Quote:
Originally Posted by subxero
If you want to teach at a university, going for a PhD is not a bad idea, you have an end goal and that is what matters. It's just that I have seen lots of people who are just good at school, and that is what they know just keep going for that next degree. Eventually it gets them a PhD in some type of research, sometimes with a background in something they have little interest in, they just did it because that's what was studied at their university. Next they never thought about what they were going to do with a PhD after they received it, going for it was just want everyone supported them to work towards and they were decent at school so they did it. Now that they have a PhD based in research they realize they don't want to write and apply for grants, and or head their own research and most of these people end up teaching or getting out of the field entirely. All of which is fine but if you didn't want to be a teacher in the beginning it kinda seems like an odd end point for all that hard work.
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I'm sort of in this boat, but it's not because I'm just "good at school;" I fully intended to pursue a career in astrophysics, but the realities of the financial and administrative climate of the field (and academics as a whole) right now simply made me not want to deal with the hassle, and was even part of a large, multinational research group. Teaching isn't an option because the salaries are much too low if I want any sort of flexibility in my location, so I'm working as an engineer in an industry job (telecommunications) and working on getting myself a job at a research institute that is academically affiliated, but professional in its application. Getting a job in other fields is actually quite difficult with a PhD unless you can find something that caters specifically to your specialization. I'm am basically just a data scientist, but people see that "PhD in Physics with specialization in Astrophysics" and pretty much immediately look the other way regardless of my actual qualifications and any benefits I might bring compared to some 22-23 year old fresh out of college with a BS.