Leaving academia after phd reddit. Is there anyone who has left academia and felt better.

Leaving academia after phd reddit I was forced to start a new project, two years in, and was told that this was my new PhD project. Got some co-author pubs out from those. The most helpful group on Reddit. If they care about you they’ll just hope you get a job you like that you can use your writing and research skills. I have seen PhD students left behind to fend for themselves and start with a whole new advisor. If I do, I'd leave my program with a master's degree from before the PhD program as well as a second one from mastering out of my PhD program. One of the best parts of working in industry is getting to work with people with completely different backgrounds and experiences. Considering quitting PhD after 5 years No. I have decided to finish my PhD but leave academia after that. It has to happen, actually, to many people. Again, any general advice will be appreciated. You have a PhD and you have the credibility to write science books, both at a technical and at a popular I'm doing a postdoc and I like it for the most part, but I'll be 34 when it ends and with everything that's happened around the world and is happening now, as well as a fairly unhappy PhD experience and dismal job opportunities and work-life balance, I'm 99. I wish you all the best. After about a year I entered another PhD in oceanography doing essentially ocean pchem. I should have left, but then the pandemic happened. The most precipitous drop in PhD value in academia comes about 5 years after PhD or first postdoc (may vary by field) - at that point your chances of getting a tenure track job are nearly zero and you're largely considered "damaged goods" in academia. 0 GPA at a (notoriously difficult) Ivy - I worked hard but was appropriately challenged; I left a PhD two and a half years ago with no result. Once you know you are donezo with departmental politics, then that means you are also donezo with academia. It's not a good investment to spend 5 years for a Linguistics PhD. Hi Reddit! I just started a PhD program at my top choice and a good university. The institute is prestigious in I (26, M) have been a PhD student at a Max Planck Institute in a STEM field for about 10 months. I've been busting my ass off since I was a kid to do well in my academics. If you were only doing it for your parents, perhaps Generally, many PhDs work in the following fields after leaving academia: Research & Development (R&D) Management Consulting; Data Science; Government & Policy; Science Writing; Entrepreneurship; In this When I left academia after my PhD, it felt like stepping into the dark. From Author to PhD: Before i received a PhD scholarship, I was a published author, enjoyed the epitome of social and intellectual acceptance. Told my supervisor last week that I'm quitting academia after my defense (though I still have job contract with him until next year, and we are currently writing down another result). Locked post. So, I'm a PhD student in a STEM field that I used to be quite passionate about, and I entered grad school with the intention of going into academia. Get the Reddit app Scan this QR code to download the app now. On average, they give up about 1/5th of their earning potential in the first 15 years after finishing their doctorates (~$239,970) After many long conversations, he has come to the realisation that a life in academia is not what he wants. The pay is 2x my current PhD salary and I meet all the requirements. Most of my skills lie in molecular biology lab experience. I left academia after getting my PhD five years ago. After a year in my postdoc I realised I didn't want to be a PI, but industry still didn't appeal. Eventually I landed a job as And while you can certainly slack off after you successfully get tenure, you'll have by that time put in a good 10+ years of very hard work (4-5 years of the PhD program, 2-4 years as a postdoc, 5-7 years in tenure process) without any guarantee of return at any stage of your career. I have a paper from my postdoc that isn't submitted/published. You can get a great job after getting a math PhD, but it requires work and thought. His only way out was leaving that field Im set to finish my PhD in the summer/fall of next year and have started looking at post doc positions but recently found a TT assistant professor position at my university. I worked hard, learnt what I had to learn, developed network and moved on to industries that I wanted to work in. true. Since I have a degree I'm also able to apply for the management position with experience. They have plenty of different reasons for leaving too, like the toxic work culture, lack of funding, low pay, poor career prospects, insane workload, etc. Basically you can say you know you want to leave academia because you don't see a future there, but it has to be phrased as "your company fits what I Quitting a PhD program can have an impact on your chances of being accepted into another one in the future. . g. From many US I am an Econ PhD student wanting to leave academia after my PhD, but I would still go for the PhD if I could go back to that decision. If you want to be in R&D, I would apply to scientist, senior scientist, and industry postdoc positions. Be firm, clear, and respectful to your advisor and emphasize the mutual benefits you both gain by the timely completion of your PhD. One other thing: I know in academia, PhDs can be considered “stale” a year out. Never regretted leaving I did a postdoc because I liked working in academia. 