Sitting in front of my computer, exhausted and discouraged, and got your notification! It lifted up my mood. I totally agree with the first part as I have quit my first Ph.D. and now getting through my second (third year almost 8 years in between) I started with a different mindset! Thank you for all the work you do. You are making a huge difference in my lonely and long Ph.D. journey. I appreciate the company 😀🤩🤩
2 years into my PhD I've realised that my supervisor treats me as if I am an Honours student with him not really allowing me to explore my project and only doing what he wants despite me having highlighted issues with certain approach he wants me to pursue... I really feel like I am just a technologist and I am just following orders without being allowed to creatively use my mind. This has added huge stress to an already stressful PhD journey and has made me seriously dislike being in academia. However, I remain hopeful that I will finish this year, especially having made great progress. Thank you Andy for all your work - it's been very encouraging. Much love from South Africa
The most important thing that I say to the fresh PhD students is: “Whenever you feel down, think about the most fundamental reason you started this. It is this beautiful entitiy called curiosity. Do not let anything to decrease your sense of curiosity”. And as pointed by Andy, there are certain things that can easily do so, cough cough, politics. But it is up to you to separate the bad part from the good one. It is similar to this… when you like some subject, e.g. mathematics, but you have a teacher whom you dislike. Will you allow your teacher to decrease your love towards mathematics, or are you going to clearly separate the impact the teacher has, from the love towards the maths that you feel? Similar applies to PhD. At the end, the mind shift that you gain along the journey, pays of immensely. Stay strong and curious!
Hello Andy. I agree with you in the steps you have described. Really at the end of the PhD path you become more reflective, you look back and now you can understand.
Loved his point about romanticizing an image of ourselves and in the end, we realize we are still just the same person..maybe a little more tired and poorer. Lol well said
Andy, your insight, as ever is spot on! You just have a knack of picking me up everytime feel I have fallen! I'm due to cough up another year's fees soon and am faced with the very real 'am I worth it?' dilemma. With heating bills soaring, would it be more sensible to save my money?!!! Everything you say is true. But I do think you still romanticise a bit, or I am just a cynic. In my experience, academia is viewed as a bunch of ungroomed, often drunk failures in woolly pullys whose lives consist of writing papers on fashionable topics, refuting the last paper written by a rival. They are poorly motivated, under trained and ill disciplined. My supervisor is far too uninvolved to make it up as he goes along and as for internal politics...don't get me started! What have I learned? I've learned the interests of the university (to get you to finish so they have your money and you add to their statistics, which brings in more money), those of the supervisor (to tell as many people as possible they've got you as a student and even better to tell as many people as possible they supervised you through a PhD, but not to actually be bothered to engage with you on any other level) and those of myself (to get the blasted PhD) only overlap at the 'get this finished' point. So a common goal, at least! Lololol!!! But seriously, I've learned above all else, that your advice is by far the most motivating, positive and heartening part of the experience. Thank you, so much.
I have to say your videos are really helpful. I am currently debating quitting my PhD (I am at the start of my second year). It's definitely a hard choice to make. This video sort of confirms my suspicion that finishing the PhD will not grant me anything of value since I have already internalized all the benefits you mention and I don't see any others. I started my PhD journey about 5 years later than most and I have gained a lot of life experience already. The PhD is a good sell for someone in their mid-twenties but not so much for people above 30. I also had a debilitating health condition for more than a decade which required a lot of hard work to make it more manageable. In a very real sense this is a much greater accomplishment than a PhD. So because of that I will have even more trouble "being proud" of a PhD if I were to finish it. For me another big problem with the PhD it that my supervisors are basically clueless about the general direction of my research project. My work is supposed to be highly technical. There are basically two very separated branches in my area which are either qualitative or quantitative. The quantitative area can be highly mathematical but my supervisor basically has very little mathematical background. In addition to that I am supposed to use a lot of computer science methods - of which my supervisor has even less expertise. So basically the first year has been chaos and I had no real benefit at all from having a supervisor.
“you become a bit of an addict towards the end”. I didn’t realise this point until you pointed it out. Thanks Andy! That addiction to the ups may partly explain my post phd blues
Hi Andy. Love your book and your videos. Very positive and encouraging. They remind me that I am not the only one going through all the different struggles coming along with doing a PhD. From my point of view, it is all about discipline and motivation and patience, but motivation is key. Keep up the excellent work with your channel.
Guys please I need help here. I have just become an engineer in fluid mechanics and now I have the chance to get a partially funded cotutelle ( joint Phd). What should I do? I am 26 years old , unfortunately I have lost 2 years due to a sickness and if I do this I won't be finished until I am 30 at least. Please I need help here, is it worth it ?
Thank you for sharing your wisdom Andy. I, however, did not like this video. It portrays PhD and life in academia in much bad light. After many years in corporate, I am trying to enter into academia through a PhD (non science) and look for perspectives like yours. I would like to know whether the 'secrets' of this video were your own discovery or are shared by many other PhDs.
