PhDs
- Thread starter Tengu
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Yes, it was expensive. I took the long way round doing it part time so as to only have to pay half fees each year. So that was six years. What counts is an enthusiasm for your subject and a lot of resilience. I changed supervisors half way through, not because I wanted to, but because that sort of thing can happen. I don't really regret it though, I met a lot of friends along the way and some academic adversaries.
To a certain extent, at one point you are the worlds leading expert in the narrow subject you chose to research, however to get to that point in the first place you do have to have a background in your field that is somewhat wider than that. PhD is a test really as to whether you have to stamina for future research in a broader capacity.PhDs know more and more about less and less, which taken to the limit means they know everything about nothing.
Here people with engineering PhDs tend to not be totally insufferable, generally their work has been fairly practically oriented. After that it depends on the person.
That would be a DSc in the UK (other countries differ). Only ever met one!
Edit: one that I know of, that is.
Wisdom?
Intellect and qualifications do not always go hand in hand. I had one PhD graduate working for me that had no common sense at all - he was great for the deep thinking process (but took far too long) but had to have a minder if he was let out in the application field. Nice bloke mind, he actually knew his strengths and limitations. I suspect small companies have more difficulty employing people like that though because you need people to have broad skills.
Nobel price?
I was a bit too lazy to go for a doctorate, though I did like learning new things. Here sometimes a PhD is defined as schooling for serious and advanced study in the subject, the definition seems to be slightly different from field to field.
#1 son is going for his at the moment and I am of course following with considerable interest.
One of my friends with a PhD tells of his time as a shell stacker in Sainsbury's. His line manager was up himself and demanded that his underlings address him as Mr X. Where upon my friend said that it would only be fair if all staff were addressed formally. This was agreed and my mate thereafter delighted in the calls over the tannoy, " Please restock the baked beans, Doctor Y."
Other acquaintances enjoy being addressed as Professor.
Other acquaintances enjoy being addressed as Professor.
Recognition..
Publication.
Eminence.(An eponym - creator of the “Higgens Plunger” or the Brown Theory)
Awards.
TV Shows.
Honourary Chair at Uni
Real Chair at Uni
Government Role
Secret Establishment and fluffy white cat.
I very definitely tried not to use my pre-nominal letters - Eur.Ing. sounds like a disease
Isn't a PhD the highest formal level of qualification available and considered to be higher than a professor on its own?Professor in some instances
I don't think a PhD is actually required to get a professorship (although most professors do also have a PhD aswell). From what I've been told getting a professorship mostly requires having multiple papers accepted by recognized academic journals and being good at bringing funding to the university.
I can never achieve an eponym - an invention or a theory etc named after me.
My surname is “French”. If I invented a new sort of carabiner it would be “The French connection”. Anything else, practical or theory would be presumed to be of European origin.
As for letters after my name ………
My surname is “French”. If I invented a new sort of carabiner it would be “The French connection”. Anything else, practical or theory would be presumed to be of European origin.
As for letters after my name ………
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"...in some instances "
I knew a highly respected and well liked Professor who had no PhD.....but was boss to half a dozen folks who were.
He was a superb teacher and a very skilled people manager.
Some universities here have teaching professorships and research professorships. A PhD is not a requirement (at least was not) but in practice all do nowadays.
Neither of the people who mainly supervised or examined my thesis had PhDs. They were, however, eminences who had invented whole disciplines more or less on their own. You used to see that in the 1990s. Someone with several books heading a department, but no PhD. As research funding became more closely tied to promotion round that time, so the PhD became more commodified.
Professorship is an academic job title, not a qualification. In academia, after the PhD, there is post doc work, research awards, publishing etc. You know, getting on with it.
You will see PhD funding oportunities attached to large research projects; especially in the sciences/medicine. They are advertised, you apply for them, and the nature of the research can be quite tightly specified. Personally, I feel that will be a recipe for frustration and disappointment. Others thrive in that environment.
Re. supporting myself. I set things up so I could continue my former job through employment agencies to keep me going through the first year, then teaching opportunities showed up to bolster my education authority grant.
I think it aways very sad when candidates find themselves quitting for whatever reason - it seems to stay with people. But having to quit for financial reasons is the saddest.
Professorship is an academic job title, not a qualification. In academia, after the PhD, there is post doc work, research awards, publishing etc. You know, getting on with it.
You will see PhD funding oportunities attached to large research projects; especially in the sciences/medicine. They are advertised, you apply for them, and the nature of the research can be quite tightly specified. Personally, I feel that will be a recipe for frustration and disappointment. Others thrive in that environment.
Re. supporting myself. I set things up so I could continue my former job through employment agencies to keep me going through the first year, then teaching opportunities showed up to bolster my education authority grant.
I think it aways very sad when candidates find themselves quitting for whatever reason - it seems to stay with people. But having to quit for financial reasons is the saddest.
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I love academia...and id like to write a book, a nice serious one.
Self publishing is probably the easiest it's ever been, and you definitely don't need a PhD to write one! Your thesis could become a book if you so choose, of course.
