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Should I do a PhD?

Started by Noisybast, 24 June, 2010, 06:39:44 PM

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Noisybast

So, in three weeks time I become an enhanced leisure citizen. The clock is ticking increasingly loudly. I've done the job-hunting thing, and there's very little out there. What there is, I've applied for and been largely ignored (would a "no thank you" email be prohibitively expensive or time consuming?). Then, during a routine sweep of the Liverpool John Moores University website, I saw this:

http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/VacancyDetails.asp?VacancyRef=IRC419IN&VacancyID=4192

Now, I managed to bag an MSc in Computer Games Technology at LJMU back in 2004. It was difficult, stressful and possibly even hazardous to my mental health. Would I be wiser to just walk away and carry on looking for a steady paycheck?

I know there are a few boarders here that have done PhDs, or that know people who have. Advise me, Hive Mind!
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Jared Katooie

The question is what you hope to get out of it at the end. If the answer is: "a PhD", then I would suggest you keep looking for a job (preferably one with internet access).

House of Usher

#2
A very good question.

Quote from: Jared Katooie on 24 June, 2010, 08:08:22 PM
The question is what you hope to get out of it at the end. If the answer is: "a PhD", then I would suggest you keep looking for a job (preferably one with internet access).

I can't agree, Jared! NoisyB, if all you want out of it is a PhD, then by all means go for it. Treat the stipend (didn't that used to be called a grant or a bursary?) as your tax-free income for the next three years. Also, try to get it done in three years and move on. Don't worry about old-fashioned academic concerns like thoroughness, polish or intellectual craftsmanship. Just get a defensible thesis written before the money runs out and be prepared to do some corrections - even major ones - after the viva exam. That's routine nowadays. Don't reckon on being able to finish it off while doing part-time low-paid work. That's how I finished mine, and it takes forever.

Bear in mind if a job comes along you can always dump the PhD at any time and take the job. You don't even officially have to terminate the PhD. And if a job comes along before the PhD starts, then absolutely take that instead. The important thing is not to think you have to see the PhD through just because you've started it.

I think the crucial thing to consider is how much cash the university is offering. Is it worth it? Could you live comfortably on it? Be utterly mercenary.

As to the long term employment benefits of a PhD, I can't say much for it. These days there are so many people with PhDs and so few jobs for them that the qualification is only going to be worth it, as an investment in professional development, for a minority of successful candidates. I reckon fewer than one in five.
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TordelBack

Usher speaks truly.  A good friend of mine (who is disturbingly bright) left her job and went off to do a government-funded PhD amongst cries of horror from the experienced, and it turned out that she her net income was actually higher than it was while she was working with us.  Admittedly the grant itself was hugely competitive and she did end up hating the Dept she did it with, but hey, worth thinking about.

Emperor

I think Ush is spot on, although if it could prove hazardous to your mental health then perhaps give it some considerable thought.

The good thing is this has very practical work-orientated advantages and, if you are presumably going for "Large-scale Computer Games", it'd make sense to aim for something that can be applied in a future job and it'd really help if you could perhaps hook up with a firm where you'd get access to their technology and expertise, where you could perhaps work for them over the holidays and eventually segue right from the end of the PhD into working for them (or getting poached by someone else).

So don't treat it as an end in itself, but as a stepping stone to what you want to do - speak to people in the industry and find out what they want (so going in you have the scale and scope of the project nailed down), make sure there is money for going to conferences and/or travel to specific firms and basically make sure you speak to as many people as you can before nailing the project down and afterwards to ensure everyone knows what you are doing. That way you should have everything set up for when you are done and you can move right on.

You can be as calculating as sanity will allow - don't just draw up a timetable for what you want to get done when but also lists of people you'll need to speak to, important conferences to attend/speak at, etc.
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Old Tankie

As someone who left school at 15 with no "O" Levels and, as a consequence, spent the next 35 years doing hard manual work, (which has "knackered" my body) I can certainly see the benefits of a good "ejumakashun"!!  To be honest, I wouldn't know what a PhD was if it punched me on the nose but my common sense tells me that it must be bloody difficult and time consuming.  If your main reason for considering this course is the fact that you can't get a decent job at the moment, will you have the necessary motivation to complete the PhD course, as to me, it would seem pointless to drop out half-way through.  Just a thought.....

Mikey

#6
Having recently left paid employment to do a Phd full time, I'd say yes.

However, if it's just something to do instead of the dole, you could try some part time or distance learning in your subject area or something completely different - if you get a job then you have the option of continuing if you're enjoying it.

For me, being interested in the Phd is what it should be about. Would you like to read the conclusions of someone else? If so, this is an opportunity to actually do it instead of just reading about it! Life is too short!

That was my motivation, plus the ennui of work. I may return to what I was doing before, but the break is definately welcome. Incidently, I may go for publication rather than a thesis - I can see 3 possible papers already, there's just the sticky point of writing them.

I agree with Tankie saying there's no point starting it to then drop out, although I know sometimes things don't work out with supervisors etc. Seeing something through is always a good thing to show potential employers is it not?

Back to my reading...

M

EDIT: I also agree that you shouldn't feel obliged in anything you do for a living. If it doesn't work, fix it, that's what I say. If that means leaving for something else, so be it. (A very learned gent who contributed greatly to palaeontology and teaching round these parts, started a Phd in the 60's but wouldn't 'oblige' a Labour government by completing it!)

To tell the truth, you can all get screwed.

House of Usher

#7
Quote from: Mikey on 25 June, 2010, 11:03:41 AM
Incidently, I may go for publication rather than a thesis - I can see 3 possible papers already, there's just the sticky point of writing them.

That's sensible. Publications are more valuable than the thesis. I never published anything from my thesis because I thought writing articles would delay its submission. I was too worn out by the end of it to write anything, and then renovating my house got in the way. On the other hand I know of several people who never completed their thesis, and never completed their PhD, but wrote a few crappy publications in their first 3 years of study, like 'working papers', typically with the help or patronage of a supervisor, and are teaching in universities ten years on.

QuoteEDIT: I also agree that you shouldn't feel obliged in anything you do for a living. If it doesn't work, fix it, that's what I say. If that means leaving for something else, so be it. (A very learned gent who contributed greatly to palaeontology and teaching round these parts, started a Phd in the 60's but wouldn't 'oblige' a Labour government by completing it!)

True. Several people I knew who started a PhD and didn't finish it shelved theirs when they got offered a research or teaching job that got in the way of completing the PhD. They were relieved not to be able to finish it, and not finishing hasn't done their careers any harm.
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