🤷I left because institutionalized cycle of abuse was not for me, and because of how non-transparent, inefficacious, awkward, useless, and unpredictable NIH, its directorship, individual program officers, and funding mechanisms are. I know I do not want to continue, so for the past month, I have been applying for jobs. My postdoc advisor was retiring, and through the funding source, I was able to get a job at a different lab working on a very similar project to my postdoc work (still under the same I definitely want a PhD so that I can be more intellectually involved in science and making my own decisions, involved in important discussions, attending seminars, etc rather than just existing as a pair of hands carrying out someone else's idea or implementing someone's else's fix to a problem. I think my friends who quit made the right choice for them, and leaving academia post PhD was a great choice for me. I started my PhD almost immediately after getting my BS, and this might not have been the best decision in retrospect. The lab was too stressful for me, I was burnt out, the work/life balance was not good for me. Started working on my own stuff after all that and couldn't get anything to work. However, he didn't leave academia or his position. Leaving academia . p. The PI was associated with my PhD advisor so that's how I got the job. It scared me because I was really depressed in my postdoc. Since moved to work for an environmentally-facing NGO. None of them ever published anything in their old field after leaving academia. I love it (most days) and I'm nearly finished. I have a PhD and honestly it doesn't help that much in the industry space. I've seen countless startups, mostly research companies, started by a recent PhD grad (or a group of them, typically from the same university and I'm guessing the same lab). I had a few post-doc and an assistant professorship position opportunities lined up, but the salaries are just so ridiculously low and the work conditions suck. So, in May, I decided to leave the PhD program and get a non-thesis based Masters instead. program after investing 7 years of my life and I don't even have a Masters to show for it. I like working alone and the flexibility of working hours that academia provides. *For those who have a hobby, passion, or passing I have heard exactly one (1) "I regret leaving academia" story, from an ABD who got scouted for an engineering job partway through his PhD and wished he'd finished it instead. I am planning to either leave academia or switch to a more applied field after finishing my masters. For the last couple of months I've been exercising three times a week, I've run the coolest DnD campaign and I've started writing a novel that I will complete within the year. I’m trying to remember that the fact that I’m stressed right now pushing my deadlines is colouring my perspective, but I just feel so damn tired and can’t help but feeling like this is just going to be my life from now on (tired, stressed, sleep I am PhD student at a US university (QS ranking>500). Mathematics is beautiful, and an education in math is highly rewarding. and math, phd in biomedical engineering, done a postdoc, now an assist. View community ranking In the Top 1% of largest communities on Reddit. Hi everyone. Did anyone else do this and do you have any advice? If it helps, I’m studying Public Policy. Now, going for consulting roles so all the stuff shared on this thread is helpful. And PhD isnt typically a part of clinically specializing at all. I left a Ph. Or maybe it is because the average age is so much higher (28-31 depending on the discipline to start your PhD). Got bored with it after couple of years, had read a book about the race to sequence the human genome and thought that sounded I left a PhD two and a half years ago with no result. It’s the employer’s responsibility to offer benefits to make their job posting a I left academia right after my PhD to work in biotech, I still do cool science, I work reasonable hours and make way more money than my peers in academia, even professors. Hi. It's totally okay to step away, and come back to academia later. In most cases, a professor who is leaving is leaving for a better university. and I was actually thinking about staying in the country I did my PhD in after I'm done defending. 99% sure I will be leaving academia after I complete my PhD. In academia I worked 8 or 10h a day, sometimes even weekends. The publications didn’t matter, the conferencing didn’t matter, and not even these four courses I picked up for just to make sure I had cash during this abrupt change barely matters. It was for love of the game and also building the dossier he wanted for getting from associate to full. For the last year of my PhD and one year of post doc i was fighting with depression (and still am). If I did finish, I would want an academia-adjacent job (administration or something) or to go into the nonprofit world. But current academia is not the best thing that could have happened to it. I know loads of people who left academia after their PhD/first postdoc, and most are really happy. I am ABD in my PhD program. ) Since leaving academia I've published a journal article and a chapter in an edited A fresh PhD graduate in industry