Congratulations on the degree. Be prepared to have that resilience challenged over and over if you continue to navigate in academe, if it persists beyond the current challenges to the profession. All best wishes on your journey!
Good on you for trying to advance human knowledge!
I've tried to convince every single person I know doing a PhD to quit. Being a scientist in the USA is a truly shitty way of life--you wander from postdoc to postdoc barely making a living without even health insurance. (The humanities people have it even worse.) I guess things might be different in Europe where the welfare state is larger--I've heard Germans say it's a living and, without the need to hoard money for a disaster (or your kids' college tuition) like in the USA, you can focus on studying Nature and have a good life.
It's fairly obvious this is a true calling for you. And, it is an honorable one, since without science and the technology it makes possible we would still be dropping dead at 30 from dysentery after working ourselves to death in the fields all day. If we survived measles as kids (wait, that one's coming back). But, I know you had trouble making it here. Perhaps it is, in the end, lucky.
Perfectly put. Humility really is the most important and difficult lesson. Even when you think you have already learned it. Especially when you think you have already learned it.
This sounds so difficult. I'm curious if you have little wins that help push you through the slog of repeating experiments, tweaking things -- what keeps you going?
When i analyze data, the rush comes from feeling like i understand something new, but then i get bored of it after like 2 days haha
Thanks for this. My wife got her phd in a science in the fall of last century, just after funding for education and science dropped unexpectedly. It is interesting to see how many of her/our concerns back then are concerns of students and scientists today. I wish you all patience, as well as resilience, courage and humility. I also wish you good luck!
Congratulations on the degree. Be prepared to have that resilience challenged over and over if you continue to navigate in academe, if it persists beyond the current challenges to the profession. All best wishes on your journey!
Thanks very much aware
Good on you for trying to advance human knowledge!
I've tried to convince every single person I know doing a PhD to quit. Being a scientist in the USA is a truly shitty way of life--you wander from postdoc to postdoc barely making a living without even health insurance. (The humanities people have it even worse.) I guess things might be different in Europe where the welfare state is larger--I've heard Germans say it's a living and, without the need to hoard money for a disaster (or your kids' college tuition) like in the USA, you can focus on studying Nature and have a good life.
It's fairly obvious this is a true calling for you. And, it is an honorable one, since without science and the technology it makes possible we would still be dropping dead at 30 from dysentery after working ourselves to death in the fields all day. If we survived measles as kids (wait, that one's coming back). But, I know you had trouble making it here. Perhaps it is, in the end, lucky.
Perfectly put. Humility really is the most important and difficult lesson. Even when you think you have already learned it. Especially when you think you have already learned it.
Congratulations!
Thanks!
This sounds so difficult. I'm curious if you have little wins that help push you through the slog of repeating experiments, tweaking things -- what keeps you going?
When i analyze data, the rush comes from feeling like i understand something new, but then i get bored of it after like 2 days haha
Hmm yes you do get little wins here and there. I cant say for sure what makes me motivated for the actual long term
Thanks for this. My wife got her phd in a science in the fall of last century, just after funding for education and science dropped unexpectedly. It is interesting to see how many of her/our concerns back then are concerns of students and scientists today. I wish you all patience, as well as resilience, courage and humility. I also wish you good luck!