So, I’ve started working my first “real job” last month, and it’s pretty decent. Good benefits, decent pay, strong union despite being tech, and for reasonable hours (6 per day). The problem is that I took this job mainly so I can continue grad school. Currently I’m finishing up my master’s, so I’m managing to conciliate doing both OK since I don’t need to be in uni premises for anything anymore, but I’m unsure about being able to do a PhD later.
I figure once I work for a few months and get to work remote for most of the week I can do 6 hours of office work plus 6 hours of research work, or alternatively 6 + 4 and compensate by doing some research on the weekends. However I’ve heard conflicting feedback about this plan. One of my roommates says this is a horrible idea and that I’ll become the Joker after a couple months, while one of my coworkers said I should wait a bit to see if this job won’t demand too much of me (still in training currently), but that he thinks it’s doable. Both are currently doing/have done a PhD at the same uni I want to enroll in. Also is 6ish hours per day even enough for a PhD?
Additional info: Public latam uni, so no tuition but the government grants are nothing to write home about (before getting the job it was barely enough to get by, and that was with help from my folks). The advisor I’m aiming for can be demanding at times but is also really nice and is new faculty. The PhD is in compsci (ML/NLP) and I plan to continue exploring a niche I’m already familiar with. Work schedule is fairly flexible, save for the fucking meetings (agile delenda est). A lot of credits can be done by getting good publications instead of doing uni courses.
Edit: Thanks everyone! I kind of feared “obviously no you moron” would be the general consensus. I probably got too optimistic about getting to keep doing research immediately. I’ll wait for things to settle down and reevaluate my options. There’s some mechanisms at the job that are supposedly designed so you can continue education, but my impression is that those are mostly reserved for MBA types, infrequently offered and also really contested, but I should ask around some more to be sure. I also know some better sources of funding are available once you enroll, but seeing my friend applying for those and failing repeatedly discourages me from betting on it. Worst comes to worst I’ll save up some money, try doing this for a bit and quit if it proves unsustainable. Again, thanks for the input!
A PhD is a job.
Don’t ask hexbears, ask people who are doing/have done STEM PhDs lol
@[email protected] you did a chem one tho right?
doing that as well, but asking here can’t hurt right?
My wife’s grad program in bio was basically a full-time job. They payed her, though. I don’t think she could have made it doing an extra job on top of that.
That sounds awful
I have no frame of reference on the PhD side of the equation, but I do have some on the “tech job” side. I’d agree with your coworker in saying that it’s hard to know until you’ve settled into a routine at the job. Many such jobs (in the US at least lol) can be done without really working every hour you’re supposed to.
But assuming you did really do need to do 6 solid hours of work each day, that seems like an absolute ton of hours (you can’t reasonably work 12hrs/day IMO, productivity really diminishes past what is it, 4, maybe 6? so even if you are sitting working/studying, you’ll likely be a lot less productive than if you had started fresh). 6+4 is more reasonable but you do have presumably, a life to live outside of working? At least to feed and clothe yourself and not go insane?
So yeah I think it depends a lot on your tolerance for overwork, how relaxed the job is once you’re settled in, and if you have any other outside responsibilities. It’ll probably be a lot of work but considering you are already familiar with your phd subject/niche, the school and advisor you’d be working with, and the job is currently balancing with your masters program, it may well be doable.
I did a PhD in mathematics, though in a country where it is treated as a full time research job with a fairly livable wage and other benefits, so I didn’t have a job on the side. What I’m about to say may not apply 1-1 to your situation.
I couldn’t imagine working a job while doing my PhD. For me, it took a lot of time and effort to produce some original and worthwhile results, and I cannot imagine having done so while working another job on the side. It takes (for me at least) quite some mental acuity and freshness to produce any worthwhile results, and I don’t think the job will help with that. What’s more is that it can take a while to produce anything worth it, and the longer it takes, the more emotionally draining it is. And the worse you feel, the worse you perform. It’s a vicious cycle, and anything reinforcing that negative feedback loop is something to avoid like the plague. A lot of PhD students end up with mental health problems because of this. I think you should not do this.
This is just my personal experience, but from talking to my peers, and reading about the experiences of others (also in more US-like systems), I gather that mine is not atypical. I remember reading a lot of stuff like the above before I started, and thinking that I was immune to depression or something, it never dissuaded me. I wish it did. I hope for your sake you find something that’ll convince you not to do a PhD while working a job.
I’m in the “You’ll become the joker in a couple months” camp but I’m on the fringes of the camp holding up a sign that says “you’ve got like 3 weeks max”
It’s doable, though only in the absolute most basic sense that it is a thing that could technically be done. Doing a PhD is a fairly demanding full time job, and things will go better if you treat it like one. Doing the PhD and also having a full time job is doable in the same sense that having two full time jobs is doable.
No
I believe it’s “possible” but I would recommend it.
I was in a PhD program for six years and I burned out before I could wrap up my dissertation, I was very close to the end but I just didn’t have it in me anymore. I can’t even imagine having even a part-time job on top of those responsibilities.
It is probably doable, but I think you would be susceptible to burn-out (depending on your other job and general mental health too). Lots of phds areas in the US it is pretty common to have “duties”(teaching,TA,grading,tutoring), for a stipend and cover tuition, but in my experience that was generally less than 4 hrs a day. It will probably depend a lot on how quick and demanding the phd program is at your school. Maybe see if there is a way to get less hours or just do research while at work (if you think you can get away with it)? Waiting to see how the workload is doesn’t seem like a bad idea but I don’t know how inconvenient it would be for you to wait a few months. 6hrs of productive research sounds like a stretch anyways no matter what you are doing, but I don’t really know what your CS research “looks” like.
If you currently have this workload at a job plus doing a master’s I am not sure how much more work comparatively you would have compared to PhD(again this depends on a lot of specifics), and if that is comfortable you might do just fine(also generally research can be “easier” to do since it is more fun and you are motivated, hopefully, than basic class work in a masters etc. This also depends on specifics).
