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When I graduated with my BS in Biochemistry, I came to the same realisations about a potential PhD: 1) The system only prepares PhD graduates for continuing wo

When I graduated with my BS in Biochemistry, I came to the same realisations about a potential PhD: 1) The system only prepares PhD graduates for continuing work in academia. 2) PhD does not guarantee a job. The system is broken and I'm glad more people are realising it. This is major news coming from Nature.

gammarator 16y ago
I'd rephrase those as follows: 1) The system only trains PhDs for academic research. 2) A PhD does not guarantee an academic job. PhD skills, particularly in technical fields, can be quite valuable in non-academic careers. To make that transition, though, students need to do the legwork themselves to gain relevant experience and contacts. (e.g., want to move into a programming gig? Do some open-source work and put it on github to build credibility.) Peter Fiske's "Put Your Science to Work" book is a good resource for navigating the culture shift.
- hugh3 16y ago
  I don't even think that 1) The system only trains PhDs for academic research. There's lots of research jobs in industry and government, and a PhD is excellent preparation for them. Who else but a PhD-trained researcher would know enough to be able to run the research programs at Intel or Genentech? Come to think of it, who but a PhD-trained researcher would know enough to be able to start a company like Intel or Genentech?
  - gammarator 16y ago
    Many large corporations have decreased their investment in pure R&D. (Intel just closed its Berkeley research lab [1].) Yes, PhDs can make great contributions in industrial and gov't settings, but they are certainly not trained with those applications in mind. In most fields, professors are producing new academics. [1] http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/26607/?p1=Blogs http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/26607/?p1=Blo...
    - hugh3 16y ago
      Yes, PhDs can make great contributions in industrial and gov't settings, but they are certainly not trained with those applications in mind. I'm not sure what it means to be "trained as a professor" rather than "trained as an industrial/government researcher", because I don't think I've ever been trained as either. Certainly (and this is actually a problem) there isn't enough training of PhD students in key professorial skills such as "how to teach a class" or even "how to write a research grant" -- this is something which freshly-minted professors have to figure out on their own.

gammarator 16y ago

I'd rephrase those as follows: 1) The system only trains PhDs for academic research. 2) A PhD does not guarantee an academic job. PhD skills, particularly in technical fields, can be quite valuable in non-academic careers. To make that transition, though, students need to do the legwork themselves to gain relevant experience and contacts. (e.g., want to move into a programming gig? Do some open-source work and put it on github to build credibility.) Peter Fiske's "Put Your Science to Work" book is a good resource for navigating the culture shift.

hugh3 16y ago
I don't even think that 1) The system only trains PhDs for academic research. There's lots of research jobs in industry and government, and a PhD is excellent preparation for them. Who else but a PhD-trained researcher would know enough to be able to run the research programs at Intel or Genentech? Come to think of it, who but a PhD-trained researcher would know enough to be able to start a company like Intel or Genentech?
- gammarator 16y ago
  Many large corporations have decreased their investment in pure R&D. (Intel just closed its Berkeley research lab [1].) Yes, PhDs can make great contributions in industrial and gov't settings, but they are certainly not trained with those applications in mind. In most fields, professors are producing new academics. [1] http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/26607/?p1=Blogs http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/26607/?p1=Blo...
  - hugh3 16y ago
    Yes, PhDs can make great contributions in industrial and gov't settings, but they are certainly not trained with those applications in mind. I'm not sure what it means to be "trained as a professor" rather than "trained as an industrial/government researcher", because I don't think I've ever been trained as either. Certainly (and this is actually a problem) there isn't enough training of PhD students in key professorial skills such as "how to teach a class" or even "how to write a research grant" -- this is something which freshly-minted professors have to figure out on their own.