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I did not expect that ending. From "I've spent the last six months working on a deep learning system to improve virtual screening for drug discovery" To "I’m

I did not expect that ending. From "I've spent the last six months working on a deep learning system to improve virtual screening for drug discovery" To "I’m currently working on a new startup in the blockchain space with a couple co-founders." I don't get why invest time in PhD if your work afterwards seems totally unrelated to your expertise. Is this how most of the PhD stories end, working at a completely-unrelated-to-your-expertise job for a good pay?

programLyrique 1y ago
His bio gives a more detailed description of the startup: "after his PhD, Bharath co-founded Computable a startup that built better tools for collaborative dataset management", which seems to not exist anymore. But he came back to drug discovery: "Bharath is currently the founder and CEO of Deep Forest Sciences, which is building an AI-powered suite for drug and materials design and discovery."
DanielleMolloy 1y ago
I went into a biosciences/AI PhD with CS/AI background because I wanted to dedicate a few years of my work life to science. So did quite a few other CS / AI grads around me and supervised by me. Few expected to bother with the academic career track and ridiculous conditions afterwards, they all expected to go straight into stable industry or gov AI jobs afterwards.
yard2010 1y ago
I can't speak for PhD, but BSc in computer science has changed my mind and altered my perception of the world in ways that I can't express but deeply feel, in the best possible way.
- pastage 1y ago
  I have a hard time saying that in a way that does not make vocational schools worth less. I appreciate people having done theoretical things, spending time are university is well spent time. There are mechanics who did not do any theoretical work at all that later in life really need some university. My point is that some people really should go back to university because their work gets better after. Doing a PhD later in life is a cool thing to do too.
mr_mitm 1y ago
Your question applies to me. I can only speak for myself, but I wanted to be able to call myself a proper researcher at least once, and I got the PhD because I was curious about the subject. At the same time it disillusioned me about the field, more than I expected, so the decision to leave academia was an easy one. I also realized I simply wasn't cut out for that kind of work in a highly competitive field. The pay barely played a role in my decision.
blackbear_ 1y ago
> I don't get why invest time in PhD if your work afterwards seems totally unrelated to your expertise Depending on how the supervision chain is arranged, a PhD can a journey of discovery, of new science but first and foremost of yourself and your interests. It can be very self-directed and the only mandate is to discover something new. For this reason it is common for people to dip their toes in a few distinct but related subfields during those years until they find something that sticks (if at all), and the person that comes out of a PhD can be very different from the person who started it.
dekhn 1y ago
Bart was my intern at Google (working on drug discovery) and I asked him about this. I think he ended up leaving the blockchain company (possibly scammy or just not technically strong) and returning to drug discovery. He was one of my strongest interns and I learned a lot from him. We selected him to join the team because he was highly recommended by Vijay Pande (creator of Folding@Home), whose work I've followed for several decades (Vijay left academia for VC and I think he's currently starting a new fund (https://www.wsj.com/articles/healthcare-investors-vijay-pande-zack-werner-team-up-to-form-vzvc-eff3ed1f https://www.wsj.com/articles/healthcare-investors-vijay-pand...) in tech/healthcare.

programLyrique 1y ago

His bio gives a more detailed description of the startup: "after his PhD, Bharath co-founded Computable a startup that built better tools for collaborative dataset management", which seems to not exist anymore. But he came back to drug discovery: "Bharath is currently the founder and CEO of Deep Forest Sciences, which is building an AI-powered suite for drug and materials design and discovery."

DanielleMolloy 1y ago

I went into a biosciences/AI PhD with CS/AI background because I wanted to dedicate a few years of my work life to science. So did quite a few other CS / AI grads around me and supervised by me. Few expected to bother with the academic career track and ridiculous conditions afterwards, they all expected to go straight into stable industry or gov AI jobs afterwards.

yard2010 1y ago

I can't speak for PhD, but BSc in computer science has changed my mind and altered my perception of the world in ways that I can't express but deeply feel, in the best possible way.

pastage 1y ago
I have a hard time saying that in a way that does not make vocational schools worth less. I appreciate people having done theoretical things, spending time are university is well spent time. There are mechanics who did not do any theoretical work at all that later in life really need some university. My point is that some people really should go back to university because their work gets better after. Doing a PhD later in life is a cool thing to do too.

mr_mitm 1y ago

Your question applies to me. I can only speak for myself, but I wanted to be able to call myself a proper researcher at least once, and I got the PhD because I was curious about the subject. At the same time it disillusioned me about the field, more than I expected, so the decision to leave academia was an easy one. I also realized I simply wasn't cut out for that kind of work in a highly competitive field. The pay barely played a role in my decision.

blackbear_ 1y ago

> I don't get why invest time in PhD if your work afterwards seems totally unrelated to your expertise Depending on how the supervision chain is arranged, a PhD can a journey of discovery, of new science but first and foremost of yourself and your interests. It can be very self-directed and the only mandate is to discover something new. For this reason it is common for people to dip their toes in a few distinct but related subfields during those years until they find something that sticks (if at all), and the person that comes out of a PhD can be very different from the person who started it.

dekhn 1y ago

Bart was my intern at Google (working on drug discovery) and I asked him about this. I think he ended up leaving the blockchain company (possibly scammy or just not technically strong) and returning to drug discovery. He was one of my strongest interns and I learned a lot from him. We selected him to join the team because he was highly recommended by Vijay Pande (creator of Folding@Home), whose work I've followed for several decades (Vijay left academia for VC and I think he's currently starting a new fund (https://www.wsj.com/articles/healthcare-investors-vijay-pande-zack-werner-team-up-to-form-vzvc-eff3ed1f https://www.wsj.com/articles/healthcare-investors-vijay-pand...) in tech/healthcare.