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I was very close to entering graduate school for a particular field as I was absolutely in love with the research. My teachers considered me to be very talented

by scop 6y ago

I was very close to entering graduate school for a particular field as I was absolutely in love with the research. My teachers considered me to be very talented and were grooming me for the elite schools for said field. However, the more research I did the more I realized how much hot air was being blown and how much ego was involved. I chose to not add my own ego and voice to that self inflated hall and instead taught myself to code (painfully and reluctantly). Coding isn’t my passion and I still love that field. However, I just couldn’t in good conscience participate in it as I knew my ego would drive me far too much. Coding isn’t particularly pleasant, isn’t something I would do in my free time, but it is interesting, keeps me humble, and pays the bills.

csa 6y ago
Well done on your part. I started noticing the hot air when I was in my doctoral program at the #1 school in my field. It still took me 10+ years to change careers. I erroneously thought that I could at least steer part of my field into a non-BS direction. Maybe someone could, but that someone was not me. The good thing is that I had a lot of fun during that time, I learned a lot, and the money was quite good for a professor. That said, I often wonder think about what I could have done better.
- cyberdrunk 6y ago
  I suspect that all sufficiently complex fields are extremely susceptible to fads, egos and cliques. It's the worst in humanities, since they deal with hopelessly complex subjects (i.e. humans), but even science can commonly become like this. Heck, even coding is like this, as we've probably all experienced in our jobs. With this in mind, my plan to retain my integrity is to leave fields with an intellectual component and live simply on much less.
  - csa 6y ago
    > I suspect that all sufficiently complex fields are extremely susceptible to fads, egos and cliques. I completely agree. > With this in mind, my plan to retain my integrity is to leave fields with an intellectual component That’s an interesting solution. Given my personality, I’m not sure it’s one I could do. What I have done is transition to an area in which my skills can be used to make money for me and others. It’s interesting that when money is involved, there are people who are willing to support less-than-trendy ideas.
    - cyberdrunk 6y ago
      > What I have done is transition to an area in which my skills can be used to make money for me and others. Money is both good and bad. Thee bad part is that it attracts a ton of unsavory personalities, who will do anything to get ahead. In coding, it results in endless self-promoting, pushing unnecessary (or downright harmful) new tech and project ideas in order to gain a promotion, one-upmanship in code reviews etc. All that bullshit gets old fairly quickly. The reality is that, in a complex environment, it's much easier to make money by doing some work and heavily manipulating people rather than doing good work and no manipulation. Hence, I want to exit complex environments as quickly as possible, which means distancing myself from society and modern economy as much as possible. It will probably mean living on $500-$700 a month, but hopefully the peace gained will be worth it. (Currently, it's still all in a fantasy stage, as I need to accumulate some more money via coding job to make the jump).
ntsplnkv2 6y ago
It's sad but true. The air of superiority around academia is the primary reason I decided not to enter it. A friend of mine in academia at a pretty prestigious university put it bluntly - it's gatekeeping for rich people. She's the only one who came from less than wealthy upbringing of her colleagues. And because she doesn't come from wealth, she's often abused by others because she has no "leverage." I like the idea of a PhD. But these days, so much good work is being done in the private sector, why bother?

by scop 6y ago

csa 6y ago

Well done on your part. I started noticing the hot air when I was in my doctoral program at the #1 school in my field. It still took me 10+ years to change careers. I erroneously thought that I could at least steer part of my field into a non-BS direction. Maybe someone could, but that someone was not me. The good thing is that I had a lot of fun during that time, I learned a lot, and the money was quite good for a professor. That said, I often wonder think about what I could have done better.

cyberdrunk 6y ago
I suspect that all sufficiently complex fields are extremely susceptible to fads, egos and cliques. It's the worst in humanities, since they deal with hopelessly complex subjects (i.e. humans), but even science can commonly become like this. Heck, even coding is like this, as we've probably all experienced in our jobs. With this in mind, my plan to retain my integrity is to leave fields with an intellectual component and live simply on much less.
- csa 6y ago
  > I suspect that all sufficiently complex fields are extremely susceptible to fads, egos and cliques. I completely agree. > With this in mind, my plan to retain my integrity is to leave fields with an intellectual component That’s an interesting solution. Given my personality, I’m not sure it’s one I could do. What I have done is transition to an area in which my skills can be used to make money for me and others. It’s interesting that when money is involved, there are people who are willing to support less-than-trendy ideas.
  - cyberdrunk 6y ago
    > What I have done is transition to an area in which my skills can be used to make money for me and others. Money is both good and bad. Thee bad part is that it attracts a ton of unsavory personalities, who will do anything to get ahead. In coding, it results in endless self-promoting, pushing unnecessary (or downright harmful) new tech and project ideas in order to gain a promotion, one-upmanship in code reviews etc. All that bullshit gets old fairly quickly. The reality is that, in a complex environment, it's much easier to make money by doing some work and heavily manipulating people rather than doing good work and no manipulation. Hence, I want to exit complex environments as quickly as possible, which means distancing myself from society and modern economy as much as possible. It will probably mean living on $500-$700 a month, but hopefully the peace gained will be worth it. (Currently, it's still all in a fantasy stage, as I need to accumulate some more money via coding job to make the jump).

ntsplnkv2 6y ago

It's sad but true. The air of superiority around academia is the primary reason I decided not to enter it. A friend of mine in academia at a pretty prestigious university put it bluntly - it's gatekeeping for rich people. She's the only one who came from less than wealthy upbringing of her colleagues. And because she doesn't come from wealth, she's often abused by others because she has no "leverage." I like the idea of a PhD. But these days, so much good work is being done in the private sector, why bother?