This is too good (true) to be missed: http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/02/03/dont-try-to-dodge-the-recession-with-grad-school/#more-2071.
Part 2: http://philip.greenspun.com/careers/women-in-science
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
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Komma is going to be very very sad.
ReplyDeleteHaha!
ReplyDeleteI agree with some of the things she is saying, but there are significant variations based on field -- I don't think it is correct to compare grad school in, say, computer science with grad school in public relations or history for instance (Penelope is coming from the liberal arts side of things: see this commment: http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/02/03/dont-try-to-dodge-the-recession-with-grad-school/#comment-180376 )
One thing that she doesn't mention is the type of job one wants. Sure, I could have gotten a job after my B.S. and have saved a ton of money by now; however I would have been doing horribly boring software development work.
I spend many years doing a Ph.D., and yes, i lost a lot of potential money, however the jobs i can get now are so much more interesting, and the people I will work with are more passionate, that I would not hesitate to go through this again.
I agree with you Komma - I think a Phd is actually a GREAT idea for specialized research jobs in certain fields - like Engineering and Comp. Sci (hard to be rocket "scientist" without a PhD)- but in most others e.g., pure science and liberal arts its almost pointless THESEDAYS if you dont want a career in academia / national lab. The overarching point is that a PhD isn't really valued optimally by ANYBODY (including academia) and this can be traced back to an issue of supply and demand (at least for the current decade), for the majority of the fields. Of course everyone values a comp. sci / engg phd :) :)
ReplyDeletePerhaps this related blog, by a part-time MIT prof- makes the point clearer: http://philip.greenspun.com/careers/women-in-science
So Apos, no need for Komma to be sad.
ReplyDeleteRight, the pure sciences and liberal arts don't provide for much of a career. I wonder why though? Because these areas do shape our basic understanding of the world.
ReplyDeleteI think there are two main reasons why these carreers don't pay well.
ReplyDeleteI think the main one is they are to a large degree interesting/enjoyable to the poeple engaging in them. We're you average person in this field suddenly rich, she/he would keep doing what they are doing. So they don't demand a lot of compensation.
second, the benefits of this work are long reaching and not immediately obvious, meaning we often don't have a product to sell.