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There is another approach to a PhD that this article did not mention. A couple of my friends are doing a PhD with the aim to be professors at much lower ranked

by sofal 16y ago

There is another approach to a PhD that this article did not mention. A couple of my friends are doing a PhD with the aim to be professors at much lower ranked universities where the research pressure isn't so high and the emphasis is more on teaching. They want the easier, more relaxed life that it offers. One of them is more interested in teaching, and he wants to have the relaxed atmosphere of a lower university so that he can spend his free time (including whole summers) on his music, which is his true passion. The other one is a pretty involved family man, and he wants a laid back, relaxed job with some academic freedom to do interesting things and the ability to spend a lot more time with his family than a normal job would offer. They're both midwestern folk, and are happy living in relatively rural areas in states that I suspect most HN users wouldn't dream of living in. For some reason, the high powered paper-excreting types tend to look down on this approach or at the very least completely overlook it. I don't quite understand why.

rb2k_ 16y ago
For us in Germany, these "more teaching, less research" universities are actually a separate kind of institution. While "regular" universities are mostly research oriented, "universities of applied sciences" have only a small bit of a professor's time allocated to research. Most of their time is spent giving lectures, preparing material, managing student projects and talking to people from the industry about possible collaborations. Both universities have bachelors + masters degrees. PhDs are usually only available at the "regular" universities, not the "applied science" ones. I actually think that being a professor at one of the universities of applied sciences must be a fun job. You get to read about new stuff, play with it and teach students. From time to time, there is a small research project or a conference you can go to... Something interesting, at least at my university (an applied sciences one) is, that one of the prerequisites for being a Professor are at least ?6? years in the industry. I was part (the student rep) of a commission that selected a new professor. They're basically looking for a Senior Project Manager from a research and development department that is fed up with the way the industry works and loves his craft (this was in CS)
Goladus 16y ago
Even if you want a position at an undergraduate college (which is by no means certain if even if you get a PhD), getting the PhD still requires doing research. In fact just the other day HN linked an article by Matt Might who cited "aiming low" as one of the reasons PhD students fail.
elviejo 16y ago
Indeed this is a lovely route. Maybe I don't want to be in the cutting edge. But I want to be a great teacher. Someone that disseminates knowledge in a way that makes sense for the students. Someone that is influential en students lives and maybe those students will go and become great researchers. So yes being "just" a great teacher is a worthy goal on its own. Even if you don't discover anything new.
- dkarl 16y ago
  I completely agree and am thankful for the professors who take their teaching job seriously. To look at it from the opposite perspective, I dropped out of (a very good, top five in my field) grad school because I realized I wasn't brilliant and realized if I entered an academic career I would basically be a teacher. And I suck at teaching. And I had little interest in getting better. I had other reasons for dropping out and have sometimes considered the above to be just a bad justification for a bad decision, but more and more I think that whatever my true reasons, it was a valid reason and a good decision. It would have weighed me down knowing that I was actually pretty bad at my primary productive role in society.

by sofal 16y ago

rb2k_ 16y ago

For us in Germany, these "more teaching, less research" universities are actually a separate kind of institution. While "regular" universities are mostly research oriented, "universities of applied sciences" have only a small bit of a professor's time allocated to research. Most of their time is spent giving lectures, preparing material, managing student projects and talking to people from the industry about possible collaborations. Both universities have bachelors + masters degrees. PhDs are usually only available at the "regular" universities, not the "applied science" ones. I actually think that being a professor at one of the universities of applied sciences must be a fun job. You get to read about new stuff, play with it and teach students. From time to time, there is a small research project or a conference you can go to... Something interesting, at least at my university (an applied sciences one) is, that one of the prerequisites for being a Professor are at least ?6? years in the industry. I was part (the student rep) of a commission that selected a new professor. They're basically looking for a Senior Project Manager from a research and development department that is fed up with the way the industry works and loves his craft (this was in CS)

Goladus 16y ago

Even if you want a position at an undergraduate college (which is by no means certain if even if you get a PhD), getting the PhD still requires doing research. In fact just the other day HN linked an article by Matt Might who cited "aiming low" as one of the reasons PhD students fail.

elviejo 16y ago

Indeed this is a lovely route. Maybe I don't want to be in the cutting edge. But I want to be a great teacher. Someone that disseminates knowledge in a way that makes sense for the students. Someone that is influential en students lives and maybe those students will go and become great researchers. So yes being "just" a great teacher is a worthy goal on its own. Even if you don't discover anything new.

dkarl 16y ago
I completely agree and am thankful for the professors who take their teaching job seriously. To look at it from the opposite perspective, I dropped out of (a very good, top five in my field) grad school because I realized I wasn't brilliant and realized if I entered an academic career I would basically be a teacher. And I suck at teaching. And I had little interest in getting better. I had other reasons for dropping out and have sometimes considered the above to be just a bad justification for a bad decision, but more and more I think that whatever my true reasons, it was a valid reason and a good decision. It would have weighed me down knowing that I was actually pretty bad at my primary productive role in society.