A question about Phd's and Eng Doc's

Indeed, like many other European countries, they value those with a PhD highly.

It's a shame we treat people with PhDs in this country as "probably clever but utterly useless members of society" as its a complete misnomer.

Saying that, the more successful (monetarily) academics out there are the ones who make a good living from the basic academic career, then make a nice bit of extra through published books and consultancy work. There are no huge headline salaries in academia (even the "CEO" job usually rakes in less than half a mill at most universities), but most successful academics are hardly destitute...

That being said, if you are doing a PhD for the money then you are doing it for the wrong reasons in my personal opinion.
 
big_white_dog84 said:
Get a job, don't waste three + years on research. We get PhDs in my work all the time looking for data etc for their research and most of the timeit is irrelevant. Your career paths in industry after a phd is limited to the r& d departments of big companies (talking about engineering PhDs or eng ds here).
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Shock horror as people that are interested in research and spend 3-6 years of their life doing a huge research project decide to work in research after they receive their doctorate. Who would have thought that!

You are also completely wrong, having aPhD opens many doors to different avenues. Many recent PhD grads will do things like management consultancy for the top 3, initiate their own startup, become a quant, or you know, carry on in academia.
 
OzyOly said:
I'm sure you'll be fine, I was only messing. :p



This is comforting to know. I am worried about agism in the UK, I'll just have to see what the job market is like when I graduate.



Can you just apply for your CEng interview once completing your EngD? I've seen that some EngD courses are accredited and some aren't and the Engineering Council's site wasn't exactly clear on it.
Have you already stated the process?
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Found out I passed my CEng today! :D I applied almost straight after completing the EngD. There was a bit of delay after they completed the review of the paperwork as one person was ill so it took 7 months in total from application date to getting the results.
 
delta0 said:
Found out I passed my CEng today! :D I applied almost straight after completing the EngD. There was a bit of delay after they completed the review of the paperwork as one person was ill so it took 7 months in total from application date to getting the results.
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Congratulations!

I'm coming up to the end of the first year of my PhD (Chemistry) and it's starting to get hectic, so I'm finally getting an appreciation for the stress everyone else has gone through!
 
PhDs do not limit your options. All doors remain open, in academia and business (except for minimum wage jobs for which you are labelled 'overqualified'). Having said that, I gained ten years of commercial experience between my degree and PhD which made it much easier to go back into business after.
 
DAnDan said:
Congratulations!

I'm coming up to the end of the first year of my PhD (Chemistry) and it's starting to get hectic, so I'm finally getting an appreciation for the stress everyone else has gone through!
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It is worth it, even though I always said when I finished if I had the choice I wouldn't do it again but 25 years on when I look back then I certainly would. I haven't done any chemistry for many many years but the Ph.D opened a lot of doors for me in the chemical industry. Out of interest what type of chemistry? I'm an (ex) organic chemist.
 
Tuppy_Glossop said:
PhDs do not limit your options. All doors remain open, in academia and business (except for minimum wage jobs for which you are labelled 'overqualified'). Having said that, I gained ten years of commercial experience between my degree and PhD which made it much easier to go back into business after.
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I did it the other way around, degree followed by Ph.D then a job where after 5 years and a couple of job changes they were willing to pay for me to do an MBA. I agree it doesn't limit your options, in fact for me it was the opposite
 
DAnDan said:
Congratulations!

I'm coming up to the end of the first year of my PhD (Chemistry) and it's starting to get hectic, so I'm finally getting an appreciation for the stress everyone else has gone through!
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Thanks! :cool:

Definitely worth it all afterwards. I've found the doctorate has really made me stand out from the crowd and got me a lot of opportunities.
 
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delta0 said:
Found out I passed my CEng today! :D I applied almost straight after completing the EngD. There was a bit of delay after they completed the review of the paperwork as one person was ill so it took 7 months in total from application date to getting the results.
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Epic! Well done dude! :D

Edit - Didn't OCUK used to have a Beer Emoticon? Can we please have this back Spie?
 
At work we have many CEng, and EngD who aren't just office based, they go out and get their hands dirty - fortunately for me, they also help me and my team develop some efficiencies, new ideas and help drive engineering/construction forward from a practical/applied method, but also from a more creative problem solving way.

Irrespective of my interface with them, there are a lot of very highly skilled engineers (and I mean engineers) in my line of work and it is fascinating to work with them. I feel a bit overwhelmed with my puny little BEng - but I do have the advantage of experience :p Technically I could potentially apply to be an IEng or CEng - but I don't have all the requisites and I don't know of how much use it would be to me since I'm less full on Engineering and more into management now anyway.

I know I'm a little late to the thread but I say go for it if you're motivated and interested in your subject then there's no reason no to. If I were more academic I'd have been tempted - but alas I was quite keen on getting my hands dirty and having secured a job before uni, it was time. I doubt I could go back now and do any further education (though now it would be more MBA focussed).
 
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