Reddit Reddit reviews A PhD Is Not Enough!: A Guide to Survival in Science

We found 15 Reddit comments about A PhD Is Not Enough!: A Guide to Survival in Science. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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A PhD Is Not Enough!: A Guide to Survival in Science
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15 Reddit comments about A PhD Is Not Enough!: A Guide to Survival in Science:

u/Crunchthemoles · 13 pointsr/GradSchool

Entry level "PhD-level jobs" outside of academia are few and far between in Neuroscience, but consistency and planning will land you something eventually:

Start here: [Versatile PhD] (http://versatilephd.com/), [SfN Neurojobs] (http://neurojobs.sfn.org/jobs), ["So what are you gonna do with that?" Book] (http://www.amazon.com/What-Are-Going-With-That/dp/0374526214), [A PhD is not enough! Book] (http://www.amazon.com/PhD-Is-Not-Enough-Survival/dp/0465022227).

Also [www.indeed.com] is probably the best job hunting site I have found out there.

My first piece of advice:
Start job hunting and making connections now. "PhD-level jobs" are hard to find and you will have to lower your expectations a bit, especially on your first job. While long term, the degree can be a huge advantage, that is not the case immediately after grad school and you will need to be flexible.

As you explore, you will see some immediate career options are:

Adjuncting with the hope to land a faculty position at a Community College, academic scientist, medical scientist (at a hospital lab), medical devices, teaching high-school, government (NIH, NIMH etc.), science writing (grants, journals, editing etc.), learning code/stat programs (R, Python, SAS, SQL, MATLAB etc.) and taking those quant skills into 'big data', or going the more typical pharma industry route.
Consulting is another popular option, but they typically like people with some industry experience (I've seen on average 10-15 years).

The pay varies wildly on all of these, but if you are looking for the biggest bang for your buck that lines up with your (hopefully still present) passion for Neuroscience...

The pharmaceutical industry would be a great place where a Neuro PhD could thrive. From my colleagues in Neuroscience who eventually got some type of industry job, two truths rang through before they made the transition:

  1. Either they had their foot in something before/during gradschool which is why they were getting a PhD in the first place (the minority).
  2. Post-doc and then industry (the majority).

    Unfortunately, a post-doc is almost unavoidable based on today's job market. I've seen people taking industry post-docs, which are competitive, but lead to the nice jobs and salaries you believe your degree entitles you to.
    However, there are several who took academic post-docs and bought themselves time, experience, and a bloodlust for a good job, which eventually landed them something that was 70k+ in industry and they can work up from there.

    Point is, there are options out there. The key is persistence, research, flexibility, and of course: networking.

u/jsmooth7 · 3 pointsr/math

Not to be too much of a downer, but the path to being a professor is very hard, and most people won't make it. Just being smart is not enough alone. I would highly recommend you read the book A PhD is not Enough as it contains a lot of very useful advice on how to be one of the few people who makes it. It mostly is useful for grad school and afterwards, but if you know that this is the path you want to take, it might be useful for undergrad too. I read it in my last year of undergrad, and it made me ultimately realize that a high level academic career was not for me.

Also make sure you learn some technical skills as well as math. Having good skills along with a strong background in math will set you up well if you decide against pursuing an academic career. There are lots of good recommendations in this thread on useful things to learn.

u/kyndder_blows_goats · 2 pointsr/chemistry

lol

someone already did it, but they only want $12.88

why would someone pay so much money to someone who obviously doesn't believe they can make it, so they're trying to make this their side hustle?

u/thewaltzingbear · 2 pointsr/academia

There are some books that give good insights into navigating the grad school process, including useful advice about how to map out important milestones (e.g. how to publish, navigating conferences, and most importantly setting yourself up early to be successful on the job market.)

