When you ask someone ' How are you?', you do it out of politeness and you really hope their day is going well.
Now, if you meet a PhD student and ask ' How is your PhD going?' that's like asking
'How are you enjoying your time in hell?' .
It's quite simple, do us a favour just don't ask that.
Let me tell you why.
Remember when you were in school and had to do a presentation for a project? I'm sure it was quite exciting .... because you only had to deal with the material ONCE before you moved on to other things.
Imagine if you had only THAT to study throughout your entire secondary school life.
NOW can you empathise? :)
It's not a joke, we really didn't know what we were getting into.
So be kind and just buy us a coffee :) ... and cake if you want to be a better friend:)
Pity us, we don't need external reminders... we have a anxious conscience for that.
At present, I'm halfway through my first year of study and I am still coming to grips with how fast the time has flown by. One can get very lost in a research programme. Only because half the time you seem to be doing just that...SEARCHING .....but not really know what you are looking for. I guess that's why you work with a sage aka a supervisor and I hope that it is a blessed union for both! So let me humour you, if not myself, and share 5 things I have learnt so far.
1.' I don't know' can be an acceptable answer sometimes.
Coming from a highly competitive education culture, I am familiar with the drill ....speak if I know the answer or keep quiet if I don't. Somehow, 'I don't know' never seemed to be an option...until now!
For some reason this seems to be acceptable in the early days of study because you are still ' thinking' . How delightful !By the way you can also try to look smart using its many variations which I picked up from attending many seminars.
I am not certain of that at this point
I have a very humble knowledge of that unfortunately
I do not have the information at present
I fear I cannot comment on that now
I have not come to a conclusion' and ( my favourite)
That's hard to say it being a work in progress' :)))))
2. There are many types of PhD students
You can either lock yourself in the library and emerge sun starved and weary with a thesis ( the traditional view) or you can start taking advantage of the opportunities DURING the writing of your thesis. I never knew there was such a thing as a Digital Academic or the networked researcher till I attended the workshops. The PhD is not the goal BUT being a successful researcher and acquiring funding for your university is!
Even then you'll find there are many types of PhD students. There are some who are do nothing but study, some who do everything BUT study and some who have morphed into a living PhD beast where every question becomes a philosophical challenge. There are old students like me too....who start it so they can finish it and get on with their life. I have declared to the whole world that I am determined to enjoy my PhD . What I really mean is I know there's something more to life and I just aim to complete it with some level of decency and not lose my mind in the process. A major bonus will be to have a bank balance and a mop of hair on my head. Will I be able to achieve it? Refer to the statements at the end of point 1 for the answer :)
3. No two PhD journeys are alike
They say 'The only way to find out how to do a PhD is to do one'. I have no idea, ask me when I get one. But I can say at this point that after hearing all the horror and fantasy stories, every one has a different journey. Some relish retelling the tales of nightmare and gore... or the zero to hero stories... regardless… very seldom would a completed candidate NOT have a story. There is a lot that we can learn from our interaction with other students or from the many forums such as The Thesis Whisperer. In fact I think the online community is a critical and indispensable source of information for survival. We’ll talk more about it in point 5! Ultimately it is up to you to create that circle of friends and support. The beautiful part about the PhD is you don’t ever compete with each other because you are your own exam. The pain bonds you though. So beware if you are going to ask me for advice about taking the PhD .My answer will be ... Refer to the statements at the end of point 1 :)
4. Getting a PhD is not a job guarantee
I have always assumed it would be easier to get a job in academia with a PhD. Somehow listening to the accounts here seem to indicate this is not to be taken for granted. I suspect this relates to the employment situation in a country too . More importantly, it highlights the point that a thesis does not get you a job but skills and a network will. I can see how one can be so absorbed with a singular challenge of proving a point through their research that they miss the meaning of life altogether.
I am also learning a lot about what a university needs to do to build research competency .I like the fact that they do not assume everyone is equipped with these skills. Just because you know how to analyse complex statistics does not mean that you know how to interest someone in your research in 60 seconds. It’s important to start thinking of your PhD like managing a business or project management. You have limited resources but you want to get the most returns out of it. So how do you build yourself as a brand? Interesting eh?
5. Good research requires cool new skills
I have always been interested in technology because it allows me to be creative in a different way. So I was surprised to learn about the new apps and software available to increase productivity. I had countless nightmares of having a room full of paper and scribblings on walls ( you know like A Beautiful Mind?) but a small fire in my flat early on highlighted one important fact, my research needs to be portable, virtual and accessible. Thank goodness for cheap drives, online cloud storage and also a husband that functions as my personal helpdesk. There is one thing for sure, you can be severely handicapped if you are anti-tech. From reference builders to note taking to presentation , there is a programme or app that meets your needs. You just need to invest some time playing about with it though. If you have a problem, you will not be alone, someone somewhere would most likely have experienced it before. The next problem that may emerge, at least for me,.... is having the discipline to regulate it!
