failure.

As for doing research on one's own, all I can say is that I'm trying to do some. I feel more inspired than I did in grad school, where my first thought was always "will this get me a publication?" On the other hand, I'm not producing anything publishable, so you be the judge. I do from time to time wonder if this makes me a crank, but my opinion is that you're not a crank until you're pleading with people to take you seriously.

I highly recommend the book Disciplined Minds by Jeff Schmidt, which helped give me some perspective when I was making my decision.

Re: Ask YC: How to survive grad school?

#46

Post by many »

mixmax wrote: post #42
mechanical_fish wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, I've worked in labs which employed actual minions and actual doomsday devices (well, maybe not, but they were more than deadly enough to destroy all of us minions if something went wrong) ... and the excitement wears off. Eventually you stop being awed by the doomsday device and start being annoyed that its repair bills are so high and that you have to keep filling it with liquid nitrogen in the middle of t…

Apparently the grass is always greener on the other side.

Academia is where they put the green in the grass.

Re: Ask YC: How to survive grad school?

#47

Post by many »

So you've reached the bottom of this thread, a story told every day in the same tome.. erm, tone... I consider myself superior but can't place the feeling, my peers are inferior but feel better, my teachers are bored but I know better, I could write more but not to be flippant, etc. etc.

As the song goes, "You don't get my sympathy, hanging out the fifteenth floor."

Re: Ask YC: How to survive grad school?

#49

Post by jimbokun »

lallysingh wrote: post #24
davi wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice gem from the 'Yegge-esque'ness: "Consider the delightful personal pleasures that crackpottery has to offer."

How many of us haven't considered a small lair, a few minions, and a doomsday device before?

Pretty good description of the typical YC startup.

Re: Ask YC: How to survive grad school?

#50

Post by jimbokun »

mechanical_fish wrote: post #13
crpatino wrote: post #6

hi, first post ever! basically... what you have, sir, is a day job with low expectations and no IP ownership conflict of interests. Please don't waste this opportunity. Of course you have to keep delivering value to the project, but if you are disciplined you can be done by lunchtime and devote the rest of the day to your own pursuits. When you get a corporate job, you will feel the same. But then, you will have to m…

no IP ownership conflict of interests This is a bit of an exaggeration. Universities claim IP, too. Although it is true that most of them are pretty incompetent at it, and they don't much like to sue their successful graduates because it makes for very bad press.

Whereas a former employer with an IP dispute is likely to just want to shut you down as a potential competitor (in their mind) the University just wants a piece of the action. At least, that's the sense I got from the IP agreement I signed when I started working here.
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