could start as a Scientist at one company, a Senior Scientist at another, and a Director at the next. My PhD experience was probably not as bad as many other's here, but I still remember all the weekends I worked in the lab, the countless evenings I was still writing papers, the "vacations" I had while having to revise papers due to deadlines of 1 week. You may be surprised! Given all that, neither a bachelors, nor a masters (and not even a doctorate) lock you into academia. I will also say I have had experience in national labs during my PhD. at a top 10 research university in the us Thanks much. After being in academia for a while, i am tired of fighting for grants and want to change to something else. Ideally, I would want to work in a role in which: Put your PhD twice on your resumé, once in the education section and once as "Doctoral Researcher" (or similar) in the experience section. But I am also uncertain if I leave academia, I may not like industry work. Even the decision to finish the PhD and leave academia seemed somewhat like a failure at first because the culture makes it seem like the path of Most string theorists I know plan on leaving the field after academia to go into finance, data science, or something similar. I’m thinking of leaving my humanities program at ABD status after 8 years. I feel as if I've reached a crossroads about what to do next. com era, no I didn’t get rich, but I had a good time and got to live in California for a few years!). And I'm still in academia, so it's still stressful and there's still plenty of moments of self doubt - but nowhere close to PhD stressful. However in the last few months, I've found myself drawn to an MD, largely due to feeling that the more I get into my area of research, the more I feel the issue would be better addressed/helped from a medical rather than research field. People def do it. The grieving process after leaving academia is still very real but I feel like I’m healing as I progress and time moves on. No regrets. Community Planning, Foreign Affairs and International Relations Application Status I'm an academic thinking of leaving academia for a federal job. I also left academia a few years after my PhD. Don't do it for the career prospects. Principal comes after senior and is usually a bigger jump in years, leveling tends to slow down the higher you get. After leaving that program I worked in industry for a few years and then went for my PhD at a different school. I had a miserable experience with a shitty PhD supervisor that ruined it for me. After finishing my PhD in March 22, I left academia in March 23 (grant project completed). D. out ways that your own personality is interfering with your success before going into the competitive working world after a PhD. You are obviously not a fresh PhD grad but take a look how you might scale within the company. Or check it out in the app stores This subreddit is for discussing academic life, and for asking questions directed towards people involved in academia, (both science and humanities). A European PhD needs as standard 3 years bachelor, 2 years master, and 3-4 years doctorate, while the US is 4 years bachelor and then much longer for PhD. ) Since leaving academia I've published a journal article and a chapter in an edited My supervisor left his field of expertise and ventured into a related one because of this reason. 5k. The field has become too stressful and it's taken a heavy toll on my mental and physical health. You’re leaving because academia is not putting a competitive offer (for postdoc, for a career) on the table. Like I understand both sides I guess, especially as more and more people are leaving. Not sure what that means but I’m excited to find out. I can go to the gym every morning, eat lunch and take a walk with my wife every day, and do whatever I want in the evenings. I ended up "quitting" after my masters. Lots of people have dropped a PhD program, and some of us go on to later finish a PhD. Leaving academia is not the end of the world. I didn't know anyone who'd done it, and I didn't know what to expect. They f*ck with people’s lives and Nobody thinks they "quit" academia after getting a Bachelor's or Masters degree and going to the industry, so why think of it as quitting after a PhD? PhD is the terminal degree, so it should be taken as being an expert in that field. Or check it out in the app stores PhD graduates: does life get better after leaving grad school? Health & Work/Life Balance My plan is to leave academia immediately after graduating and move hopefully closer to family. (Though he admittedly only spent a couple years in academia, so, you know, take his perspective with a FWIW, I have had at least one friend get a new masters after PhD. I’m an assistant prof who just started a 2nd tt position after leaving the first halfway through the contract. Leaving academia happens all the time. On average, they give up about 1/5th of their earning potential in the first 15 years after finishing their doctorates (~$239,970) I decided to leave academia even before i entered academia. It's tempting but I don't know if leaving academia is a good choice, especially since I'm 10 So if you are getting your PhD, you are not “in academia. After about six months I heard back from a state job with the parks and wildlife office in my state; after three months of interviews and more months of Hi, I was wondering how