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I left a career to do a PhD at age 42. It definitely helped me take on challenges that require much more technical knowledge than if I had stayed on the "tinker
by T_S_ 16y ago
I left a career to do a PhD at age 42. It definitely helped me take on challenges that require much more technical knowledge than if I had stayed on the "tinkering" path.
The distilled version of my lessons learned:
0) Hard to do a PhD part-time. Consider "retiring" for a while.
1) Your advisor will be focused on cranking out publications to advance their career. Not always the same as increasing the amount of knowledge in the world. You might be viewed as free labor in this effort. Protect yourself.
2) Your advisor will not help you manage your time or set goals. In fact they might need help in this area themselves.
3) If you haven't been in school lately, or deep into work related to your topic, expect to spend a lot of time "getting the rust out". Painful but useful.
4) The younger brain can solve problems more quickly, the older brain can pick better problems to solve. Your advisors won't know this either.
5) A storied career in academia is unlikely for an older student. (See Robin Milner for a great exception.) Keep your business network alive and growing the entire time you are in school.
6) The #1 goal is to finish. OK to repeat that to yourself over and over. Your thesis need not be the last word on a topic to be acceptable or even good.
7) You will feel like an idiot every day until you suddenly realize nobody can answer your questions anymore. That day you should start writing the answers in your thesis and finish it asap.
Finally, other than all the pain and anguish, it is an invigorating experience to find the brain still working.
- throwaway1 16y agoSome great tips here. I am 30 this month, having been working in industry for the last 6 years. If I were to take this on and were to make good progress, I would consider "retiring" for a year or so to finish things off. The point you make in 1) and 2) echoes a lot with what others are saying about finding the right adviser. I will certainly pay a lot of attention to this.
- T_S_ 16y agoOh, you're still a youngster :-). Married? Spouse gets at vote. I minimized risk by having three advisors, whom I ended up relying on for different purposes. This was unusual in my school, but I found it worked well for me. One had a lot of experience and was great at dealing with paperwork and people problems. One turned out to be absolutely brilliant at idea generation and horrible at everything else. One was great for brainstorming and working on proofs. Neither of the latter two were what you might call "transactional" when it came to meetings and goals. At the end of the process, it was my fellow students who who actually read my thesis and provided edits and suggestions. All for chocolate and cappuccino.
- throwaway1 16y agoI am married. Would it be insane if I just became a father for the first time a few weeks ago?! I wouldn't be looking to formally start something until early next year though. EDIT: Forgot to mention that my spouse would have a big say in this too.
- T_S_ 16y agoNah. A kid will keep you sane. Best cure for a bad day ever invented. Also, kids don't get cheaper as they age. Might as well get the task done quickly. Just make sure spouse is truly on board. Your stress is their stress and vice versa. I might add that my wife ended up getting a graduate degree and a new career, and the experience brought the whole family (3 kids) closer.
- profgarrett 16y agoRe: age. This is a big deal. Younger (<30) have a large advantage, particularly with respect to the amount of free time you have available. Don't start a family during school. It's certainly possible, but slows you down, which is the major killer of graduating. If you're >50, your odds of a full-time teaching appointment are not good.