Recent content by mdxyz

There's a limited number of managers companies, and divisions within them, need at a given time. In a similar way there are plenty of people in academia who have permanent jobs and are never going to progress from them, or would have to wait decades for a professor to retire or die. Leaving for...

The growth field in weapons right now is sensor and communications technology, so probably EEE. While the application is often to aircraft, the airframes themselves don't seem to be improving very quickly as did they did in past decades. Stealth is one thing, but that too is more a branch of EEE...

Why is it useful to take a masters and a PhD? A general education masters won't make you more employable, while if the masters degree will get you into a specific field you intend to work in, why not do the masters full time instead of the PhD?

This is a good analogy. Imagine that a PhD is like someone paying you food and board to play amateur golf for 5 or so years. I can see the appeal of that. But bear in mind that many people with physics PhDs were Type A overachievers in school who saw their degree as a ticket to the very top...

I think a lot of people have an incomplete appreciation of the richness of the world in which they live. There are many interesting things to do elsewhere that do not carry the drawbacks of academia. I don't think a PhD is necessarily a waste of time, but I think the academic career path as a...

I don't understand what assertion you think requires evidence. You seem to think the OP was about whether the private sector or academia have made the most contributions to technological advances. The truth is both have, and I am not denying that. The OP is about what sort of prospects academia...

What are you talking about? That has nothing to do with the nature of academia as a career, especially from the perspective of someone just starting out. I agree that if your only career goal is to win a Nobel Prize, and are willing to sacrifice any other goal in life, academia is the way to go...

I don't really understand that lure, as if it's supposed to be something highly desirable? If you work for me for a minimum liveable wage for 10-15 years, I'll give you a 10-20% chance of receiving a permanent job at an average middle class salary. Then you can do whatever you like so long as...

I'd advise against getting a PhD frankly. Why exactly do you want one? Just nothing else to do in life? Realise this will cost you $2-500k or more in lost earnings and living costs, probably not give you a permanent career, and severely damage you for re-entering your old career.

I've been thinking about science academia as an employer, or a profession, rather than as a vocation. It's full of very high aptitude people who do a lot of work for very little money. Why? They say they enjoy it, and maybe many do. As do I. However the nature of the work doesn't seem...

Trying to become a physics professor because you like teaching is a bit like trying to become a brain surgeon because you like to wear a white coat. You could work as a tutor or as an adjunct professor though those jobs are neither well paid nor stable. In the US liberal arts colleges employ...

In theory? I'm willing to be proven wrong, but if they do do fusion theory and practical fission work in the same program I very much doubt it will be the same people doing it. There just isn't a great deal of overlap. Fusion theory is almost entirely about how to hold the plasma in a magnetic...

There are but those paths don't require a degree. If you Know A Guy or can prove you can program or are willing to work the cash desk at a supermarket as a way into management no one cares if you have a piece of paper in something of no business relevance. OU is cheaper than a brick and mortar...

Not really. Also the industrial plasmas are very different to high temperature, completely ionised fusion plasmas. On the other hand you can learn incidental skills like programming. I wouldn't say getting a PhD in fusion theory is likely to be a top employment move. If you want to spend most...

There has never been widespread funding for foreigners the way there is in Germany and the US. 1 year ago, 5 years ago, 10 years ago the vast majority of funding was via the research councils with a residency requirement.