possible it is to get a PhD after working for a few years. Don't do it for the degree. I have decided to seek jobs outside of academic research now but I never thought about this before and I don't know where to start. Since the beginning of this summer I have been thinking about cancelling I haven't left (yet) but I'm currently finalizing my thesis and leaning towards industry post-PhD. TL;DR if you left your corporate job for academia, can you help me weigh the pros/cons? I’m just over 3 years out of undergrad where I had a near 4. YouTube tutorials. Man, the best thing I ever did for my mental health, productivity, and wallet was leave academia. No one would ever say that an undergrad getting their BS degree is “leaving academia,” or someone getting an MS. But I just feel completely miserable. Make sure as many of your publication related loose ends are tied up before you leave academia. You're not alone. It’s been 3. I decided not to pursue university teaching anymore and began applying for government jobs, both state and federal. However, the allure of academia drew me in, with its promise of deeper research and intellectual engagement and after 5 years, I can say that it has just taken away from my life and aspirations than offered anything meaningful. After years of pain and PhD troubles, I have defended my dissertation a few months ago. I'm nervous I'll regret this, yet the idea of a life in academia I left after my PhD. Six months from my PhD defense (and after 80+ failed applications for postdoc positions) I gave up on the dream of doing research full time and got into the publishing industry (working on maths and cs textbooks for high school). If an applicant has left a doctoral program that tends to be a red flag to selection committees. can be simplified to one thing: I left academia after a post-doc five years ago. I got these jobs with only one first-author publication to my name, and still working on the four manuscripts from my PhD. So I went straight into industry after my PhD on £40k, I have been there for 2 years, been promoted and am now on £47. (Long story, but essentially a lot of things went wrong and by the time I realised it I couldn't fix them. I’m getting paid 3-4x of my post doc friends with great, I mean extremely great, work life balance. Going to industry or academia after a PhD is a personal choice and one is not better or worse than the other. There's a ton of career opportunities in the private sector for me here. I've decided to leave academia after my postdoc, mostly due to burnout/health concerns and, of course, the absolutely dismal job market. Compared with peers who started working outside academia immediately after earning degrees, ex-postdocs make lower wages well into careers. ) so that you can understand problems that come your way Like many, I thought I wanted a career in academia but I am craving work-life balance and clear goals after a particularly unsupportive PhD experience. I saw in some older posts that people recommend putting PhD Researcher under experience, and leave off an incompleted PhD degree in education on a resume. " There are Facebook groups full of folks. (I sadly have no really good advice for the search), but are available. I was offered a position starting as a PDRA at £34k. Can I get a reality check? I’m an MD/PhD who’s halfway through medical residency and feeling like I made the wrong choice to pursue a career in medicine, and I’m seriously contemplating leaving clinical medicine altogether and trying to find an academic job. I previously wanted to be a film studies professor but ultimately pivoted into SEO. Three colleagues are a year or two younger than me and joined the team last year, immediately post-PhD, at level 4; I negotiated to join at level 5. com find I am a fresh postdoc (around 6 months in), first postdoc after my PhD in biology, defence and all is done. Is there anyone who has left academia and felt better. Many of these were extremely talented people who left not postdocs, but research fellowships to work with prestigious employers including Dyson, Jane Street, and Tesla. I've known many bright, talented graduate students over the years who regret staying in academia, as the costs are very high and it takes many years to begin achieving a I’ve been reading your comments and thought about sharing our reality in Chile: it’s 100% different since the majority of PhD students join the academia (if they find open positions) after defending because academia and industry are almost antagonist worlds. Though, employers are starting to hire people like this a bit less due to oversaturation; people with computational experience will overall be more competitive in hiring. A physics PhD gives you a great deal of credibility and will allow you to build a YouTube channel with physics videos. I have completed my 2 years here. It is similar to academia in the sense that you are figuring out how something works, how to fix it, Don't say you hate academia, but you can say you wanted to apply your skills in a more practical manner, etc. I would say my reason for leaving academia. I’ve had friends leave abusive situations unexpectedly so I always make sure there’s a safe place to go. To clarify, I was in a PhD program and got really sick and struggled with my mental health. Maybe other people can weigh in. My phd and academic experience got me the job, but it has nothing to do with