5 ms·
Hey, so I'm a PhD student (in Physics) at Harvard that has been looking into these issues (as graduate council president in the department), and I really don't
by asafira 9y ago
Hey, so I'm a PhD student (in Physics) at Harvard that has been looking into these issues (as graduate council president in the department), and I really don't like the bickering that occurs between (roughly speaking) die-hard academia pursuers and the others that feel there is a lack in support for non-academic jobs. Here are by far the most compelling issues that I think need to be fixed that both sides should be able to agree on:
1) Professors really, really need to be open to talking to their students about what they want in their career and what's sort of career path they are considering. Not having this discussion is prevalent but honestly somewhat outrageous.
2) Internships really should become more widely accepted within greater academia (i.e., outside CS). There are a huge number of great arguments for them, including
a) Exposure. There are a huge number of PhD candidates that have actually never had a job, or even just have never been exposed to what their greatest-interest career is post graduate school.
b) Their length is a drop in the bucket compared to the total length of a PhD. (3 months vs 5.5 years average in my Dept)
c) professors worry their graduate students will become less interested in research after an internship. My thought: great! I am super happy that person found something that makes them happier.
The biggest argument against internships has always been something like 'professors can't just be super flexible with their students, they have their own constraints (grants, etc.)' I'm not proposing that professors go through crazy great lengths to make sure their student can get an internship. I simply think that should become an accepted part of the culture and be an ok thing to discuss with your adviser. Right now, students are literally scared at the reprocussions of even bringing it up.
Disclaimer: I interned at Waymo last summer.
- bubagrump 9y agoCurious, what did a physics PhD think of software development/research in industry in comparison to the wonders of equations and abstract beauty?
- asafira 9y agoI loved my internship at Waymo! I don't think it was a typical software engineering or hardware engineering internship, to be fair, but I really enjoyed the work I did and felt my background was beneficial in me making as much progress as I did.
- JepZ 9y agoWell, I think there is a common misconception among academics: They think that theory must be pure and that people who work tend to muddle the theory. What they seem to ignore is that theory is an abstraction within the human mind and that the real thing is something practical. So in my opinion the academic path should be accompanied by a real/practical job (within the field of study). Apart from supporting the student with a salary it would bring alternative career paths much earlier to the table.
- asafira 9y agoOne issue here is that there aren't always real/practical jobs within the field of study, though. Furthermore, I would claim that people who do experiments often are ones that are doing "real things"
- timdellinger 9y agoI'm curious why you think both sides should be able to agree on those things. Professors are incentivized towards and measured by grant money and high profile publications. You're proposing that professors get on board with something that's not aligned to their goals.
- asafira 9y agoI wasn't saying that professors should agree to it --- I meant the (roughly) two types of graduate students: those that are die-hard academia pursuers and the others. There might be an argument saying that the academia pursuers don't want it to happen, but I think that incentive should be less than just having more freedom as a graduate student.