1

2

3

[4] (http://www.amazon.com/Getting-What-You-Came-For/dp/0374524777/ref=pd_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=41H6-kRMd5L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR107%2C160_&refRID=07NB1JFQT1BE3E6NARD9)

u/sickofthisshit · 2 pointsr/Physics

A Ph.D. is Not Enough

Academia is basically full. Unless you work your ass off for a decade, in which case you might have a chance. Networking is critical, and even that might only network you into a dead-end path. Even getting into academia isn't all that you might have expected. There are some amazingly smart physicists (i.e., clearly smarter than some Nobel prize winners) that nobody has ever heard of.

u/practiceprompt · 1 pointr/AskPhysics

After reading the other posters, I have a couple more thoughts:

  • An engineering degree does come with a unique reward, that is, you become a registered Professional Engineer.
  • When considering which program to go into, consider funding. Cosmology may interest you more than biology, but programs related to biology might actually have funding.
  • CircinusSt's pessimism is real, but perhaps a little exaggerated. If you have perfect grades with internships, every door in the world will be open to you. For example, one of my classmates was awarded a 60k/year position in a research lab with only his B.S. (they offered to pay and assist with his PhD while he worked there). However, this student really did have perfect 4.0. He also spent time making connections with his professors, which led to the internships he needed.
  • GPA cutoffs: 3.0 is a severe cutoff point for most all graduate programs, 3.3 is the advertised cutoff for most all competitive programs, 3.3 to 3.5 is ideal. A GPA above 3.5 is exceptional, you will be considered for any program.
  • Perhaps trivial to say, but critically important: You need 3 letters of recommendation tailored to the type of job that you want to apply for.
  • Be prepared to move. A lot.
  • You need to read this book: A PhD Is Not Enough!: A Guide to Survival in Science.

    I'm sure I have more tips, just ask if you'd like.
u/cramur · 1 pointr/PhD

I highly recommend books A PhD is not enough, and PhD grind, they answer a lot of questions and I wish I've read it before starting my PhD.

Depending on your field, it might be the case that you would get a good position right after your defense, especially since you already have a lot of industry experience and willing to teach. Furthermore, a lot of universities practice 'equal opportunity' policies which forces them to not discriminate based on gender, age, or race. So this might be a good part that by your defense you would be in your early 40's.

It might be a good idea to find someone from your target field and talk to them about their path to their current position, how many postdocs they had to do and so on. Maybe you will find out that some of them don't even have a PhD degree, I don't know. A lot of these things depend on your field.

If I were you, though, I would consider other ways to scratch that teaching itch. Getting a PhD is a daunting and not that rewarding. But then again, it's a nice change of pace and might be your 3-5 years vacation.

u/ericxfresh · 1 pointr/findapath

So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport of Study Hacks was a great read. I've been looking for more books that are similar.

A PhD Is Not Enough! is a good book for those in the sciences, as well as Letters to a Young Scientist by EO Wilson.

I've always heard the basic advice of "think of where you want to be, and try to figure out how others got there" (educational requrements et c.). However, for my personal journey, I'm just as lost as the next guy.

u/mgrosvenor · 1 pointr/PhD
  1. Treat it like a job. Do 9am-5pm at your desk, every week day, working productively. No facebook, no newspaper. No extra long lunches. Do not work late nights/weekends unless ABSOLUTELY necessary.

  2. Keep yourself accountable for progress. Each week send an email to your supervisor, "this is what I did, this is what I plan to do". Before you send your email, check against last week to see how you did.

  3. This is a good book. It's UK centric which seems like it will help you: https://www.amazon.com/How-get-PhD-handbook-supervisors/dp/0335242022

  4. This is another good book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/PhD-Not-Enough-Survival-Science/dp/0465022227/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485777868&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=a+phd+isnot+enough
u/burakulgut · 1 pointr/electrochemistry

I agree.. that is a blessing and a curse. If you talk to established R&D managers looking to hire, they hate "generalists", they want very specialized people. Even academics say things like this (e.g. http://www.amazon.com/PhD-Is-Not-Enough-Survival/dp/0465022227)

If you specialize in the wrong area that goes out of focus though, you are left in the middle of nowhere. (e.g. fuel cells come and go, conducting polymers--synthetic metals, etc.)

u/12_Yrs_A_Wage_Slave · 1 pointr/financialindependence

Definitely am aware of that -- recently finished reading "A PhD is Not Enough!"

https://www.amazon.com/PhD-Not-Enough-Survival-Science/dp/0465022227

u/vapeducator · -2 pointsr/tifu

Even choosing a field that's in demand and attending a good university isn't enough. There's a good book titled "A Ph.D. is not enough" that explains all of the other things that need to be done during school and afterwards to establish a career in post-grad scientific research. The book was recommended to me by a tenured professor of mine who I was consulting regarding possible Ph.D. career paths.