three field I was in (political communication). So, to those who left academia, have you ever regretted leaving academia? If so, what were the deal breakers? Was your industry job scope very similar to what you did in your phd? The pay is 2x my current PhD salary and I meet all the requirements. Getting a masters after/while working is a pretty viable path because it's "relatively" lower commitment and doesn't take as many years. I have feelings of a wasted education creaping up and surprising me. I'm currently a SEO Strategist at a reputable agency. For context I’m a postdoc To summarize: you have no obligation (apart from emotional guilt) to stay in academia after your PhD, in fact it is entirely your decision and should be made only with your interest in mind. Most theoretical solid state PhDs leave academia and many if not most also leave solid state - look up on LinkedIn where recent physics phd alumni from your school have gone to work and you’ll get a good view of where to apply. Ultimately, you’re going to have to start at entry level and work your way up in order to get to the point where people will actually care that you have a PhD. I’m in my second year of a masters programs (that continues through a PhD, not sure if that is common in other fields or not) and one of the many things I’ve learned is that Academia grinds all the passion and creativity out of some of the brightest minds. Principal sci can be a near terminal individual contributor title at many places. I have a lot more progression to go and am being given opportunity to develop my skills I was interested in becoming a lecturer so recently looked into jobs in academia. The program is finished. He wanted to change tack to survey work on climate and enviro-stuff from his background in political theory. Papers are not integral to my jobs at all, but publishing does have some professional benefits and some personal ones as well. 5 years doing it. I love it, and I've always seen myself getting into academia and committed to research. Do it if you value the experience of doing research during the PhD itself. I don't enjoy all the reading, I don't feel excited about my research ideas, etc. I have many colleagues with PhDs, but I also work with former nurses, marketing experts, engineers, and Out of interest, what is your field? And what do you do now? Like many, I came into my PhD with rose-tinted glasses thinking academia would be a perfect fit for me, and in many ways it is; I love the freedom to choose when I go into work, the (partial) independence of which direction my research is going to go, and the intellectual stimulation I get from the academic environment. There's a whole genre of literature on the topic called "quit lit. You also probably wouldn't be able to get into a another doctoral program if you decide later on that you want to do a PhD. It’s beyond retrograde and far from what happens in more developed countries. bachelor's in comp sci. Worth mentioning a year in academia is not equivalent as a year in industry unless its very relevant to the position. prof. Worked on a couple of projects for other people in the lab and spent 1. Academia is a pyramid scheme and a cult,and it brainwashes us into accepting so many things that are unacceptable in most work environments because it manages to milk either the idealist desire to advance science, or the desire for status and prestige, in order to View community ranking In the Top 1% of largest communities on Reddit. Once you decide to leave academia, there is zero reason to get a PhD. You won’t work on them in evenings and weekends. I left after a year and a half and now work in a job I love. I personally feel like people often understate the "intellectual adventure" that a PhD is and focus on career implications and the negative aspects of the PhD journey, like mental health issues, bad supervisors I left academia after about 10 years (PhD + postdoc in physics). I love research, always did, but I don’t think academia allows (some of) us to do the research we truly care about because of time, politics, Hiya, I left academia after my PhD, moved into consulting and now work for Government. I kinda wanna love a completely different life after being in school for so long. As I progressed in the program, two things happened: academia was presented as the default and best choice, and I discovered I really liked teaching and working with undergraduates. I also worked with data generated by someone who later committed suicide in his postdoc. Im set to finish my PhD in the summer/fall of next year and have started looking at post doc positions but recently found a TT assistant professor position at my university. Hi there, I transitioned from academia a few years ago, too, after my PhD. I never saw a future in research for me anyways. For the positions that require a PhD, you are competing with a bunch of people with postdoc experience that are also desperate to leave academia. I don’t know if this counts as “leaving academia”-I transitioned from a humanities visiting faculty position to my current advising/academic coaching role but still at an R1 university, so I haven’t left higher Ed. If I stay, I’d be in the program for another 4/5 years. Respectfully declining to work on a paper after leaving academia *posting from a throwaway I left academia after a PhD + postdoc for a job in industry (unrelated to old work). I'm interested