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Here is one of the best summaries of how things can go wrong when one chooses to follow the academic path. I got this from Hacker news. The author of this well-written piece came from the industry, and compares the world he knows with what he encountered at the academia.
Things he finds:
- Doing a PhD is lonely
- Your picking the right advisor will determine your happiness level more than anything else
- The way you code within the academic world has nothing to do with the way people code in the
industry
But maybe we already know this.
What I’d like to see is someone writing a similar piece on life after your PhD. I had this silly idea that things would be easier and I’d have more time after my PhD Thesis for… you know, hobbies and other stuff normal people do. Nothing farther from reality.
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AMA citation:
Quesada J. What you should read before starting your PhD. Academic Productivity. 2008. Available at: https://academicproductivity.com/2008/what-you-should-read-before-starting-your-phd/. Accessed July 1, 2011.
APA citation:
Quesada, Jose. (2008). What you should read before starting your PhD. Retrieved July 1, 2011, from Academic Productivity Web site: https://academicproductivity.com/2008/what-you-should-read-before-starting-your-phd/
Chicago citation:
Quesada, Jose. 2008. What you should read before starting your PhD. Academic Productivity. https://academicproductivity.com/2008/what-you-should-read-before-starting-your-phd/ (accessed July 1, 2011).
Harvard citation:
Quesada, J 2008, What you should read before starting your PhD, Academic Productivity. Retrieved July 1, 2011, from
MLA citation:
Quesada, Jose. "What you should read before starting your PhD." 17 Jul. 2008. Academic Productivity. Accessed 1 Jul. 2011.
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 3:51 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 17th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
As long as you’re suggesting good reading pre/early in your Phd, I have to recommend: Advice for a Young Investigator by Santiago Ramon y Cajal.
Its written in the late 19th century by one of the founders of modern neuroscience, but it still seems incredibly relevant today. Even as a non-neuroscientist, I found it incredibly insightful. There are a few anachronisms – but I think that just adds to the experience.
Highly recommended.
July 18th, 2008 at 10:00 am
[...] I learnt during, and about, my PhD [You may want to read his disclaimer first.] Happy laughs. (HT: Jose) . . . . This post represents the advice I wish I could have given to myself when I was thinking [...]
July 27th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
[...] Jose posted an article last week about one person’s PhD experience, highlighting many of the common difficulties [...]
July 25th, 2009 at 8:22 am
Hi,
for the moment I can suggest the following reference: Peter J. Feibelman “A PhD is not enough”. It might discourage somebody to undertake a PhD or research in general as it gives, together with good considerations regarding why doing research is a great thing, also a discussion on many undesired side-effects in a lucid and disenchanted way. Highly recommented.