- #1
Mathemaniac
- 76
- 0
Well, the idea of pursuing a PhD program in physics is sounding more and more ridiculous every day. The hope was to eventually get research job in academia. However, the competition for such jobs is outlandish. My advisor made the point that if he graduates a student with a PhD every year of his career of 30-40 years, that's 30-40 PhDs for his one job position. The supply just isn't there to meet the demand.
So, I could fight like a rabid dog for a graduate position at a decent school, work my *** off for 4-5 years making barely enough money to survive, then fight like a rabid dog for a post-doc position, and then fight like a rabid dog for a tenured position, and THEN, for the rest of my career, fight like a rabid dog for grants, maybe spending 5% of my time doing actual research.
Yeah, I think it's time to consider the alternatives.
I've always hated the idea of working in industry, as I can't help but think that it would be an intellectually-bankrupt environment, but it's not like academia is going to provide that glorified career dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge either. Maybe industry ain't so bad?
My ideal industry job would obviously be that of an engineer. Hell, I'd probably make a better engineer than a scientist anyway. Perhaps if I could do it all over again I'd probably do a degree electrical engineering. It's probably too late to switch now (maybe not), so I'm considering the physics BS with an engineering emphasis and possibly an electrical engineering minor. Is this something that you can get a good engineering job with? Or would I still end up using my residual programming skills that I have gained from classes or research positions here and there in a cubicle as a code monkey, as a lot of physics graduates seem to end up doing? I know very little about industry jobs as my focus all along has been on, perhaps foolishly, my dream academia job.
So, I could fight like a rabid dog for a graduate position at a decent school, work my *** off for 4-5 years making barely enough money to survive, then fight like a rabid dog for a post-doc position, and then fight like a rabid dog for a tenured position, and THEN, for the rest of my career, fight like a rabid dog for grants, maybe spending 5% of my time doing actual research.
Yeah, I think it's time to consider the alternatives.
I've always hated the idea of working in industry, as I can't help but think that it would be an intellectually-bankrupt environment, but it's not like academia is going to provide that glorified career dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge either. Maybe industry ain't so bad?
My ideal industry job would obviously be that of an engineer. Hell, I'd probably make a better engineer than a scientist anyway. Perhaps if I could do it all over again I'd probably do a degree electrical engineering. It's probably too late to switch now (maybe not), so I'm considering the physics BS with an engineering emphasis and possibly an electrical engineering minor. Is this something that you can get a good engineering job with? Or would I still end up using my residual programming skills that I have gained from classes or research positions here and there in a cubicle as a code monkey, as a lot of physics graduates seem to end up doing? I know very little about industry jobs as my focus all along has been on, perhaps foolishly, my dream academia job.