I have a friend who is about to give up on his phd.
His main problem is that he has wasted a lot of time, has been less organized, and failed to get in the required number of hours in everyday.
He has been having trouble reading and understanding papers.
As I look to him, I fear that this might be a problem facing almost every Phd candidate simply because the type of work done in a PhD degree is totally different from the type of work required for any other job.
The differences in PhD work versus other Jobs/degrees
1) No boss and no proper guidance, no one tell you what to do. For some lucky students, this may not be the case.
2) Lots of unstructured time. There is no start and end time for PhD research, you could be working in the day or at night, the work hours are simply too flexible. This flexibility allows PhD students to procrastinate. The thinking everyday becomes that if I don't work in the morning, then i'll cover up for it in the night. For most students the most productive time then becomes 2-4 am which really isn't the best time for work. This would eventually trouble you mentally and there is high probability for crashing and burning
3) Most of the work is not repetitive and requires a lot of thinking. Course work is too an extent repetitive, same theory but different problems but the application is too quite an extent repetitive. The amount of time actually learning something is actually very little, most of it is repetition. Jobs are even more repetitious and new learning is sparse. Doing repetitious work and thinking are different types of work which should be handled differently. You simply cannot read equations and expect your brain to understand these equations if your brain is tired. Hence keep your brain fresh and if it tires then do not proceed until you somehow make it fresh again.
4) Another problem with PhD work is that it is a lonely undertaking, you are the only one traveling the road. You will meet people who have similar research topics as you but yours would be unique. Try and go to conferences and give talks. This would help.
5) If your supervisor is unresponsive, has no time, cannot guide you, then don't just sit on your ass, this must be an excellent learning opportunity and become active and systematic.
6) Organization and learning is important. Learn as much as possible. The race should be implement and learn. You cannot just skim through research papers and expect to come up with excellent stuff or implementations. Implement stuff but make sure that what you are implementing is well researched and rigorous, without rigor it wouldn't have much meaning.
7) Get up as early as possible, mornings are the best for work, evenings are for resting and hanging out with people. Try and get in the lab as early as possible and try and leave as early as possible if you've completed your days work.
His main problem is that he has wasted a lot of time, has been less organized, and failed to get in the required number of hours in everyday.
He has been having trouble reading and understanding papers.
As I look to him, I fear that this might be a problem facing almost every Phd candidate simply because the type of work done in a PhD degree is totally different from the type of work required for any other job.
The differences in PhD work versus other Jobs/degrees
1) No boss and no proper guidance, no one tell you what to do. For some lucky students, this may not be the case.
2) Lots of unstructured time. There is no start and end time for PhD research, you could be working in the day or at night, the work hours are simply too flexible. This flexibility allows PhD students to procrastinate. The thinking everyday becomes that if I don't work in the morning, then i'll cover up for it in the night. For most students the most productive time then becomes 2-4 am which really isn't the best time for work. This would eventually trouble you mentally and there is high probability for crashing and burning
3) Most of the work is not repetitive and requires a lot of thinking. Course work is too an extent repetitive, same theory but different problems but the application is too quite an extent repetitive. The amount of time actually learning something is actually very little, most of it is repetition. Jobs are even more repetitious and new learning is sparse. Doing repetitious work and thinking are different types of work which should be handled differently. You simply cannot read equations and expect your brain to understand these equations if your brain is tired. Hence keep your brain fresh and if it tires then do not proceed until you somehow make it fresh again.
4) Another problem with PhD work is that it is a lonely undertaking, you are the only one traveling the road. You will meet people who have similar research topics as you but yours would be unique. Try and go to conferences and give talks. This would help.
5) If your supervisor is unresponsive, has no time, cannot guide you, then don't just sit on your ass, this must be an excellent learning opportunity and become active and systematic.
6) Organization and learning is important. Learn as much as possible. The race should be implement and learn. You cannot just skim through research papers and expect to come up with excellent stuff or implementations. Implement stuff but make sure that what you are implementing is well researched and rigorous, without rigor it wouldn't have much meaning.
7) Get up as early as possible, mornings are the best for work, evenings are for resting and hanging out with people. Try and get in the lab as early as possible and try and leave as early as possible if you've completed your days work.
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