My first time in grad school (E.E.), I was really young and naive. I'd barely had any real-world experience of any kind, and I was very good at taking classes.

My first time in grad school (E.E.), I was really young and naive. I'd barely had any real-world experience of any kind, and I was very good at taking classes. So I signed up for a Ph.D. program and had a lot of fun doing the coursework. But then when it came time to do actual grad student things, like original research and paper writing, I was totally unprepared and my advisor showed me the door. The second time around, I think I still went into grad school for the wrong reasons, but they were different wrong reasons. After dealing with a lot of people who were woefully underprepared to work in industry, I thought getting a Ph.D. would put me in a position to fix the next generation. I underestimated how little the academy wants to do that. I opted not to continue in academia once I got my Ph.D. Regarding my specific research experience, I'm not sure where to begin. You work like a dog, your advisor probably doesn't agree with your conclusions, might not agree with your premises either, and he wants you to go back and read an ocean of literature. Repeat for 4-10 years. Advisor conflict of interest varies from advisor to advisor. Some of them like to produce lots of successful students, others like free labor. Either way, bear in mind that the advisor has his own agenda and is not just advising you out of the goodness of his heart. Final piece of advice: read some "quit lit" to get a perspective on the academic job market. Read some of the critical responses to "quit lit" by academics who haven't quit. (http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2015/09/no-one-cares-that-you-quit-your-job/404467/ http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2015/09/no-one-cares-that-y..., https://chroniclevitae.com/news/216-why-so-many-academics-quit-and-tell https://chroniclevitae.com/news/216-why-so-many-academics-qu..., https://historiann.com/2015/10/07/tired-of-academic-quit-lit-another-view-on-academic-labor/ https://historiann.com/2015/10/07/tired-of-academic-quit-lit...). Bear in mind that if you're in an engineering field the job market isn't quite as bleak as in the sciences, or worse yet, the humanities. But it's no picnic either.