I was reading lot of articles regarding prospectus for postdocs when compared to rest, some heated argument on number of PhD’s our system produce etc. As a final year PhD student it is obvious iam attracted towards this age-old conventional way of so “called knowledge accumulation” as a path towards becoming a PI to run my own lab or for a lucrative job offer. Both of these is a distant dream without any expressway to reach there and yet I resist to digest and accept these golden facts.
There are couple of things i would like to talk, what we are researching these days of immense scientific competition? Are we actually spending our precious time during PhD thinking to solve a real problem to address something significant or we seriously working out how to make quick publications? Because your scientific proficiency will be judged mostly based on those magic numbers (no. of publications) it is obvious that we are more concern in the numbers than the direct impact of those numbers on the human society. What is more sad to me is that intelligence, scientific judgment, creativity of science and significance of the science we do is being overruled by something else. I would say skills for filling test tubes and reproducing a known experiment should not qualify one as a real scientist, instead creative and risky scientific ideas, leadership, constant learning of science, strong opinion and vision should be the genuine portraits of a early stage scientist. Unfortunately there are no yardsticks to measure these.
The other ridiculous thing is the financial stability. I think most of us will agree that even after a good PhD and a couple of postdocs, we are the most financially unstable professionals on the earth at 35 years. On the other hand for a MBA all he has to do is to clear GMAT (maximum a year’s preparations to a decent score) and get admitted for a 18 month programme after his bachelor’s in something which will led him for a decent job in his early twenties. And he/she will have about 10 years experience in corporate world and a healthy liquidity. This contrast is something serious we have to think and if this exists we will be keep producing unhappy PhD’s and Postdocs who can work for hours in lab by saying knowledge enrichment and satisfaction. The whole point here is not who earns how much, but what the end road is for these in question.
Ahamed Muneer. Everything expressed here is my own opinion and not intend to disgrace or hurt any individual or community, this blog is written based on real or assumed facts. Readers are advised to not to conclude based on the above arguments. The author will not be responsible to comment for any agreement or disagreement caused for readers. Ahamed Muneer.
It's good to have a proper understanding of everything; to analyze the pros and cons and express them for the benefit of others. Esp. a student who wants to do PhD should know why he/she wants to do it. And I totally agree that the information that is currently available is false. Particularly profs give false hopes/inspirations to prospective PhD students and lure them to do PhD just because PhD is a simple way to get extremely skilled people for very cheap pay. So these type of articles should be given wide publicity esp. among undergrads.
Having said this, on the other side of the spectrum you have those who have completed their PhDs, with or without the a priori knowledge of the prospects of a PhD. The question is how to deal with them. Suppose your friend gets food poisoning by eating at a particular place, the way to deal with the problem is not by pointing out to him again and again his foolishness of eating at the place but by getting proper medical attention. A Phd's life is tough - low pay, minimal prospects - to name just a few. But pessimistic talks and negativism is not going to achieve anything. Neither will cynicism. Sadly, in our societies, cynicism and negativism always pass off as intellectualism. While critical analysis is prerogative for any growth, cynicism and negativism are highly destructive. Yes, the competition is really tough. For the same reason, you need to channel all your energy on the task ahead. Wasting emotional energy on what should have been or what should be is not advisable.
2 comments:
Thinking of a Postdoctoral Position?
I was reading lot of articles regarding prospectus for postdocs when compared to rest, some heated argument on number of PhD’s our system produce etc. As a final year PhD student it is obvious iam attracted towards this age-old conventional way of so “called knowledge accumulation” as a path towards becoming a PI to run my own lab or for a lucrative job offer. Both of these is a distant dream without any expressway to reach there and yet I resist to digest and accept these golden facts.
There are couple of things i would like to talk, what we are researching these days of immense scientific competition? Are we actually spending our precious time during PhD thinking to solve a real problem to address something significant or we seriously working out how to make quick publications? Because your scientific proficiency will be judged mostly based on those magic numbers (no. of publications) it is obvious that we are more concern in the numbers than the direct impact of those numbers on the human society. What is more sad to me is that intelligence, scientific judgment, creativity of science and significance of the science we do is being overruled by something else. I would say skills for filling test tubes and reproducing a known experiment should not qualify one as a real scientist, instead creative and risky scientific ideas, leadership, constant learning of science, strong opinion and vision should be the genuine portraits of a early stage scientist. Unfortunately there are no yardsticks to measure these.
The other ridiculous thing is the financial stability. I think most of us will agree that even after a good PhD and a couple of postdocs, we are the most financially unstable professionals on the earth at 35 years. On the other hand for a MBA all he has to do is to clear GMAT (maximum a year’s preparations to a decent score) and get admitted for a 18 month programme after his bachelor’s in something which will led him for a decent job in his early twenties. And he/she will have about 10 years experience in corporate world and a healthy liquidity. This contrast is something serious we have to think and if this exists we will be keep producing unhappy PhD’s and Postdocs who can work for hours in lab by saying knowledge enrichment and satisfaction. The whole point here is not who earns how much, but what the end road is for these in question.
Ahamed Muneer.
Everything expressed here is my own opinion and not intend to disgrace or hurt any individual or community, this blog is written based on real or assumed facts. Readers are advised to not to conclude based on the above arguments. The author will not be responsible to comment for any agreement or disagreement caused for readers.
Ahamed Muneer.
It's good to have a proper understanding of everything; to analyze the pros and cons and express them for the benefit of others.
Esp. a student who wants to do PhD should know why he/she wants to do it. And I totally agree that the information that is currently available is false. Particularly profs give false hopes/inspirations to prospective PhD students and lure them to do PhD just because PhD is a simple way to get extremely skilled people for very cheap pay. So these type of articles should be given wide publicity esp. among undergrads.
Having said this, on the other side of the spectrum you have those who have completed their PhDs, with or without the a priori knowledge of the prospects of a PhD. The question is how to deal with them. Suppose your friend gets food poisoning by eating at a particular place, the way to deal with the problem is not by pointing out to him again and again his foolishness of eating at the place but by getting proper medical attention. A Phd's life is tough - low pay, minimal prospects - to name just a few. But pessimistic talks and negativism is not going to achieve anything. Neither will cynicism. Sadly, in our societies, cynicism and negativism always pass off as intellectualism. While critical analysis is prerogative for any growth, cynicism and negativism are highly destructive. Yes, the competition is really tough. For the same reason, you need to channel all your energy on the task ahead. Wasting emotional energy on what should have been or what should be is not advisable.
Post a Comment