to hear what kind of jobs I should recommend he look into considering that he has a Liberal Arts (non-science) PhD that I believe is in Latin and/or Greek. Good luck Unlike undergrad, once you leave a PhD program, that's it. So, I am just curious if this is a real thing or more of an online phenomenon -- do people really react negatively if you leave academia after your PhD in the US? The first was in physical chemistry, and despite the fact that I recieved the NSFGRFP, my PI was a terrible terrible mentor and eventually verbally assaulted me in front of a large group of my colleagues which is what prompted me to leave about 3 years in. Thank you for your concern PhD, Engineering, US I was a postdoc before I left for a national lab. I'm not in humanities, but also "quit" academia right after Phd/postdoc (more like i was done with it and decided to move away from it however i still like research). People have different reasons for leaving academia, and leaving certainly won't cure your burnout. However, I do know a few people that were hired right out of their PhD for PhD level scientist roles, but they were hired to work on pretty much the exact thing that they worked on in their PhD. Left academia to work for a consultancy. I needed a break and some time to grow as a person, honestly. But! I plan to return and finish my PhD at a different university this year. New comments cannot be posted. Long story short, my advisor is about to retire and feel like I’m on my own in the job hunt process and wanted to gain some insight before bringing this up with them. The primary reason is that I'm more interested in the In general, returning to academia after leaving for the private sector is usually only seen as a good thing if you were in the private sector for a considerable amount of time and accomplished enough (or at least gained enough industry experienced) in that period to be able to contribute something valuable that those who've been in academia Hi ya'll! I posted in r/LeavingAcademia but I wanted to share a website I'm developing called After Your PhD. Now after working for a few years in a position that helps bridge community members to faculty and students to do community based research together I see things quite differently. But that's aside, the point is academia or industry, they are simply jobs, there's no one better than the other, and we should stop thinking that leaving academia is a failure, and I say it before and I say it again, it's simply not true! If we stop thinking like that, I think that would make the decision of what to do after PhD much easier! On the second note, I left academia when I finished the PhD and joined a team of analysts where, to simplify, there are "levels" from, say, 1-6. I know quite a few PIs who also quit. Most of the theoretical math PhD's I know are currently in---or are transitioning into---industry, including those with world-class ability and publication records. I'm lucky to have the support from the university's career services for the practical parts of the next steps, but wanted to ask those who have There are plenty of people who walked away after the phd, some evn during. That should certainly not be their reaction given the sorry state of academia. I'd say if you're not interested in continuing your PhD, it's not that bad of an offer! The industry right now is in a bit of a shamble so your company even hiring people is a nice sign of financial health! Better to leave now and make progress in your professional growth. Outside of research, I'm actually quite happy and enjoy hanging out with friends, it's just anything PhD related that I don't enjoy. , people leaving nursing after years of service because of the toll it takes), and It doesn’t make me any less of adult to find that a bit difficult and seek a bit of support and advice while I navigate it. Can you get someone who's familiar with hiring PhDs into non-academia jobs to review your CV and a sample of your cover letters? You'll need to include the job ads with the cover letters for review, because each cover letter needs to be Academia seems to be reaching a crisis point anyway, where many many PhDs and postdocs are leaving. That happens in lots of places beyond academia (e. Here, we can discuss use the following search parameters to narrow your results: subreddit:subreddit find submissions in "subreddit" author:username find submissions by "username" site:example. I made the switch 25 years ago: PhD in condensed matter physics, went to software for a couple of years (dot. Or check it out in the app stores &nbsp; An online community for sharing academic works and discussion of issues and events relating to academia and the related political, economical, and social structures. Yeah, agreed - I went right through to my PhD after my undergraduate degree, but those who'd spent some time working in industry (or in academia as an RA/in any random job) were better able to establish work/life boundaries, manage their supervisor, and treat their PhD as a 'job' and not as 'school', along with the other organisational skills you mentioned. I have a year left in my PhD. A buddy of mine is considering a transition out of academia after 8 years or so of visiting professor jobs (the tenure-track job hunt sounds insanely rough, especially in 2020). There was always an emergency. It's a research degree, not a medical practice degree. The Master's is just as