![[ ออกกอง ] วัยหนุ่ม 2544 โลกหลังลูกกรง..ทัวร์กองถ่ายหนังใน "คุกของจริง" | JUSTดูIT.](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vB--aOkZCpw/mqdefault.jpg)
Sitting in front of my computer, exhausted and discouraged, and got your notification! It lifted up my mood. I totally agree with the first part as I have quit my first Ph.D. and now getting through my second (third year almost 8 years in between) I started with a different mindset! Thank you for all the work you do. You are making a huge difference in my lonely and long Ph.D. journey. I appreciate the company 😀🤩🤩
2 years into my PhD I've realised that my supervisor treats me as if I am an Honours student with him not really allowing me to explore my project and only doing what he wants despite me having highlighted issues with certain approach he wants me to pursue... I really feel like I am just a technologist and I am just following orders without being allowed to creatively use my mind. This has added huge stress to an already stressful PhD journey and has made me seriously dislike being in academia. However, I remain hopeful that I will finish this year, especially having made great progress. Thank you Andy for all your work - it's been very encouraging. Much love from South Africa
The most important thing that I say to the fresh PhD students is: “Whenever you feel down, think about the most fundamental reason you started this. It is this beautiful entitiy called curiosity. Do not let anything to decrease your sense of curiosity”. And as pointed by Andy, there are certain things that can easily do so, cough cough, politics. But it is up to you to separate the bad part from the good one.
It is similar to this… when you like some subject, e.g. mathematics, but you have a teacher whom you dislike. Will you allow your teacher to decrease your love towards mathematics, or are you going to clearly separate the impact the teacher has, from the love towards the maths that you feel? Similar applies to PhD. At the end, the mind shift that you gain along the journey, pays of immensely. Stay strong and curious!
Hello Andy. I agree with you in the steps you have described. Really at the end of the PhD path you become more reflective, you look back and now you can understand.
Loved his point about romanticizing an image of ourselves and in the end, we realize we are still just the same person..maybe a little more tired and poorer. Lol well said
Andy, your insight, as ever is spot on! You just have a knack of picking me up everytime feel I have fallen! I'm due to cough up another year's fees soon and am faced with the very real 'am I worth it?' dilemma. With heating bills soaring, would it be more sensible to save my money?!!!
Everything you say is true. But I do think you still romanticise a bit, or I am just a cynic.
In my experience, academia is viewed as a bunch of ungroomed, often drunk failures in woolly pullys whose lives consist of writing papers on fashionable topics, refuting the last paper written by a rival. They are poorly motivated, under trained and ill disciplined.
My supervisor is far too uninvolved to make it up as he goes along and as for internal politics...don't get me started!
What have I learned? I've learned the interests of the university (to get you to finish so they have your money and you add to their statistics, which brings in more money), those of the supervisor (to tell as many people as possible they've got you as a student and even better to tell as many people as possible they supervised you through a PhD, but not to actually be bothered to engage with you on any other level) and those of myself (to get the blasted PhD) only overlap at the 'get this finished' point. So a common goal, at least! Lololol!!!
But seriously, I've learned above all else, that your advice is by far the most motivating, positive and heartening part of the experience.
Thank you, so much.
Definitely agree with the politics aspect. Probably the most concerning insight of my PhD journey.
I have been watching your videos for quite some time and I could not believe each video I watch I am learning something new from it.
I have to say your videos are really helpful. I am currently debating quitting my PhD (I am at the start of my second year). It's definitely a hard choice to make. This video sort of confirms my suspicion that finishing the PhD will not grant me anything of value since I have already internalized all the benefits you mention and I don't see any others. I started my PhD journey about 5 years later than most and I have gained a lot of life experience already. The PhD is a good sell for someone in their mid-twenties but not so much for people above 30. I also had a debilitating health condition for more than a decade which required a lot of hard work to make it more manageable. In a very real sense this is a much greater accomplishment than a PhD. So because of that I will have even more trouble "being proud" of a PhD if I were to finish it.
For me another big problem with the PhD it that my supervisors are basically clueless about the general direction of my research project. My work is supposed to be highly technical. There are basically two very separated branches in my area which are either qualitative or quantitative. The quantitative area can be highly mathematical but my supervisor basically has very little mathematical background. In addition to that I am supposed to use a lot of computer science methods - of which my supervisor has even less expertise. So basically the first year has been chaos and I had no real benefit at all from having a supervisor.
Have you quit already?
“you become a bit of an addict towards the end”. I didn’t realise this point until you pointed it out. Thanks Andy! That addiction to the ups may partly explain my post phd blues
Hi Andy. Love your book and your videos. Very positive and encouraging. They remind me that I am not the only one going through all the different struggles coming along with doing a PhD. From my point of view, it is all about discipline and motivation and patience, but motivation is key. Keep up the excellent work with your channel.
Great advice
One of your best video so far. Great job.
Brilliant, just brilliant!
Guys please I need help here.
I have just become an engineer in fluid mechanics and now I have the chance to get a partially funded cotutelle ( joint Phd).
What should I do?
I am 26 years old , unfortunately I have lost 2 years due to a sickness and if I do this I won't be finished until I am 30 at least.
Please I need help here, is it worth it ?
Tumbling is exactly how I feel after another day in my PhD lol
Knitting? 😊
hhhhhhah i am just graduated in ms physics from pakistan.thanks alot for your scincere advices i will never do a phd ...phd destroy life
Thank you for sharing your wisdom Andy. I, however, did not like this video. It portrays PhD and life in academia in much bad light. After many years in corporate, I am trying to enter into academia through a PhD (non science) and look for perspectives like yours. I would like to know whether the 'secrets' of this video were your own discovery or are shared by many other PhDs.
I thought you were Vsauce lol