Quantum Buckyball
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Everything posted by Quantum Buckyball
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Lab meetings are BS and a complete waste of time
Quantum Buckyball replied to lrlrlrlrlr's topic in The Lobby
I noticed multiple "short" meetings (30 min) worked the best. Our lab used to do 2-3 hr long meetings but it wasn't very effective as people pretty got bored after the first hour. -
it's so much better working as a HS teacher rather than a postdoc or an adjunct.. at least you only work 9 months a year and you get benefits!
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Well, the field is changing rapidly, as higher education is becoming more and more accessible, and most labor involved jobs are being replaced by robotics
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Half of the people on my floor are over 30 already. A postdoc on my floor has been a postdoc for about 8 years now, and recently got a raise, her salary is now 40K rather than 35K a year. She said she wish she've never gone into science in the first place because she is stucked. She said being a postdoc is pretty much her only option because of her age, kids and mortgage.
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It was the case perhaps 15 years ago, but not anymore. Most industry positions for entry level PhD scientists wants you to have a minimum of 3-5 year of postdoc training. It's not just theoretical research, I'm talking about solid state material science, nanotechnology, analytical, biochemistry, computational, organic catalyst, environmental, cancer diagnostic research.
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ALL chemistry If you want to get a job offer immediately after graduation, go into polymer because they are mostly applied research. However, most people I know graduated from that field were only able to get short term contract offers. The market is very, very dynamic, especially you are pretty much competing with professional postdocs right after PhD
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for chemistry at least and it's pretty board. Don't get me wrong, I also know a couple of people were able to get professorship right after PhD at small liberal art schools in the middle of no where. If you absolutely have to go into science, go get a degree in engineering, stay away from bio medical fields
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That is correct, but for most entry level PhD chemists you will be a bench scientist. I know a couple of people graduated recently ended up being an adjunct instructor....
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The next iteration of the unpaid internship: the unpaid postdoc.
Quantum Buckyball replied to dr. t's topic in The Lobby
Oh hell to the no Told my PI I ain't playing this BS you-can't-win-unless-you-play game no more, and people-don't-go-into-science-for-money BS. Ain't gonna do a postdoc I am actually doing pretty well in grad school in term of # of pubs/year and am graduating on time. However, the job outlook for scientists in general is surprisingly depressing, most jobs in both academia AND industry are short-term 1-2 yr long contract jobs and you cannot build a career out of it. Should have gone into medical field -
about 50% of the people graduated from my program without any job offers, holy shit.
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The program I'm entering has a good placement record, but it's deliberately kept very small. I had a discussion this weekend with a faculty member here, and he told me that they've actually been criticized for being too small. The department's counter was that there was no way they could ever hope to place that many graduates, and it would be irresponsible to on more.
I still don't know what my odds are. I'm hopeful, but you never know. I have my library degree to fall on if all else fails. One can do a lot with a library degree.
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We take in 25~30 new students each year, when I entered the program, it was the biggest class ever, we had 34 kids. Long story short, only about 60% of people are completing with a PhD (or attempt to) and the other 40% left the program with or without a MS. I think it's good that your program is aware of surplus of PhDs but my program completely ignored it, they just wanted to make sure they have enough people to teach low level chemistry classes.
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Apparently about 2/3 of the jobs for chemists on LinkedIn are short-term contract jobs.....and the 1/3 of them want you to have over +10 years of experience
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someone from my program got a couple of financial need based fellowships/scholarships...and she drives a BMW....ugh
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My friends in an environmental chemistry lab have been teaching every semester because of EPA budge cut. I also have a couple of friends in a lab that is doing cancer diagnostic been teaching every semester as well due to grant funding hardship. I was talking to a buddy from another group who is about to finish his 5th year and he got so depressed and angry that none of his projects are leading to publications and his PI wants him to graduate this semester...another friend who's working on instrument development is graduating this semester without any pubs as well. it's pretty crazy in my program The group I'm in isn't doing all that bad, even though is teaching for all, the projects everyone's working on are making a decent progress with publishable results, that's the only thing that really matters in the end.
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Non-thesis Master but Still MSc, to pursue Phd!!
Quantum Buckyball replied to sadegh_aryaan's topic in The Lobby
I don't think it matters but with a Masters with a thesis option can often leads to a publication(s) before you apply for PhD programs. One of my coworkers has a MA degree (non-thesis) masters and he nailed the interview (he got asked a lot of technical questions related to the current development/advancement in the field of the program he applied, why he wanted to pursuit a PhD degree...etc) -
He made it very clear that he doesn't want to do it based on seniority rather than productivity which is completely fair, and that undergrad and grad students are equal in his lab, meaning they all have their independent projects (which is awesome for undergrad research experience). We have max lab space (desk space) for 6 people and now have 11 people in the lab with only two instruments ...
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I considered myself the lucky one because most my projects are working out as planned, and led to publishable results. My PI has this "teaching for all or teaching for none" type of mentality because he doesn't want it to get awkward in the lab if only a couple of people are teaching (the ones that have not made any progress since year 1). So the PI of the lab next to us is importing additional postdocs from oversea because she couldn't retain domestic grad students here.
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A couple of PhDs graduated last year ended up being a high school teacher after an unsuccessful job search. A friend of mine who is about to graduate next semester is going to become a high school teacher as well despite having three first author pubs in J. Phys. Chem. C. because the techniques she learned during her Ph.D. years aren't being employed in the industry, and she doesn't want to do a postdoc, I applause her for that. Another friend graduated from my program with a Ph.D. last year was a volunteer in our program for about nine months while seeking for employment elsewhere, because his old lab couldn't afford to hire him as a temp. postdoc due to lack of funding. Of course, we don't tell any new incomers or prospective students this kind of stuff because it's depressing so we only tell them the "good ole' days" when the funding wasn't a problem and how PhDs make >80k per start out.
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My program expanded by about 25% in the past 5 years and we had a lot of new recruits, but very few additional fundings coming in so now you have lots of students in their 4th, 5th and 6th year teaching every semester. It's not that people don't want to publish but if you spend >40 hrs/week on teaching related activities and that limits your time in the lab significantly. They've also been expanding the undergrad chemistry program by a lot and also introduced a new undergrad program two years ago. My R1 school is more like a PUI right now
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Most people in my lab are on anti-depression meds right now. I've been taking them daily as well, a lab mate thought about suicide last year, a colleague downstair thought about suicide this year...crazy town x 4.
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The lab next to me is doing real bad, there is going to be only 1 grad student and a lab manager next semester, all the grad students and postdocs have left or leaving. crazy town.... The lab upstair from us is doing pretty bad as well, people are leaving with a Masters degree and a postdoc left...and a couple of grad students are leaving without any pubs. The lab below us is doing pretty bad too....no pubs for about 4 years now and a girl just decided to leave the program a week before Fall start...and a couple of grad students are also graduating with no pubs... crazy town x 3 I'm in chemistry
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My friend graduated last year encountered this problem as well, he didn't get his dream job because he was over-qualified and the company ended up giving the position to someone with a Masters degree.
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A lot of people have been quitting my program this year, very odd.
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30 pg worth of work for a communication publication, oh lordt...welcome to modern scientific publishing
