4 ms·

Very interested in working through the PhD as a mid-career SW engineer with a MS. Curious how someone in that state would be seen by the acceptance committee, o

Very interested in working through the PhD as a mid-career SW engineer with a MS. Curious how someone in that state would be seen by the acceptance committee, or, alternatively, by hiring committees post-graduation. Perspectives?

mistrial9 6y ago
coventional wisdom is -- why get a PhD unles you want to publish ? .. shorthand for, publications with trackable impact (citations) or, fundemental contributions to the field; otherwise, long road, much time .. "piled higher and deeper" PhD
- pnathan 6y ago
  thank you. this is common advice. And to answer: I have run the financials on a PhD program. I have done highly independent research as part of my Master's. I am aware the TT job market is dicey on a good year. I am aware that it's a Very Institutional game, unlike startups, and h-indexes tend to matter more than one might hope. I have known a number of PhDs and watched their planned graduation dates slip, and their advisors put them through wringers. So: thank you; I'm very aware of the PhD road. I would really like to go deep on a research problem and, later, be paid an acceptable sum to research & teach.
bo1024 6y ago
Not positive about hiring committees but I think most would be very open and judge you fairly. It won't be easy to get into a good PhD program, even with prior master's research experience. Did you get and keep old recommendation letters from your master's? That would be helpful. You could throw your application out there, but if not successful, a way forward is to identify a research area or problem, start reading papers, and get in touch with some current researchers (if they are slow to respond, their PhD students or postdocs). Demonstrate your knowledge and enthusiasm and see if you can join on a research problem. That project and recommendations from it will get you in somewhere (maybe the same lab), if successful.
- pnathan 6y ago
  >. Did you get and keep old recommendation letters from your master's? Let's go with _nah_: at this point they'd be almost a decade old. It would be a measurement that is almost irrelevant to who I am today and my experience. I'm sure I can swing managerial recommendations etc, and it's not out of the equation that, at least at the local level, I could do some interesting volunteer work at the local U.
  - bo1024 6y ago
    Remote collaboration is very common so I would email the best matches (once you’ve one background research) wherever in the world they are!
    - pnathan 6y ago
      That's a great idea. :) I am too used to the "Grab a coffee" worldview.

mistrial9 6y ago

coventional wisdom is -- why get a PhD unles you want to publish ? .. shorthand for, publications with trackable impact (citations) or, fundemental contributions to the field; otherwise, long road, much time .. "piled higher and deeper" PhD

pnathan 6y ago
thank you. this is common advice. And to answer: I have run the financials on a PhD program. I have done highly independent research as part of my Master's. I am aware the TT job market is dicey on a good year. I am aware that it's a Very Institutional game, unlike startups, and h-indexes tend to matter more than one might hope. I have known a number of PhDs and watched their planned graduation dates slip, and their advisors put them through wringers. So: thank you; I'm very aware of the PhD road. I would really like to go deep on a research problem and, later, be paid an acceptable sum to research & teach.

bo1024 6y ago

Not positive about hiring committees but I think most would be very open and judge you fairly. It won't be easy to get into a good PhD program, even with prior master's research experience. Did you get and keep old recommendation letters from your master's? That would be helpful. You could throw your application out there, but if not successful, a way forward is to identify a research area or problem, start reading papers, and get in touch with some current researchers (if they are slow to respond, their PhD students or postdocs). Demonstrate your knowledge and enthusiasm and see if you can join on a research problem. That project and recommendations from it will get you in somewhere (maybe the same lab), if successful.

pnathan 6y ago
>. Did you get and keep old recommendation letters from your master's? Let's go with _nah_: at this point they'd be almost a decade old. It would be a measurement that is almost irrelevant to who I am today and my experience. I'm sure I can swing managerial recommendations etc, and it's not out of the equation that, at least at the local level, I could do some interesting volunteer work at the local U.
- bo1024 6y ago
  Remote collaboration is very common so I would email the best matches (once you’ve one background research) wherever in the world they are!
  - pnathan 6y ago
    That's a great idea. :) I am too used to the "Grab a coffee" worldview.