“Unless you get a PhD from an Ivy League, it’s not worth it.”
I read this on a Reddit thread from a PhD who sounded very frustrated with the job market.
To that, I want to share something my Dad told me once when I was feeling very disillusioned about my career and PhD.
I was a postdoc at the time.
After telling my father I felt lost, he said: “The fact that you walk into buildings every day full of people who have doctorates is skewing your perspective. Not everyone has a PhD.”
Then he added: “You will find your way.”
Best career advice I’ve ever received.
As dreary as the news of the job market around us seems, it is important to remember that, if you received proper PhD training, the source is secondary.
Sure. Saying you’re a Harvard, Yale, or Princeton PhD holds power.
But I think we gloss over the fact that proper PhD training from anywhere also teaches you to:
– Think critically
– Write critically
– Evaluate fluff from what is research- and evidence-based
– Use experimental techniques, instruments, and software 99% of the planet would not know what to do with without training.
And the list goes on.
So yes, the job market is what it is.
But let’s also not catastrophize because we face some troubles along the way.
Photo: Me and my father some time in the 1980s.
PhD candidate or postdoc navigating the non-academic job market? Learn from 100 PhDs and academics just like you, who made the switch in Navigating the P.I.V.O.T.
