Looking for career advice - PhD or job?

When there are pros and cons of each, you may regret either route. It's apples and oranges my friend.

Pick one route and embrace it :)
 
al4x said:
i did molecular biology at bsc level, now ive been out of uni 3 years and have almost nothing to show for it, im considering doing a PhD too, dunno if i should, but if i dont i have to give up on science cause its got me no where, is 4 years [putting me at 30] a good idea? i dont know, but i know if i stay at my current job for 4 years ill only be on 23K at most,

doing a PhD for me now would only be worth it if i was guaranteed a good job at the end, this is the question for me.. will it be worth it, at this point in time i regret doing science all the way from 6th form because its got me nowhere

im gonna vote for 'i dont know' because im in a similar [if not so good] situation
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I'll echo my opening comments here. If you're umming and ahhing about it and considering just packing in science all together than you need to really think whether spending 3~4 years living and breathing a single topic in a single area of science is something you really could stick with. If you're thinking "I don't really like it much but I can't think of anything else" then don't. You'll likely end up dropping out and then you're stuck with no job and somewhat of a smudge on your CV, particularly if you want to do work where such a PhD would be a massive plus.

Of the half dozen-ish people I shared an office with during mine 1 guy was given an MPhil at the end of the first year and left, another left 1.5 years in, one always planned to go into medicine afterwards (so why do a physics PhD you ask? **** knows!) and another realised he hated it 6 months in and barely came into the office and produced almost no work (fortunately for him he was part of a huge collaboration so could somewhat get away with it but that's another story...). These were all people who'd done 4 or 5 years of physics already at Oxbridge or Durham, so not slackers by any means.

Conversely there was a guy in the office next door who'd gone into banking when he first graduated but around age 28 went back to uni to do a PhD. He's now on his second postdoc and almost certainly going to go on to be a productive academic.

It is unlike a degree or working in a large office. In a degree if you don't turn up to Monday's lecture then on Tuesday they'll still be lecturing Tuesday's lecture, not doing Monday's lecture again. In a large office if you don't do something then someone else will have to pick up to slack (though you might be in trouble for it). In each case the system doesn't wait for you, it moves on regardless. In a PhD it is all on you. Don't go in Monday because you couldn't be arsed? The work is still there, not done, on Tuesday. Plus there's no external check for your results, you can't just flick to the back few pages to check your answers. If someone came along 50% the way through your degree's final year essay/project and just wiped your hard drive and said "Its all wrong, start again" would you be able to handle that? Would you, after you stop banging your head on you desk, say "Fine, I'll learn from that and start again" or "WHAT?! **** this I'm outta here!"?

I'm not trying to make it sound like some kind of 3~4 years of mental torture, it's great, for the most part, provided you really like what you're doing. Being paid to research something no one else knows about is brilliant. At some point in those years you'll discover/prove/find/demonstrate something no one on the planet knows about except you and its amazing. The problem is getting there and if you aren't committed then for your own good (and your sanity) don't do it.
 
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