good if not Yep! Marine ecology PhD. When I started my PhD, I wasn't interested in academia at all; I intended to work as a public health scientist at a government agency. Posted by u/xXTth - 19 votes and 7 comments PhD Student debating leaving I’m wrapping up my first year of my PhD (humanities, Canada). I’m not sure how that is in other industries. I realized that I was ruining my mental health, hated being in the lab, and didn't enjoy the academic setting. I would shoot for about a video a week. PhD holders can charge quite a bit to tutor students. Edit: Thanks for the input, everyone! Please keep adding to the thread for other PhDs, especially if I still wasn't 100% sold on the idea of leaving academia because of the sunken cost fallacy - it felt as if I would have wasted my time getting three degrees only to leave Academia for a job that doesn't require anything higher than a Bachelor degree. 995% certain I don't even want to consider going forward with academia after my postdoc. The biggest improvements seem to be salary and work-life balance, but many prefer simply what I finished mine but left academia after my postdoc. I was one of those people who understood what it means to do a PhD and get your name out there. However, throughout my doctoral studies, I've slowly lost my interest in this very specialized field, as well as my future employability prospect. Senior sci is just entry level PhD + 0 years at some companies. He could not say no to his supervisor and felt exploited. ” That refers to people who are going down the academic career path (postdoc/professor/etc). The reason behind this is my PhD advisor, his lack of supervision and biasedness towards other students has compelled me to do this. He’s in his early 40s now. In some countries it can be more or less, like in the UK, masters is only one year, or in France PhD is hard-capped at 3 But the points I want to leave you with are these: You're not alone. Those 6+ years were enough to damage my already fragile mental health. Lots of people are struggling with depression and anxiety right now. On bad days and on weekends where I am enjoying myself outside of work, I am confident it is the correct decision, however when I have good experiment days where I feel super lucky I get to do Basically the degree has a pretty low value. ) and I totally support your ideas about leaving academia for work in industry. At others it's more like 6-8 years industry xp after ascending Sci I, II, III titles. In fact I'd go so far as I to say that most research startups are headed by a PhD/PhDs who studies the thing that the company is researching. Developed skills that complimented my PhD (reporting, GIS, project management, etc). I left without a backup plan and I’m a 3rd year Soc PhD and am thinking about my options post grad school and I’m thinking of leaving academia. Reply reply and for asking questions directed towards people involved in academia, (both science and Yeah, agreed - I went right through to my PhD after my undergraduate degree, but those who'd spent some time working in industry (or in academia as an RA/in any random job) were better able to establish work/life boundaries, manage their supervisor, and treat their PhD as a 'job' and not as 'school', along with the other organisational skills you mentioned. Even after getting PhD and moving to a new state and starting a job, his supervisor used to give him works asking to write papers and what not. I have seen PhD students left behind, but continue to work with the original adviser remotely. Once I got an industry offer and set my last day, I immediately felt a huge weight off of my shoulders. I left after my PhD in English for instructional design and technical writing. Most of my colleagues from undergrad and grad programs are not currently in academia. My first real job had been in market research (for 4 years), after which i continued my studies (MSc), enrolled in PhD (Behavioral Neuroscience) and did a 4 year sting as a postsoc (Social Psychology). Don't make yourself miserable, quit or just keep applying for jobs on the side. I still have and have always had anxiety, but I'm back to pre-PhD, manageable levels. I totally get it. At the end of the day I wasn't mature enough to handle the rigor. I went from undergrad > PhD > postdoc and just last year left academia after finishing my postdoc, now working in a cushy industry role. Once he gets one of those jobs our income will double and then our cost of living should decrease after we move somewhere farther from the university. 5 years since I left academia but I’m just about out of that stage now. I am thinking to quit the PhD here and move to the University of Tokyo. Or check it out in the app stores PHD thinking of leaving academia for Fed job. It's a resource meant to help academics explore careers outside academia. Other factors existed too, like an inability to connect with professors or find purpose in the material. And I am doing fine as you will too. s. A very drastic transition needs to take place in academia. The movement of the PhD students can be part of the negotiation. I've seen all those posts and comments about leaving academia, how toxic it is, The best way is an MD-PhD program, which is 2-4-2 (PhD sandwich). Sure! Lots of people are leaving academia now because it sucks as you know. Concrete steps But after being an academic for about 6 years, I’ve been booted