to ask if you have a PhD?

[Morgan12]

Looking for advice basically. I'm seriously considering applying for a PhD which hopefully will be funded by the uni as I can't afford the tuition fees (based in Scotland).

I was just wondering if you have one then do you think it was worth the hard work? Did it help your career?

Ideally I'd like a career in academia so would be great to hear from people in this field. If you would be willing to disclose what you earn then please do, even a ballpark figure. What are your day to day duties like etc?

Just really any experiences of PhD study welcome. I need to make a decision asap.

Wow, I’m wondering what all the pp did their phds in and wishing I’d done the same! I can only dream of earning £60,000- there’s too many of us life scientists (and I’m too far north). Standard wage in my part of the public sector is weeeeeell below that. The only people I know that earn similar are in senior positions in industry.
Standard wage for a post doc is £25,000 to £39,000 depending on experience. My lecturer friends are on £40,000 to £55,000 and they work bloody hard for it.

@SergeantPfeffer - mine was life science and I'm in the north. Technical sales is very lucrative but you have to travel lots. You can easily earn six figures after a few years, plus car, phone, etc. You have to enjoy your job though as it takes over your whole life. I did it for long enough to buy a house and do it up, then got out. It's a profession full of divorced men.

Haha- that tallies with the sales people we used to see in the lab
I had no idea it was so lucrative though! Darn it, I applied for a sales job after my first post doc but then went into another post doc instead- massive face palm. Now I’m at a position in life where I can’t do the crazy hours due to kids- how I wish I’d left academia straight after my PhD

I’ve got one and stupidly did it cos I wanted some sort of badge to show I’m not dim! Was very hard work (I did mine pt whilst working full time), a long slog and my subject area irritated me in the end.

If you asked me immediately afterwards if it was worth it I’d have said no. But now 15 years on working in business I am very glad I did it. Dr makes you stand out and demonstrates various skills (determination, ability to write etc). Only do it if you have a better reason than me though!

I’m coming to the end of my PhD time. I was lucky to get a fully funded uni phd place but six years later - two maternity leaves, one very early baby, two significant supvisor changes at the start of my project and life and I have changed. I am going to step away from my phd very soon and it has been a very difficult decision for me.

I wouldn’t have done it without funding, in social science it is very difficult to get a good work life balance ig having to combine phd, family and ft work.
I still have lots to do (writing - another 50k words on top of my current 50k) and so little time, energy or enthusiasm left for my once loved subject area that it makes sense for me to go now. With three kids and a partner involved in a family business we simply can’t move for short term contracts all over the UK.

I have also witnessed and experienced the toxic working environment that characterises many UK uni departments. Mine is highly dysfunctional and highly competitive to the point that the bullying culture is barely commented upon. I so wanted to be an academic and this decision has forced me to examine who I am in great detail before deciding to leave. It will be hard, but I believe in the long term I will be happier, healthier and more fulfilled outside of academia, and my phd.

My advice is to be really clear at the start of the process what you are doing it for. PhDs have a habit of turning you inside out. If you are doing it for the title and or intellectual accolade I would give it some more thought.

I have a PhD and, to be honest, it hasn't made a difference to my career path. But then again it's in the arts, so there isn't a clear use for it outside academia. Mine was funded, with maintenance allowance, so I look at it as a job I did for a few years. A really hard, shittily paid job, but an interesting one!

I chose not to attempt to go into academia. I loved teaching but found the research and writing very isolating. In any case, competition for jobs in my field is fierce and most of my friends who submitted around the same time as me (2014) are still on temporary contracts or not working in academia. Those who have academic jobs were willing to move to different cities/countries.

I'm doing mine now in a country where phd student is a salaried position, and I'm loving it so far. I'm open minded about where my career will head next but the idea of doing a post doc is appealing (at the mo!). Equally, applying my skills in a related field outside academia would also be fine for me.

Have one. Worked in science research for 5 years after PhD and did something amazing. Now I’m a teacher and I spend my life worrying what colour pen the kids are writing in.

That said I am so freaking proud of myself for doing it, it was so so so hard for many reasons, not actually due to me but a b***d of a supervisor. I love being Dr. But people seem to take offence to it and often refuse to use it. Which makes me laugh. Don’t see it’s any different to asking to be called Mrs.

I don't know if it's worth it yet career wise....I'm yet to complete the thesis and find a post doc!
But it has definitely been worth it on all other scores. It may not be the case for everyone, but I spent almost 4 years working on my own project, of my own design, which I'm really passionate about. I loved it, it was like a dream job, and also allowed me to work flexibly. I hope to continue in the field, but even if it's not possible, it was totally worth it.
I do know people who did a PhD and didn't 'use' it, but I've never known somebody to regret it, or call it a waste of time.
My PhD won't increase my salary, I'd earn way more in a different sector of my profession....but I much prefer academia.
Good luck!

