Another one. . .

A: How many robots are in your lab?
B: Ahan so how many do you think people need to do substantial research? or How many did you have? and then follow up with: Is there any published scientific correlation between the number of robots in a lab and substantial research? If there is one, please do let me know. Or I don't keep a count but why are you asking? If you want, you can come and count them yourself. etc.

Cheers

======= Date Modified 15 Oct 2011 11:23:41 =======
Hi Huhu,

Here is a very simple tip that I ended up using against "some" such people. When suppose you have identified a person as very annoying in this way, you can simply do something to fight back instead of getting tense yourself. When the person asks a question, you realize that it is only for annoying you and if you answer, the person will launch another. So, simply don't reply and instead ask the same or another intelligent question. So, if the question was truly for learning about your work, the other person will then actually start a conversation with you. And if it was for annoying you, the person may simply stop.

e.g.
A: Are you really happy in your country?
B: Are you happy in yours? or Can people be happy anywhere? or When did you find happiness in your life?
A: Answers something . . .
B: Answer similar to how A has answered (e.g. Like you, I . . . .)

A: Are you happy with your topic?
B: What do you think? or May I know why you are asking this? or How would you define happiness? or some other question.

Hope this helps

Cheers

Hi PhDbug,

Heartiest congratulations on this!!! All the best on a great future! Hope we do sometimes hear from you off and on though (if you get time).

Cheers

Hi Tejasvi

I am an Engineer and have been somewhat active in IEEE. Now, in my opinion, you need to consider some things:

A. While IEEE has presence worldwide, it is quite understandably focused more on the US.
B. The news report is from 2009 when the US recession was very strong. If you want recent reports, you can join IEEE, subscribe to Spectrum etc. and you will get recent news on Engineers. Or simply keep checking the IEEE homepage. (or IET if you want more UK centric details)
C. Markets go up and down.
D. What is more important than generalized reports is your own skillset. How do you get to be more productive and valuable for a job than the rest of your class? Jobs are always there but why would an employer hire a person from amongst the 1000 others available? So, this is a different skillset from being an Engineer.
E. People who blindly make a decision on going for a degree/job tend to end up in trouble so I suggest you write down all the pros and cons and make an intelligent decision based on current data (news/market etc.). Do talk with people currently working the field and ask them what kind of skills are being asked for in jobs.



Cheers

======= Date Modified 15 Oct 2011 09:04:21 =======
Hi Tim

Thing is when you apply to an American graduate program, (AFAIK) you are basically almost always applying for a funded PhD. (either by RA ship or TA ship). If however you want to an MPhil (Masters), then funding can be scarce. Now, people who apply there normally select a set of e.g. 10 Universities. 3 from the top, 4 from the average and 3 from somewhat low ranked schools (e.g. from US News website). Your GRE General score is one important criteria. Top candidates need a high percentile to get in. But it is not the only criteria. Every department and University is different so extracurricular might also count esp. if you want to go to a top University and suppose all other candidates are equal in terms of academic skills etc. So, your goal would be to go for the highest ranking program for which you get funded (otherwise it might not be hard to get admission on self-paid basis but I don't think that is such a good idea).
If you want to apply for a Masters, things are totally different. I got my Masters from the US but my company paid for my degree (This is another option as most good companies in the US fund your graduate degrees as a means of improving job satisfaction)

Hope this helps, (up)

Cheers

Very nice post! Thanks.

Hi Ady,

Thanks for the input.

Cheers

Oooh. Thanks so much. .. I read this one before my thesis submission but nice re-read as after the viva and all, these things make lot more sense now.

>>Then there are the “let’s talk about something important – let’s talk about me” examiners. Their first task is to look for themselves in the bibliography, and they are not too interested in the research if there is no reference to their early sorties with Louis Althusser in Economy and Society from the 1970s.<<

I recall during my viva, my external on some pretext actually said something to the effect of, "I was looking somewhere in the thesis just to see if I was listed there" (While looking through related work basically. . .).

Hi everyone,

I have just realized that I am unsure on how to abbreviate some degree titles collectively. So, I wanted to ask as to what are the prevalent practices in titles/acronyms/abbreviations that you folks have seen. Or if you know of any site/book giving details on this.

As an example, I have personally seen some people writing B.Sc. Ph.D. etc.  (e.g. our Department Head)

But then I have seen other people use totally different styles. Which is confusing (as manuals of styles don't really dictate these AFAIK)

So, for say a degree with honours/honors in Electrical Engineering, would you suggest using B.Sc. Hons EE or BEng (Hons) or something else?

Also, what would be your opinion on using either of Abc, PhD or else Dr. Abc?

Cheers,

Mak

======= Date Modified 12 Oct 2011 12:33:43 =======
Mamara,

Heartiest congratulations! That is excellent news. (up)All the best.

Cheers

Hi Sridharanil

As EQua has mentioned, funding is not in great supply nowadays. However, if you have Scottish citizenship, then you can try Scottish universities as I recall that at times they have considerable funding/reduced fees (or no fees in some cases) for local students.

Cheers

Vishal1212

I think if you have a choice between job and a PhD, you need to give priority to job. As you can see in this forum, at times, people with PhDs don't even get a job. e.g. they might be considered overqualified for a number of jobs or managers might feel insecure etc. However, it probably depends upon the age-old logic of demand and supply and your particular area of interest. Look around and ask your seniors. You need to understand that PhD is a somewhat long term and frustrating commitment. And at the end, whether or not you will end up with a job cannot be guaranteed. If you want to do research and remain in the academia (and in general consider yourself strong in research etc.), then by all means, go for a PhD. If however you have not published any papers or are not that much into research, think carefully. Also, remember, doing a Masters degree has no comparison at all with what you experience in a PhD. It is a completely different ballgame. I suggest you should talk with other PhD students in the University you are planning on applying before you make the decision.

Cheers

Thanks. .. Looks very good. (up)

Hi Rina,

Firstly I am not a social networking expert. (I actually ended up closing all my accounts except twitter and a blog :p!). Secondly Academia.edu is rather new for me (joined it close to an year ago but am still learning). From what I know, there do not seem to be many status updates etc. The one thing I have really found it good for is in finding latest literature of other researchers as people keep updating/adding their papers etc. So, once you subscribe to certain tags, they keep showing up when other people add papers related to them. Also, it seems (at least in my areas of interest. . .) that a lot of people are joining in (including famous people/researchers).
Another interesting (surprising) benefit of academia.edu that I discovered was that it listed my papers on google and other search engines and then lets you know if people look for your papers. I am not sure if it is of much help in research but it can be quite nice to discover people with very close research interests from all over the world (So you can cite them and keep yourself updated, which can be a help in the literature review).

Cheers

Hi KB

Nice to hear from you. I am actually in what you noted as the post-PhD stress/panic phase that you also experienced. . . I already had a job (from which I am on an extended leave without pay) but so far have been unable to force myself to get back to it. Just trying to relax and slow down but so far everything that that I have tried has not worked (but then I did not take any meds). Would appreciate any suggestions/tips as I am guessing that some time in the near future, I might have to decide to start working again but want to be normal/sane :p before I do that.

Cheers