So as you can see , it’s been rather interesting so far but ask me about my research and you should already know the answer...… refer to statements at the end of point 1. :)
Now, if you meet a PhD student and ask ' How is your PhD going?' that's like asking
'How are you enjoying your time in hell?' .
It's quite simple, do us a favour just don't ask that.
Let me tell you why.
Remember when you were in school and had to do a presentation for a project? I'm sure it was quite exciting .... because you only had to deal with the material ONCE before you moved on to other things.
Imagine if you had only THAT to study throughout your entire secondary school life.
NOW can you empathise? :)
It's not a joke, we really didn't know what we were getting into.
So be kind and just buy us a coffee :) ... and cake if you want to be a better friend:)
Pity us, we don't need external reminders... we have a anxious conscience for that.
At present, I'm halfway through my first year of study and I am still coming to grips with how fast the time has flown by. One can get very lost in a research programme. Only because half the time you seem to be doing just that...SEARCHING .....but not really know what you are looking for. I guess that's why you work with a sage aka a supervisor and I hope that it is a blessed union for both! So let me humour you, if not myself, and share 5 things I have learnt so far.
1.' I don't know' can be an acceptable answer sometimes.
Coming from a highly competitive education culture, I am familiar with the drill ....speak if I know the answer or keep quiet if I don't. Somehow, 'I don't know' never seemed to be an option...until now!
For some reason this seems to be acceptable in the early days of study because you are still ' thinking' . How delightful !By the way you can also try to look smart using its many variations which I picked up from attending many seminars.
I am not certain of that at this point
I have a very humble knowledge of that unfortunately
I do not have the information at present
I fear I cannot comment on that now
I have not come to a conclusion' and ( my favourite)
That's hard to say it being a work in progress' :)))))
2. There are many types of PhD students
You can either lock yourself in the library and emerge sun starved and weary with a thesis ( the traditional view) or you can start taking advantage of the opportunities DURING the writing of your thesis. I never knew there was such a thing as a Digital Academic or the networked researcher till I attended the workshops. The PhD is not the goal BUT being a successful researcher and acquiring funding for your university is!
Even then you'll find there are many types of PhD students. There are some who are do nothing but study, some who do everything BUT study and some who have morphed into a living PhD beast where every question becomes a philosophical challenge. There are old students like me too....who start it so they can finish it and get on with their life. I have declared to the whole world that I am determined to enjoy my PhD . What I really mean is I know there's something more to life and I just aim to complete it with some level of decency and not lose my mind in the process. A major bonus will be to have a bank balance and a mop of hair on my head. Will I be able to achieve it? Refer to the statements at the end of point 1 for the answer :)
3. No two PhD journeys are alike
They say 'The only way to find out how to do a PhD is to do one'. I have no idea, ask me when I get one. But I can say at this point that after hearing all the horror and fantasy stories, every one has a different journey. Some relish retelling the tales of nightmare and gore... or the zero to hero stories... regardless… very seldom would a completed candidate NOT have a story. There is a lot that we can learn from our interaction with other students or from the many forums such as The Thesis Whisperer. In fact I think the online community is a critical and indispensable source of information for survival. We’ll talk more about it in point 5! Ultimately it is up to you to create that circle of friends and support. The beautiful part about the PhD is you don’t ever compete with each other because you are your own exam. The pain bonds you though. So beware if you are going to ask me for advice about taking the PhD .My answer will be ... Refer to the statements at the end of point 1 :)
4. Getting a PhD is not a job guarantee
I have always assumed it would be easier to get a job in academia with a PhD. Somehow listening to the accounts here seem to indicate this is not to be taken for granted. I suspect this relates to the employment situation in a country too . More importantly, it highlights the point that a thesis does not get you a job but skills and a network will. I can see how one can be so absorbed with a singular challenge of proving a point through their research that they miss the meaning of life altogether.
I am also learning a lot about what a university needs to do to build research competency .I like the fact that they do not assume everyone is equipped with these skills. Just because you know how to analyse complex statistics does not mean that you know how to interest someone in your research in 60 seconds. It’s important to start thinking of your PhD like managing a business or project management. You have limited resources but you want to get the most returns out of it. So how do you build yourself as a brand? Interesting eh?
5. Good research requires cool new skills
I have always been interested in technology because it allows me to be creative in a different way. So I was surprised to learn about the new apps and software available to increase productivity. I had countless nightmares of having a room full of paper and scribblings on walls ( you know like A Beautiful Mind?) but a small fire in my flat early on highlighted one important fact, my research needs to be portable, virtual and accessible. Thank goodness for cheap drives, online cloud storage and also a husband that functions as my personal helpdesk. There is one thing for sure, you can be severely handicapped if you are anti-tech. From reference builders to note taking to presentation , there is a programme or app that meets your needs. You just need to invest some time playing about with it though. If you have a problem, you will not be alone, someone somewhere would most likely have experienced it before. The next problem that may emerge, at least for me,.... is having the discipline to regulate it!
So as you can see , it’s been rather interesting so far but ask me about my research and you should already know the answer...… refer to statements at the end of point 1. :)