This thread is a very interesting read. I've also worked in a non-academic senior role in a UK university. I was so shocked & disappointed by the bullying culture & competitiveness of the academics I worked alongside.

You can do a search on here to guage salaries of roles:

www.jobs.ac.uk/categories/university-jobs

Good luck

...in academia ... having a PhD is the bare minimum

Not true ime, but I guess it depends what you call a job. I know many people who have worked med-long term (>= 5 yrs) in universities who don't have PhDs.

I did a PhD because I loved my undergraduate course and just wanted to keep going in the subject. I didn't enjoy it enough to carry on in research, but I don't regret doing it. It continued that academic training and I think the critical persepctive you develop, and the rigour with which you tackle your subject, are always a positive, no matter what you do with the rest of your life. My PhD was funded mind you. Which helps.

I have a PhD and earn roughly as much as a lecturer, but in a related field rather than academia. I don’t need it for this role, but having it probably helped me get an interview. If I could go back, I don’t think I’d do it again.

Has anyone done a PhD just because they were interested in a topic or wanted to do the work for the sake of the work?

I’m another one lucky enough to have done a PhD for kind of self indulgent reasons. I was partially funded (fees but not living expenses) so worked part time alongside it. My part-time work in a heritage setting actually opened more doors for me than my PhD initially, but I think my PhD has made me stand out from my peers in terms of applications in subsequent years.

In all honesty OP, I think a career in academia was attractive maybe 20 or more years ago, but there are just so many people vying for a very small pool of jobs - most of which will not be permanent. My friends who stayed (or wanted to stay) in academia seem to always be scrabbling around for short-term contracts all over the world, so if you want any semblance of a settled home life, I would not recommend this career path.

Having said that, I did really enjoy doing the PhD. My fieldwork took me to interesting places and I quite enjoyed some of the writing up. The skill you need in my experience is bloody-minded tenacity as towards the end you will need to be very self-motivated. Good luck with whatever you decide!

I have a PhD, which was fully funded and I was paid a yearly stipend. Would never have been able to do it otherwise.

However, I got my doctorate in 2015 and have yet to translate that into an academic job and the commensurate wages. It's SO fucking hard to break into academia in my field and even harder because I'm bound to a rural location by family ties.

I don't regret it for an instant, but at the moment the certificate is just a very expensive addition to my living room wall.

I’ve just submitted my life sciences PhD - I started it after working as a lab technician for a few years, in a subject that I loved. I’ve found the process extremely hard and I’m having to really reevaluate what I’m going to do now that I’m finished. Having a baby during my final year compounded the issues, but all I’m left with is a conviction that, although I still enjoy the lab work, I’m not willing to make the massive sacrifices required for a career in academia.

If you’re not willing or able to drag your family around the country (or world) for short term contracts then academia isn’t the career for you!

I don't, but my whole life has revolved around my husband getting his. I gave up any chance of a career when we moved to USA for his PHD program 13 years ago.

He took 10 years to complete it. First there was drama with a bad advisor who refused to meet him ever and actually blocked him pubblishing a paper he spent two years on. He changed advisors, but by tben his scholarship was used up so in order to get free tuition he had to teach 20 hours a week. With 3 young kids he was spending too much time at home and doing a subject his university was not set up to support, so he had to figure it out by himself without benefit of mentors in the field.

I think his PHD was a big disaster for us. Sure, now he has it things are better - he got a good job offer straight away and is working in the field he loves and earning $53k (year 3 post doc). But if we had stayed in the UK and I had been able to work and he had chisen a different career we would likely be a lot better off financially.

Personally if I had my time again I'd have stopped at the masters. It depends on what the subject is and if not certainly how lucky you are. My experience hasn't been positive at all and it wasn't worth it. Think it through very carefully. I'd be wary if it's a social science path unless you are quantitative...everyone has different experiences though and I wish you all the best

@BigTroubleinSmallBoots totally hear you

Haven't read the full thread (sorry) but what subject are you in?

I have a PhD in something Molecular Biology based. I had about 11 years in academia, two post-docs then a group leader position. The department then shut and I was out of a job - did something interim (science management) then went into industry, initially in a lab based team leader position, have since been promoted twice and now Senior Director.

My career has mostly depended on being qualified to PhD level.

Yes, it opens doors for you because it gives you a lot of transferable skills. It’s hard work and lots of people don’t complete it especially if there are problems with the work or supervisor. I enjoyed mine though.

A good supervisor is worth a lot! Mine was a bit lame and not particularly supportive. I think I'm just bloody-minded enough to keep cracking on; if I was ever looking for help or support I wasn't going to get it.

Now I'm in industry and I earn a decent wage. I was a school teacher in the past and the anti-intellectual snobbery was rife. At least in industry people actually use my title without sneering.