Something serious today. Lately I’ve heard a lot of people talking about the amount of PhD graduates, and the amount of academic jobs. More specifically of course, how there is a large gap between the two. Far more PhD’s than academic jobs. Working at a research institute now, I already thought it was funny that some people assume with a PhD you have to end up in academia. Technically I don’t work in academia at the moment. Yet I do science.
What triggered it further was a workshop that I didn’t attend, but one of my colleagues did and she came back fuming. The same thing was discussed, and they showed a graph of how many PhD’s graduate each year in NZ, and how many university professors there are in NZ. Obviously, there was a factor ten million difference between the two (oh, hmm maybe slightly smaller factor yes, but you know what I mean).
In my opinion the problem lies with people assuming that all PhD’s want to become a professor, or be a scientist for that matter. About 80% of the PhD’ students I have met did a PhD for the following reasons: They didn’t really know what else to do, They wanted to make more money in their “normal” job so they needed a Dr-title, It just happened , or it was the only job possibility at that moment in their field, or the only possibility to get away from home/go abroad. So I hypothesize that already 80% of PhD’s didn’t want to end up in academia in the first place and therefore leave academia as soon as they have their certificate.
I see a PhD as a test. So you think you want to be a scientist? Maybe after a 4 year struggle with failing experiments, prove-nothing-data, invisible supervisors and writer’s block, you are happy to get out. You didn’t fail if you don’t become a professor or a scientist after you PhD. You still have the experience and you may well become a better employee in the industry because you’re so happy to be there and not in a lab.
Where I work there are hundreds of scientists with or without a PhD and they all seem to love their job, yet none of them are professor. Even my prof in Freiburg originally didn’t want to become a professor.
Do I want to become a professor? My career goals have ranged from princess to teacher to air traffic controller to violinist to confectionist, to, oh, hmm, maybe I’ll study something geographic first …
Now, I still don’t know really. I’m still drawn to the Bed&Breakfast idea, I would love to write for a living (fiction, not research papers), but I would indeed like to be a lecturer too.
Maybe I haven’t seen enough doom yet, but as far as I can tell most people I know have a decent job and are quite happy with it. It may take a move across several continents or a little wait and several attempts, but well that is life.
What triggered it further was a workshop that I didn’t attend, but one of my colleagues did and she came back fuming. The same thing was discussed, and they showed a graph of how many PhD’s graduate each year in NZ, and how many university professors there are in NZ. Obviously, there was a factor ten million difference between the two (oh, hmm maybe slightly smaller factor yes, but you know what I mean).
In my opinion the problem lies with people assuming that all PhD’s want to become a professor, or be a scientist for that matter. About 80% of the PhD’ students I have met did a PhD for the following reasons: They didn’t really know what else to do, They wanted to make more money in their “normal” job so they needed a Dr-title, It just happened , or it was the only job possibility at that moment in their field, or the only possibility to get away from home/go abroad. So I hypothesize that already 80% of PhD’s didn’t want to end up in academia in the first place and therefore leave academia as soon as they have their certificate.
I see a PhD as a test. So you think you want to be a scientist? Maybe after a 4 year struggle with failing experiments, prove-nothing-data, invisible supervisors and writer’s block, you are happy to get out. You didn’t fail if you don’t become a professor or a scientist after you PhD. You still have the experience and you may well become a better employee in the industry because you’re so happy to be there and not in a lab.
Where I work there are hundreds of scientists with or without a PhD and they all seem to love their job, yet none of them are professor. Even my prof in Freiburg originally didn’t want to become a professor.
Do I want to become a professor? My career goals have ranged from princess to teacher to air traffic controller to violinist to confectionist, to, oh, hmm, maybe I’ll study something geographic first …
Now, I still don’t know really. I’m still drawn to the Bed&Breakfast idea, I would love to write for a living (fiction, not research papers), but I would indeed like to be a lecturer too.
Maybe I haven’t seen enough doom yet, but as far as I can tell most people I know have a decent job and are quite happy with it. It may take a move across several continents or a little wait and several attempts, but well that is life.