out. I have a quick question about building a resume. I have primarily worked on string theory with a A lot of PhD students seem to have an extremely romanticized idea about the life of the average professor. Started working in his lab a day after leaving my PhD city. The first thing you should do, is completely revamp your resume/CV. Since this is reddit I've genuinely remained steadfast on wanting to stay in academia after graduation but now that I'm going through the job search process I'm doing a full 180. My mental health took a turn, I taught myself to code while staying with family, analysing the results from the new project but hating it. I don't need academia after the PhD. I left academia 2 years ago never I’m just finishing my PhD in urban planning and bc planners get paid trash to just rubber stamp development projects, and the professoriate is a broken (adjunctified) industry, I bought the book “Leaving Academia” - it’s a bit more focused on social science and humanities phds but it’s still a I did an industry postdoc after my PhD for 2. Leaving a doctoral program is definitely not the end of the world, and your happiness and mental wellbeing are priceless. The most useful things for industry jobs, in my view, are: a large mathematical toolbox that will let you solve a wide range of problems good general knowledge of at least some aspects of the world (science, business, etc. Not everyone can become or wants to become tenured researchers/professors. It's tempting but I don't know if leaving academia is a good choice, especially since I'm 10 Get the Reddit app Scan this QR code to download the app now. I could apply for the JD/PhD program at my university to get the best of both workds. Just because an academic career path exists does not mean you are on it. Especially if they’re also early career and haven’t left academia and are relying on the publication(s) to achieve job security. Writing. Do it if you still think you would do it if after finishing you had to go back to work for Now that I’m quitting, he can pursue the real jobs he wanted. My PhD friends that left for industry got jobs that sounded boring to me. I'm a professional dissertation coach for doctoral students (30 years experienced, with Ph. I had a year of funding left (UK PhD). 5 years (also in R&D). TL;DR: leave academia, work 9-5, enjoy life outside of work, enjoy free time, read and learn in yoir free time instead of fighting to stay afloat to 'learn'. I wasn't sure how common/successful people are going for a PhD after leaving academia for a few year. So how do you get experience? Adjunct for < $20,000 / year. I probably would have dropped out anyway, due to my lack of work, but this really made it easy. He comes from a family of academics, but he does not want the life they lived for our own family: the lack of financial security, the constant moving around and not being able to settle down for many years to come, etc. Also some residencies rarely allow a PhD at that stage. My main reasons are: Even though I am an introvert, I was struggling with loneliness during my If your view of academia changed, you might try to find a place where academia is more how you'd like it to be, or if there doesn't seem to be one, perhaps academia isn't the right place for you. I am 99. Did a few months of a postdoc after a traumatic 6 years of grad school and I was absolutely miserable the entire time. Is it unheard of to leave a phd program after joining in only a few months? I understand it I left academia after completing a PhD in literature and creative writing. I feel discouraged and demotivated most of the time. What is your field that a job outside academia would pay less? In STEM, jobs outside academia usually pay (a Summer research projects (for academia) and internships (for industry) are the best way to learn for yourself what you like and are good at. It's possible to slide right into a full-time job, but it's tough and getting tougher. I just can’t finish the dang dissertation and my advisor suggested I think about leaving (and can return if I want within 6 years). So leaving/switching schools certainly won't stop you if you really want that degree. It was a very frustrating time. I'm on a well-deserved break now, starting a new job soon. On average, they give up about 1/5th of their earning potential in the first 15 years after finishing their doctorates (~$239,970) 12 votes, 15 comments. One of my profs started a PhD (had been hired as an adjust out of his MA, hence how I had him as a prof without him having a PhD) and he did a year or two then dropped for various reasons, and just re-enrolled in a brand new PhD program after like a 6-10 year gap. A year out I started to feel like my old self again. Make sure that your resumé actually contains what you explained in your post (regularly met with external stakeholders to the project, had goals set for me by others, supervised interns) in the experience section, preferably using the No experience? They're going to pick someone else, either an adjunct with experience or someone swooping in having just left academia after a 20 year career with a load of great publications. After feeling like I was completely alone in this, I read reddit posts from people feeling the exact same way, and other people that left their PhDs to go onto great careers in their subject area. zenaibc ihu yqxwrxk zydrk mfm pmame slpcx xoqxe yegi oacuh