New answers tagged career-path
2
Also, even if your daytime work is not related to your personal research, you may either have signed something about IP (=intellectual property), so that your employer feels that they own essentially everything you do that is even remotely related to your job. I'd think you should look into this, discreetly...
1
In addition to time constraints, you'll want to try to collaborate with people or professors from your institution. It is pretty difficult to do good work alone, especially in computational fields. One benefit of doing research on your own time is the flexibility to explore areas that may not have immediate funding or interest, but could be impactful.
5
This is pure opinion, of course, but I don't see anything wrong with getting a doctorate purely for the love of the field and a desire to know more. There are plenty of people in doctoral programs to fill the needs of academia in the future and some will be disappointed in their inability to find a suitable position. You don't need to apologize for anything.
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6
It's normal to show unpublished work to colleagues, sometimes for their input/advice/suggestions for edits, sometimes because they're working on similar work (whether collaborating or not), or, like in this situation, to demonstrate work for a job/grad school application.
I agree it's a little unusual to ask directly, but only a little, and in this situation ...
5
Ask yourself why you feel that you need an academic career. I have met too many researchers who are wedded to the idea despite the reality that the years are passing and their pace of progression is slow, their security of tenure uncertain. Do you just like the intellectual atmosphere? Do you feel it is prestigious? Do you think jobs elsewhere lack ...
3
Advice or suggestions? Don't put yourself down. AIUI, you already have five peer-reviewed publications accepted. That is not a poor publication record by any relevant standard. I successfully landed my first two postdoc jobs, with contracts totalling five years, with fewer publications than that under my belt. Admittedly, I was fortunate enough that ...
1
If I was considering hiring you, I would want to know more about why you were let go from 4 positions in 2 years. You said in the question that it wasn't for you. In my opinion a sign of professionalism is being able to do work, even if you are not intrinsically motivated to do it.
-1
Permanent academic jobs almost always involve teaching and managerial tasks as significant components, whereas postdoc jobs can be almost entirely research-focused. Hence, if you like research better than teaching or management, that could be a valid reason to apply for a postdoc job rather than a permanent academic job at any stage of your career. (...
5
I think the answer you have now isn't so bad. But you could be painting yourself in better light. Rather than saying jobs in academia in the pay range and stability you aspired to were too competitive, say you preferred the higher pay and stability you could access in industry. It's the same sentiment but doesn't point to you somehow failing. Many good ...
3
I probably don't have the best perspective, having been out of academia for a few years, but as far as I know, anyone who cares about citation metrics will be using a standard widely-inclusive data source (e.g. Google Scholar) to get their data. So as far as the metrics are concerned, it doesn't matter whether you put any given paper on your CV or not.
More ...
0
Its definitely possible, I was in the same position as you, and I made the same change myself, although I did this after a wet-lab postdoc. I am now a bioinformatics PI.
Personally, I was lucky enough to land a position with a 3 year program specifically designed to take wet-lab trained biologists and retrain them in bioinformatics, but its definitely not ...
13
No, this is not a problem. Everyone has papers on their CV which have few citations, including older papers. If this were true for all your papers, in particular even all of those which are several years old, this could be an issue - but this does not seem to be a problem at all in your case. (Note that the distribution of citations vs. papers is somewhat ...
3
One possibility IMHO is to try to use the Internet to your advantage. In my field (bioinformatics/statistics), there are a few online communities (discussion forums, Twitter) with relatively low barrier of entry. But once in an online community, how do you make useful contact with others - especially those that can "lift you up" (who may easily ...
0
Some supervisors are more interested in the "new" projects, like readers are in the newspaper of today, not yesterday.
Especially if they are overloaded with admin duties, they need something to take their mind off it, and it's most likely that a project that is fresh has more "refreshment value" than a project that is several years old.
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3
Since you have already completed most of your PhD, your best course of action is to finish your PhD as soon as possible. Then you will be free of CO's bad behavior. Negotiate a plan for completion of your degree with your supervisor. Request that this plan does not rely on CO since they are not dependable.
should I just accept the academic trail is dead ...
1
Having a Ph.D. supervisor who "admitted to me that she has no understanding of our project topic and what we are doing" sounds crazy to me, especially after she arranged for the three of you to write a joint paper (presumably on this project). This sounds as if you definitely need a new supervisor. You mentioned that another young prof wold be ...
-1
I would say that the overarching problem is that Co is not easy to work with and that SV doesn’t have the capability, motivation, or bandwidth to deal with it. Just because someone is a good researcher doesn’t mean they are a good manager. If, as you say in a comment, this is an extension of CO’s work, then SV also has very little leverage, other than ...
1
Get out of academe. Start looking for industry jobs, immediately. You will almost certainly be happier. Imposter syndrome or not, you are miserable. With a degree from a top 50 school you will land a comfortable industry job, and not be poor. Many companies will allow you to do your own research, and the fact that you do not have a driving passion for your ...
1
Sounds like a research career is not a great fit for you. As you are no doubt aware yourself, a strong track record of published research is crucial for success in academia. But it is just one of the things you need. You also need to have a lot of enthusiasm about your work, so that you can get other people (especially grant committees and universities where ...
1
Leave it behind for a few years. If its right for you you'll find your way back to it. Go backpack in a foreign country. Live with people completely different than you. You've lived in a bubble of academia for too long and have lost touch with other aspects of your self. Reconnect with those aspects and latent talents and interests will surely emerge.
I ...
16
Academia has convinced you of things that are not true.
Your post has a strong air of imposter syndrome about it, but let's assume that you are largely correct. You managed to qualify for a PhD with an undergrad record that was not truly excellent, but you still managed to qualify for a PhD. Most undergrad records are not sufficient to do that. GPA of 3....
0
Why were faculty allowed to vote on deciding their own tenure? Presumably the dean didn't sanction the vote, which is why they are denying requests. I don't understand why any university would invite faculty to award themselves tenure. Tenure is a form of promotion, granted by universities, not by faculty.
10
Be kind to yourself. Give yourself a break.
You are not amongst the best? Of course not, in academia you are only one amongst the brightest. There is always a bigger fish. This is no longer necessarily the case when you leave academia. Being amongst capable people are an opportunity for you: to learn.
Do you enjoy research? You say, yes. That's the most ...
11
Sorry, almost certainly imposter syndrome. You have the misfortune of having studied with (other) good students and you are probably comparing yourself unfairly. Abysmal grades: irrelevant. Self study: yay. Pity: unlikely. Extra time in degree: entirely common. Your fault: maybe, but so what? Own your future.
Take a deep breath. Have a culturally appropriate ...
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